I had visited Alaska several times, but this time Junji Wada and I—“Team Wasabi”—had the extreme luxury of not seeing anyone during our seven-week stay on glacier (April 21–June 6). This was a real treat that gave us significant time to face each other, nature, earth, and the mountains around the Don Sheldon Amphitheater more directly. Without any noise, we chose unclimbed lines in this severe and beautiful place by pure sensation.

We completed four climbs in all, three of them new, which we called the “Wasabi Quartet.” On April 28 we began with the Wasabi Prelude (V 60°), which wove up a possible new variation on the south face of Mt. Dan Beard (10,260’). [Editor’s note: The south face of Mt. Dan Beard was first climbed in 1976 (Boardman-O’Donovan, AAJ 1975) and many “variations” have been reported on its south face over the years so it’s difficult to know if the line is new.] The line took us approximately seven hours from base camp. We started up the right (east) side of the south face, and the climb was comprised of a snow and ice gully with some climbing through a rock band. Near the top we climbed the right side of a rock headwall, crawling through a chimney to reach an icy plateau leading to the summit. We descended the same route.

On May 9 we progressed to the Wasabi Concerto (AI4+ M5+ R) on Peak 11,300’, climbing the northeast buttress in 18.5 hours. The route faces directly east and is plainly visible from the Sheldon Amphitheater. The lower couloir was choked with rotten ice, rock, and dry snow. When the sun rose and shone upon the upper wall, avalanches began to release periodically through the couloir. The upper rock wall contained six pitches of wide cracks, slabs, chockstones, loose rocks, and ice—a very enjoyable mixed passage. The last part was snow and ice climbing all the way to “Point KJ” (ca 10,500’), which is the highest point along the northeast buttress of Peak 11,300’. We bivouacked on the summit of Point KJ and descended our route the next day with downclimbing and eight rappels.

On May 13 we wove our way up the east face of Dan Beard in 12 hours (WI4 AI5 M5). Avoiding seracs, we found a way up a V-shaped couloir on the far right (north) side of the east face. Trending left, an ice gully led to distinct sections of rock and snow and then up to the icy northeast ridge. On the very top part we needed to cross a huge crevasse, which we did by climbing a steep pitch of ice— the “Alaskan way” we quite enjoy. To descend, we revisited the Wasabi Prelude on the south face and descended under a full moon. [Editor’s note: It’s likely that Taniguchi and Wada climbed the same line or intersected the route Sideburn Rib (Hughes-Scott, AAJ 2008). The large wall left (south) of this line is still unclimbed and very seriously threatened by objective hazards. The southeast ridge has been climbed to the summit (Kerr-Woolums, AAJ 1980).]

To complete the quartet, we climbed the Wasabi Sonatine (WI4 M4) in 10 hours, ascending the east side of the northeast buttress of Peak 11,300’, north (right) of Wasabi Concerto. The route we climbed is invisible from almost anywhere, and we researched it heavily and made several reconnaissance trips. These were needed to help us understand the avalanche intervals. The route proved to be a very beautiful ice line up a couloir with rocks on either side. From the top of the ice couloir, we continued along the ridgeline for five fun pitches of mixed climbing. Again, we topped out at a logical high point above the route rather than the main summit—this one we called “P3.”

[Editor’s note: Taniguchi and Wada describe the northeast buttress of Peak 11,300’ as having four distinct summits. They dubbed these unofficially, from right to left (north to south), as Point 1, Point 2, Point 3, and Point KJ. A very sharp, corniced, and knife-edged ridge separates Point KJ and the northeast buttress from the main mass of Peak 11,300’, making the buttress almost a distinct entity.]

Kei Taniguchi, Japan, with additional information from Mark Westman and Vivian Scott