Misch - SW Face

A view of the Southwest Face of Mt. Misch on Sept. 1, 2007. The West Ridge Route comes up from the other side at 7100 ft to A (see this picture). From there you traverse across the face for about 50 yards to a seam at B. It looks downhill in this photo but it's actually a level traverse. Once in the seam you want to take the leftmost gully to C. The gully tops out at a tiny exposed notch overlooking the steep Northwest Face. Fortunately to the right just before the notch a final short gully leads to the summit ridge, whereupon a short scramble along the crest leads to the summit block. The summit block itself is moderately airy. It's a one-at-a-time summit. Note there are three or four splits in the gully. I think the leftmost one is the easiest (this is the one Beckey says to take). On the downclimb I tried one of the more direct gullies. I soon found my downclimbing to be harder than Class 3 so promptly reclimbed a few dozen feet to get back to the correct (leftmost) gully. All gullies are loose Class 3+ affairs. The solid holds are generally positive but the loose rock gets in the way. Each hold and step must be properly tested.