North America, Canada, Canadian Coast Range, Whitesaddle Mountain, North Face

Publication Year: 1986.

Whitesaddle Mountain, North Face. In July, Reed Tindall and I made the first climb of spectacular Whitesaddle Mountain from the north. The mountain, so visible and prominent from Bluff Lake and the upper valley of Moseley Creek, has seen only a few ascents. Rather than repeat a brushy timber ascent to the cirque glacier, made the previous summer when a climbing effort was frustrated by new snow and poor conditions, this time we took the helicopter for a short flight to the lakes beneath the face. We chose the prominent couloir that soars to the summit ridge from a subsidiary ridge on the north. The climbing was on steep snow and ice, mostly front-pointing. We used a few ice screws and some rock pitons to protect a very loose section near the summit ridge. The descent became a long circuit around the south and west slopes of the mountain, and included a bivouac, then a long ascent back up to the ridge at the beginning of the steep section. High water made the crossing of Razorback Creek an anxious effort.

Fred Beckey