Unclimbed in North America

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OwenT

 
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Unclimbed in North America

by OwenT » Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:29 am

I've been digging around in stuff about unclimbed peaks in N America (mostly Canada and Alaska). I can't find much really on anything, which makes sense because if people knew a lot about a mountain then it would most likely have been climbed. I am aware that just because a Peak is unnamed or can't be googled doesn't mean nobody knows about it/has climbed it, and also that ascent by earlier people is possible. Does anyone know anything about how many/often isolated Peaks are climbed in say, the Northern Canadian Rockies or W Yukon? And what about Ultra's? There are like 355 in N America, many no information beside a name can be found. Is it safe to say that some of the more obscure ones may be unclimbed?

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Damien Gildea

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Damien Gildea » Fri Feb 01, 2013 9:37 am

Of the peaks on the list at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ul ... th_America they have all been climbed as far as I know, although I know nothing about the Coast Mountains. The peaks in the Mackenzie Mountains noted there have mostly had only one ascent (MacDonald) or two (Nirvana, Keele?) but no doubt some of their satellites would be unclimbed.

Celeno Peak was climbed last year. It was the highest unclimbed mountain in North America as far as I know. If you're talking peaks with a decent prominence, then I think the next one down the list might be quite a bit lower. I know of one AK peak that is over 3700m (12,135ft) and unclimbed but there could be others higher in the YT.

There are some interesting looking peaks in the far northern Rockies for which, after some brief research only, I could not find ascent info for (checking CAJ, AAJ and Bivouac.com).

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OwenT

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by OwenT » Sat Feb 02, 2013 1:19 am

Yes, I've been looking a lot on Bivouac as well and like it a lot.

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Steve Gruhn

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Steve Gruhn » Sun May 05, 2013 11:31 pm

I'm not entirely certain that Celeno Peak had been the highest unclimbed peak in North America before its 2012 ascent.

Does anyone know of any ascents of:

West Slaggard II (aka Slaggard W2; 4220 meters);
Mount Slaggard - Far South Peak (aka Slaggard SE; 4207 meters);
Peak 13605 (aka West Peak of Mount Fairweather; 13605 feet); or
Peak 4140 in the Columbus Glacier drainage (4140 meters)?

Damien, which Alaska peak over 12,135 feet do you think might be unclimbed? I can think of eight potential candidates, including the one mentioned above.

And yes, Owen, some of the obscure peaks in Alaska with over 5,000 feet of prominence remain unclimbed.

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Josh Lewis

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Josh Lewis » Sun May 05, 2013 11:48 pm

While its hard to find a first ascent for a summit, there are plenty of first ascent routes available. 8)

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Damien Gildea

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Damien Gildea » Mon May 06, 2013 4:18 am

Steve - I can't remember! My recent 'work' commitments had me change climbing plans from AK and my mind drifted elsewhere. During said 'work' my Macbook crashed and though I had the important work stuff backed up a lot of other stuff is lost (for now) so I don't have all my files.

Note I said 'highest unclimbed mountain' above. I thought that Fairweather summit had very little prominence, no? I'm not really interested in untouched sub-peaks, or really anything with less than 8% prominence, if not more.

Anyway, what are you doing looking at Slaggards - I thought your lists didn't venture over the border? ;-)

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Steve Gruhn

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Steve Gruhn » Mon May 06, 2013 6:10 pm

True, Peak 13605 doesn't have much in the way of prominence (455 feet).

Both Mount Gilbert Lewis (12250) and the Northeast Buttress of Mount Marcus Baker (12250) meet your 8% prominence criterion. I don't know of any ascents of either peak. Both Peak C-13 (12150) in the Chugach Mountains and Klutlan Peak (12150) also meet the 8% prominence criterion and also might be unclimbed.

As far as the Yukon Territory peaks, I was wondering about the highest unclimbed peak in North America, so I had to "venture over the border" if I were to satisfy my curiosity.

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Damien Gildea

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Steve Gruhn

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Steve Gruhn » Mon May 06, 2013 10:28 pm

I just read on page 230 of the 1998 AAJ that Slaggard SE was climbed in 1997 and apparently Peak 4140 in the Columbus Glacier drainage is called Windy Peak and was climbed in 1958.

So, that leaves West Slaggard II (aka Slaggard W2) and Peak 13605 (aka West Peak of Mount Fairweather) as potential candidates to beat out Celeno Peak for the highest unclimbed peak in North America in 2012.

Anybody have any more information?
Last edited by Steve Gruhn on Mon May 06, 2013 11:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Damien Gildea

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Damien Gildea » Mon May 06, 2013 11:03 pm

Steve Gruhn wrote:... I was wondering about the highest unclimbed peak in North America, so I had to "venture over the border" if I were to satisfy my curiosity.


Careful you don't come back infected with universal healthcare, low gun crime and a functioning economy :)

Jokes aside, I remember the Slaggard climb as making that claim, though I wasn't sure how accurate it was. I remember reading queries or corrections somewhere (something about Atlantic Peak?) of Wallis' list in the '92 CAJ, but given that was now over 20 years ago I wasn't sure what the verdict had been.

It's nice to think there might be big unclimbed peaks in the Chugach.

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Steve Gruhn

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Steve Gruhn » Mon May 06, 2013 11:06 pm

Hey, the U.S. might have its problems, but we lead the world in self esteem....

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Scott
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Scott » Mon May 06, 2013 11:18 pm

Red Castle in Utah is still said to be unclimbed (unless someone has done it recently). It is 12,700 feet/3871 meters elevation and has 440 feet prominence; which is enough to be counted locally on most list, but it wouldn't meet some criteria.

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Alex Wood

 
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Alex Wood » Tue May 07, 2013 8:03 am

The NE peak was climbed recently. http://www.supertopo.com/tr/Red-Castle- ... 1574n.html

Heading up that way this summer and maybe I can muster up some folks to give it a shot

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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Waymonster33 » Wed Oct 31, 2018 7:15 pm

Red castle hasnt been climbed

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Scott
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by Scott » Wed Oct 31, 2018 7:26 pm

Waymonster33 wrote:Red castle hasnt been climbed


That was the case before 2014, but it has not been climbed in 2014 and 2017. ZeeJay on this website was one of the persons who climbed it.

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ZeeJay
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Re: Unclimbed in North America

by ZeeJay » Wed Oct 31, 2018 8:41 pm

Waymonster33 wrote:Red castle hasnt been climbed


It's been climbed by at least 5 different people including myself. In addition, in 2010 I climbed and put up route pages for the two peaks on either side, 12338 and 12566 on this site.

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