Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
| Messages 1 - 14 of total 14 in this topic |
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 1, 2015 - 08:17am PT
|
I was driving south from Fairbanks and I see this really big Mountain to the west of Denali- I mean really big. It's Foraker. Every story I've ever heard about it has been epic. Anybody here ever get up it?
It's like Denali is Everest and Foraker is K2 for difficulty.
|
|
climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
|
|
Post holing hell is what I always hear. Donini did at least one new route with Tackle on it.
|
|
hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Feb 1, 2015 - 09:47am PT
|
So it really should have been named the infinite slog?
|
|
climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
|
|
Well that is a badass pretty technical route. Unlike the more commonly done ones.
Foraker is in my avatar pic heh.
|
|
christoph benells
Trad climber
Tahoma, Ca
|
|
not sure if it has been achieved again, but it was successfully guided for the first time a couple of years ago.
the guide was a female who weighs about 120lbs and is 5 feet tall. shes apparently a real tough lady! Forgot who she works for and what her name is...
that sultana ridge is a good spot for bad weather. many groups get up to that 13,000 foot section of ridge only to be pinned down for days while the rest of the range is sunny and totally fine.
a team of 4 skied it while i was out there last year.
|
|
christoph benells
Trad climber
Tahoma, Ca
|
|
Thar she is off in the distance, taking it all in at sunset. Shes a big beast.
|
|
Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
|
|
Sultana could be called the Infinite Slog...ha ha...but, its the most popular route attempted and summited surely in the last 10 years. But, no gimmie based on the stat's.
Interesting to look at the NPS data on attempts and success for the last 10 years:
Year/Route/Attempt/Success
14/Sultana/12/6
13/Sultana/12/6
12/NW Ridge/3/0
12/Sultana/3/0
11/Infinite/2/0
11/Sultana/12/5
10/Dracula (new route)/2/2
10/Sultana/7/3
09/Archangel/2/0
09/Infinite/3/0
09/Sultana/10/8
08/Sultana/16/1
07/SE Ridge/1/1
07/Sultana/20/0
06/Infinite/4/0
06/South Face/4/0
06/Sultana/20/0
05/Archangel/4/0
05/Infinite/2/0
05/SE Ridge/1/0
05/Talkeetna/4/4
05/Sultana/21/0
04/Infinite/2/0
04/NW Ridge/2/0
04/Sultana/12/4
181 attempts by all routes and 40 summits from 2004 to 2014. Someone check my math...!
Kind of one of those peaks that you have to have good conditions just to give it a decent go. Denali can have much poorer conditions and the standard West Buttress is still kinda doable. Maybe not so much on Foraker. Although the sheer volume of boots does help keep the trail on Denali pretty negotiable.
Having to get a permit 60 days prior, without being able to judge how the season has been or is going, can make it more of a gamble with less options.
Anyhoo...3rd tallest in US...6th tallest in North America...
I'm 0 for 2. Heavy sigh. And 0 for 1 on St. Elias. After topping out 6 of the top 10, feels like I've lost a bit of steam...ha ha...
|
|
Sula
Trad climber
Pennsylvania
|
|
It's interesting that you have the Infinite Spur listed with 13 attempts and 0 completions.
Sounds rather formidable.
|
|
McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
|
|
The Formidable Spur.
|
|
christoph benells
Trad climber
Tahoma, Ca
|
|
It would like to know the copmlete history of the infinite spur.
How many attempts, and how many people have complteted it.
Mark Westman, are you out there? I beleive he and joe puryear did it, at least they've got pictures in the supertopo book of it.
|
|
rmuir
Social climber
From the Time Before the Rocks Cooled.
|
|
We did ascents (two parties of two each over separate pushes) of the SE Ridge back in 1975. At the time, we thought they were the seventh and eighth ascents… Nasty storms at the 14,000' level… 17,500' seemed pretty high. ;-)
|
|
neverwas
Mountain climber
ak
|
|
Here's Foraker (to the right) yesterday from far away, with a bit of mirage action.
|
|
| Messages 1 - 14 of total 14 in this topic |
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!