My brother and I did this route last Sunday, 9/4. Man, it is a long slog up through fields/forests/thickets. The hardest (most frustrating) part was definitely skirting around the right side of the rock outcropping -- so steep, with the vegetation making it tough to get traction, the krummholz making it tough to squeeze through...but we battled through it. Beyond that, the route up through the (endless indeed) cliff bands was uneventful.
We got to the east ridge and made our way to the base of the diorite sill only to look up and see a grizzly coming DOWN from the summit toward us. We saw little option but to retreat, as there's not much room on that last bit of ridge for either human or bear to maneuver. When he hit the flat part of that ridge, he kept coming toward us at a full run. We luckily had put a little space between us and him as he negotiated his way down the cliffs, but it was still intimidating as hell. Eventually, as we kept retreating out the east ridge, he seemed to stop following, but neither of us was in the mood to head back up to see if he had truly gone away. So we ended up going back down the south face.
We were actually quite surprised at how well we tracked our ascent route. We never once got cliffed out or otherwise had to backtrack, and in several places our footprints showed that we were retracing our course exactly. The biggest complication, actually, was staying a little too close to the creekbed as we got down lower, and we got snarled in some jungle-like thickets.
A great hike nonetheless -- wish we had made the summit, and wouldn't choose to come down the south face again, though (given the option).
Saintgrizzly - Aug 27, 2006 11:45 pm - Voted 10/10
Probably......a hundred times better than the route I'd have put up. Thanks, Aaron!!!!
distressbark - Oct 27, 2009 5:54 pm - Voted 10/10
wonderful descriptionvery thorough, with great photos to clarify the route. thanks a bunch.
Aaron Johnson - Oct 27, 2009 6:06 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: wonderful descriptionYou're most welcome! I'm glad it worked out well for you. It's a great climb!
betred - Aug 30, 2011 11:32 pm - Hasn't voted
Climbing Rising Wolf MountainIs anyone climbing this from Sept 4-9 2011
JSK - Sep 12, 2011 3:20 pm - Hasn't voted
Great climb; a little heavy on the bearsMy brother and I did this route last Sunday, 9/4. Man, it is a long slog up through fields/forests/thickets. The hardest (most frustrating) part was definitely skirting around the right side of the rock outcropping -- so steep, with the vegetation making it tough to get traction, the krummholz making it tough to squeeze through...but we battled through it. Beyond that, the route up through the (endless indeed) cliff bands was uneventful.
We got to the east ridge and made our way to the base of the diorite sill only to look up and see a grizzly coming DOWN from the summit toward us. We saw little option but to retreat, as there's not much room on that last bit of ridge for either human or bear to maneuver. When he hit the flat part of that ridge, he kept coming toward us at a full run. We luckily had put a little space between us and him as he negotiated his way down the cliffs, but it was still intimidating as hell. Eventually, as we kept retreating out the east ridge, he seemed to stop following, but neither of us was in the mood to head back up to see if he had truly gone away. So we ended up going back down the south face.
We were actually quite surprised at how well we tracked our ascent route. We never once got cliffed out or otherwise had to backtrack, and in several places our footprints showed that we were retracing our course exactly. The biggest complication, actually, was staying a little too close to the creekbed as we got down lower, and we got snarled in some jungle-like thickets.
A great hike nonetheless -- wish we had made the summit, and wouldn't choose to come down the south face again, though (given the option).