Daunting Task: The north face of Wilbur provides a challenge for veteran climbers

Last month, Adam Clark and I made, from what we know, the fourth ascent of the North Face of Mount Wilbur via the main weakness to the west of the true summit.  We reveled in the fact that this line was first climbed in 1961 by a three-man team --— -tackling its committing and difficult nature through complicated and overhanging terrain.  A winter ascent of the North Face was also completed in 2018 by a strong team from Missoula.

Our climb began pre-dawn on the morning of July 22 to try and beat the summer heat, another reason we opted to attempt a shaded north face. After following a goat trail from Iceberg Lake to the base of the steeping face we traversed across a scree band to reach a prominent gully that took us to the base of the technical climbing through fourth and fifth class terrain.  Moving past remaining snowfields in the gully we roped up below the first of numerous steep chimneys, just as previous ascents noted. The climbing was varied and engaging through wet rock to reach the base of the diorite sill where I belayed Clark up.  Another steepening chimney proved too wet to climb so a tenuous traverse right and up provided exciting heads-up climbing through varying face climbing terrain.  Nearly reaching the col between the west and true summits, we opted to take a lunch break on a comfortable ledge where we marveled at Iceberg Lake now far below.  It’s worth noting that during this break we watched a major calving event from the remaining glacier drop a large chunk of ice into Iceberg Lake that echoed all along the walls around us.  The final pitch of climbing proved to be the crux of the day through the “overhanging chimneys” that the ‘61 and winter ascents mentioned. Reaching the summit after a short dash through third-class terrain we looked over our previous ascents noted in the summit register and rejoiced. We knew the day was far from over as downclimbing and rappelling off of Wilbur took nearly four hours, thankfully at this point in the shade.

Though the climbing had its enjoyable moments it was still a very serious alpine climb that I would not recommend to the novice climber. Previous experience in the loose, vertical, sedimentary rock that makes up Glacier Park is required to safely explore Glacier’s steep faces. I would not recommend anyone venture into these places without a strong head and desire of adventure.

That being said, Mount Wilbur is a worthy climb by any of its routes and is a daunting mountain as seen rising 4,500 feet from the Many Glacier Hotel.

    Seth Anderson takes a break, and a selfie, while belaying Adam Clark.
 SETH ANDERSON PHOTOGRAPHY   

    Adam Clark, of Whitefish, ascends The North Face of Mount Wilbur above Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park. Seth Anderson Photo.
 SETH ANDERSON PHOTOGRAPHY