pfeifferhorn north ridge

No it’s not the Tetons part 2, but that trip got me so damn inspired that I just wanted to go run up a rugged mountain instead of blagging!  The North Ridge of the Pfeiff has long been on my to-do list. From what I had heard it’s an alpine climbing route that most people rope up on in the winter. Last summer I did it sans rope and discovered it’s very exposed, but the solid holds are plentiful, but mixed among some loose shit. I figured it can’t be that much worse or different in a low snow winter? Wednesday was a warm bluebird day and I left the White Pine trailhead at noon to check it out.

Since this was recon I knew I couldn’t put down a very fast time, but I decided to go hard and see if I could do it in under 2hrs. The temps were perfect and the snow was amenable to fast travel. The boot track to the ridge looked good, but it had been blown in and had to be broken again.

The rock looked dry and straight forward, so I strapped everything to my pack and just climbed in thin gloves and boots. If things got icy, I had my crampons handy. Staring up the route.

The climbing was fantastic! Plenty of huge fins, and fat hand holds as well as good platforms for the feet. I went slow and very cautiously and removed my gloves in one section for better grip. Looking down!

The crux was working out onto the NE face where it’s very airy and there is some actual footwork involved. It’s a very short section though and after that all that is left is the snowy ridge to the summit.

In current conditions the Ice Axe, crampons and whippets can stay home which would lighten things up quite a bit. Just missed the 2hr mark by 7 minutes. Climbing with skis, even though they are skinny, short and light was a bit of an annoyance, but makes the way down sooooooo much more fun.

I dropped the South Face and wrapped around into Maybird and up and out the standard trail. Hopefully it snows for real and I’ll have better things to do soon, but I’m looking forward to another go. Despite it’s small size and thin snowpack this really is an incredible place to call home. Good to be back!