Kristoffer Szilas

Jim Broomhead and I spent three weeks in the Alaska range this spring and climbed the classic route ”Ham & Eggs” (TD: 5.9, AI4, 900m) to the summit of Mooses Tooth. There had been a lot of snow this winter, so conditions were not the best and there were many awkward snow mushrooms on the route and much steep, unprotectable snow.

On our first day in the range, we helped in the rescue of a Japanese climber who had taken a bad fall when a rappel anchor had pulled on him. Luckily there was a team of two Americans with a satphone to help as well, because our phone didn't work. It took us a whole night in the middle of a snow storm to get him out on a plateau, where he could get picked up by a helicopter. It is nice to know that a rescue can be done even in the worst possible conditions and we were very impressed with the military rescue team for flying that day.

Jim and I had another few unsuccessful attempts at Moonflower Buttress on Mount Hunter, but a combination of bad weather, poor conditions and various other issues made it impossible for us to climb this route, which we had attempted two years earlier.

Nevertheless, it was a good trip and we had lots of fun in Kahiltna base camp and met a lot of really cool people, including Slovenians, Koreans, and a bunch of Americans who all helped us waste time, when the weather was too poor for climbing.

Jim in the Twin Runnels on Moonflower Buttress