Trip Report
On March 16th Loren Raucsh and I made the First Winter Ascent of the Bear Tooth Spire. This climb was linked with a First Ascent of the lower ridge. In total we climbed fourteen pitches at a difficulty of 5.8 M5. The twenty two mile round trip ski and climb was completed in a time of twenty seven hours.
Those are the facts, but they don’t even begin to tell the whole story. My story started ten years ago, on my first attempt, with my friend, Ari Greenburg. I got terribly sick with the flu like symptoms on the ski in and we turned around. I had no inkling what I was getting myself into and all the trials and tribulations of trying to do the first winter ascent of the Bears Tooth would put me through.
Looking back, I wonder why I put so much effort into climbing that damn rock? Sure it’s a beautiful spire and it is the icon of the Beartooth Mountain range, but I put ten years worth of planning into it and fourteen strenuous attempts. Shit, one year Loren Raucsh and I were almost killed when we were swept off its lower slopes in an avalanche. Then, there was the winter Stan Price and I skied up and over the 12,000 ft. Mount Reargaurd, twice in two days, just to be shut down by bad weather on the spire. I failed in just about every conceivable way on that rock.
So, why go through all of that for a climb most people don’t even know about? In the beginning, it was pure lust for adventure, and then it became simply what I did every winter, a sort of pilgrimage. In the last couple of years, it was fear motivating me. Fear someone else would climb it first. I had a vision in my head some uber climber, from who cares where, would stroll in there, with perfect weather and conditions and send the route like it was a walk in the park. I hated that thought. I know it sounds petty and what I should focus on is the process and sharing the experience with good friends. While this is all true, it would be a lie, if I said I didn’t care about being the first to do the winter ascent. I made a decision to say “Screw the uber climber with his euro accent, this route would belong to Beartooth climbers!” And so it does.
So, what’s next? I have some ideas; however, I won’t list them here. I don’t want some uber climber stealing them. Whatever it is, I hope it humbles, tortures and obsesses me just as much as that lonely spire deep in the Beartooth wilderness has. Cheers.
