(Back to: North America, Alaska, Hayes Range)
Mt. Hayes, Direct West Face; Mt. Balchen, Northeast Buttress to near summit.
By Ryan Hokanson, AAC
Mt. Hayes (13,876') seen from high on the east ridge of Mt. Balchen: (1) North Ridge (Ferris-Hall-Hendricks-Montgomery-Shand-Washburn-Washburn, 1941). (2) Fairbanks Spur (Bull-Radford-Reynolds-Will, 1984). (3) West Face (Davis-Gowans-Hansen, 1976). (4) Direct West Face (Hokanson-Johnson, 2010). (5) West Ridge (D.B. Cooper and friends, 1978). (6) 1983 SW Face (Cheesmond-Tobin). (7) 1976 SW Face (Leo-McCarty-Ochenski). (8) South Ridge (Buchannon-Wheeler, 1977; 1975 Japanese to 50' from summit). Jeff Benowitz
Direct West Face of Mt. Hayes, with the arrow noting the descent. Ryan Hokanson
The Northeast Buttress of Mt. Balchen, and the descent (arrow). The East Ridge (Jagersky-Sumner, 1974) route is the left skyline, and Alchemy Ridge (Johnson-Klick, 2009) the right skyline. Ryan Hokanson
Rob Wing’s excellent flying skills saved us at least a day of heavy load hauling since he was able to land us on the bare glacier ice high on the Hayes Glacier. In my non-pilot mind it was a gutsy place to land, but he nailed it perfectly 3 times in a row. The tundra tires seemed to handle the slush filled holes with ease. Ryan Hokanson
Sam Johnson leading the first real pitch on Mt. Balchen. Ryan Hokanson
Sam Johnson on his way up, Direct West Face of Mt. Hayes. Ryan Hokanson
Let the misery begin: Ryan Hokanson packs-out. Sam Johnson
On May 22, Sam Johnson and I flew in to the Hayes Range portion of the eastern Alaska Range, looking for maximum adventure. We spent six perfectly cloudless days transporting tremendous amounts of gear around the Gillam Glacier, and then stood below Mts. Deborah and Hess, ready to launch. Watching water pour down our desired routes under the hot sun was disappointing to say the least.
Fortunately, Rob Wing and his Super Cub out of Fairbanks could shuttle us to the Hayes Glacier. Rob executed three absolutely spectacular landings on the rock studded, double cambered dry glacier ice at around 5,500′. After a short but heavy carry to the Hayes basin, we were greeted with colder, perfect conditions. First, Sam and I set our sights on a line attempted in the 1990s by Jon Miller and the late Keith Echelmeyer, and again in 2005 by Jed Brown and Kevin Wright (both parties were turned back). As the high pressure amazingly continued through a second week, Sam and I established the Direct West Face of Mt. Hayes (6,500′, AI3 R) in a 24-hour camp-to-camp push, which included a one hour rest/brew stop. The route is exposed to seracs down low, but the climbing is easy enough that we soloed and simulclimbed the entire route, minimizing our exposure. The route consists mostly of thousands of feet of alpine ice up to 85° and several short, rotten rock bands up high. We descended the North Ridge for 1,000′+ until horizontal, corniced terrain posed an inconvenience, and then did 16 V-thread rappels down the west face, followed by 3,000′ of downclimbing to our skis.
After a couple days of rest, we launched in the early morning of June 3 for a route on Mt. Balchen, establishing the Northeast Buttress (3,600′, AI4 M6). After six fantastic granite mixed “pitches,” some of which included significant amounts of simulclimbing, we continued up the East Ridge (Jagersky-Sumner, 1974). The weather had deteriorated to near-zero visibility with heavy snowfall, and by the final step below the summit we experienced very loud thunder and signifiant St. Elmo’s Fire. With all of our metal equipment vigorously buzzing and the thunder now seeming to come from every direction, we decided it would be healthier to forego the remaining 50–100′ of linear distance to the tippy-top, and began a hasty descent down the snow/ice to the climber’s right of our route. Twelve rappels and much downclimbing through heavy snowfall and very robust spindrift brought us safely to our skis at the base, 16 hours after leaving.
Photos of both routes can be viewed at www.ryanhokanson.blogspot.com. An expedition video, as well as more photos and in-field expedition artwork, can be found at www.alpineessence.com. Thanks to the American Alpine Club and the Copp-Dash Inspire Award for helping make this trip possible!
