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2008
Mugs Stump Award Winners:
Johnson/Magro—Mendenhall
Towers,
AK
 Sam Magro and I flew out to the North Branch of the Mendenhall
Glacier on the evening of March 14th. We had bluebird weather,
but it was very short lived. We eyed the face the next day
with the spotting scope looking for even the smallest hint
of ice and found none. However we did find a very attractive
and safe-looking line on the West Tower and decided to head
out in the morning, weather permitting.
Around
midnight the wind began to blow and the snow began to fall.
If we weren't in shape before the trip the 5-6 hours a
day spent shoveling for the next week did the trick. Sam
saved the cook tent in gale force winds during our second
night and we pulled into what we later dubbed "the pit
of despair". For seven days we were on 2- to 4-hour
shoveling shifts to keep from being totally consumed by the
glacier. During that week over 20 feet of snow fell and our
pit became unlivable so we moved underground and abandoned
terrestrial life for 4 days. We ate, played chess, took very
small sips off of our one bottle of scotch, but we did not
shovel.
 Then the clouds left and the sun came out. We were soaked
so we took all of our base layers for a little ski tour to
dry out the first day of sunshine and let snow settle. The
next day we set out to try the line we had eyed a few weeks
earlier. I headed up what we had hoped was an ice filled
corner only to find sugar snow covering thin moss over an
incipient knifeblade seam. Towards the top of the first corner
the snicey crap I was climbing just gave way and I took a
35-foot fall, my first in the mountains, and destroyed our
leader pack when the Jetboil tore through it as I crashed
into the rock below. So we called it a day and retreated.
Being
the intelligent, rational people we are we returned the
very next day to the same line and found it unclimbable.
We rapped and at the ‘schrund decided to do some exploring
and see if there were, in fact, any climbable lines. At 11
a.m. we set off with our bivy gear handy to check out the
main weakness on the face. It was perfect. Fantastic neve
up to 90 degrees, steep fun mixed climbing that seemed to
end in fun little roofs over chockstones just before you
got any kind of pump. We flew on up the lower sections just
blown away by the quality of the climbing and stability of
the weather. Every pitch was sustained and steep. Towards
dusk we found a little alcove 1500 feet up the face and decided
it would be best to bivy and get after the headwall in the
daylight. No sooner did we crawl into our cave then the line
decided it was time for a wash and we watched a two hour
shower of spindrift spill over the lip of our cave. We had
a beautiful red sunset and woke to soft green northern lights.
The
upper headwall was even steeper and more sustained than
the climbing on the lower face. Quality pitch followed
quality pitch all the way to the summit snow ridge. Stepping
into the evening sun we had a hundred miles of visibility
in every direction and the sun  had cooked the West Ridge
to make for a simple, safe, and enjoyable descent. We summited
at 6 pm on March 28th and were back at our cave by 8 pm
having never turned on the headlamps. We named our route "The Great
White Conquerer" 2500ft. V AI4 M5 A1. It was the first
ascent of the North Face of the West Tower.
Well the weather deteriorated and we packed up camp and
headed home. The rain is still falling and I don't expect
it to quit for some time. The mountain made us wait but in
the end we were given an opportunity and made the best of
the conditions we had. We found a great route and wonderful
experience.
Special Thanks to the Mugs Stump Award, Mountain Hardware,
Sterling Ropes, Vasque, Scarpa, Cilo Backpacks, GSI Cookwear,
and Pacific Outdoors
– Ryan
Johnson
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