"North Summit" East Face 5.4

This San Juan Mountaineers-named peak [LoJ] has about as helpful a name as "North Point" (also coined by the San Juan Mountaineers [LoJ]) in distinguishing it from innumerable summits that lie north of something recognizable. But in this case the recognizable thing is South Lookout Peak, itself no cakewalk, and the sheer, rotting spires of the slightly lower (by 22 feet) summit to the north appear impregnable from its top. The 1932 SJM climber's guide notes only that a first attempt was rebuffed, with details in the October 1932 edition of Trail & Timberline (p. 149). I was not able to find any trace of this issue or article online, nor any other record of an ascent; it would be interesting to learn which route was attempted, and when the peak was first climbed. Based on photos from South Lookout and possible weaknesses indicated by LiDAR slope shading, I thought we might find a ledge system on the east side that would get us close to the summit pinnacle.

Packing a 70m rope and a ludicrous rack, Jonny and I set off from a switchback on the Ophir Pass road down the informal trail leading south to Paradise Basin. In just over an hour's easy hiking we arrived at the scree gully leading to the deep saddle between the main summits of South Lookout and the North Summit.

In the gully we passed up some attractive chimneys and dihedrals on the lower east buttress en route to my suspected path of least resistance. Just below the saddle, a faintly sloping ledge crossed the east face of the buttress to our right. We scrambled across, then climbed left up 20 feet of extremely exposed 4th class ramps to easier slopes below the eastern pinnacles. Continuing up to an improbable formation at the crest, we peeked around it to find we were a stone's throw from the summit. Laughing that we'd brought all the gear for nothing, we dropped back down and circled to the north side, tiptoeing west across an airy ledge towards the final scramble.

But the ledge ended abruptly, a 10-foot gash separating us from the summit pinnacle. Anchor options at the dead end of the ledge were scarce; thankful now that we'd brought wide gear, we fixed one end of the rope with the #4 and #5 cams and rappelled into the notch. All that remained was a surprisingly fun 40-foot pitch of 5.easy climbing to the top, with abundant hand cracks offering ample protection. We built some cairns on the summit, and Jonny excavated a boulder on the north side for a short and direct rappel back to the notch. Climbing back up the short headwall to the dead-end ledge proved to be the crux of the technical difficulties.

Returning to the upper east buttress, we debated rappelling one of the south-facing chimneys back to the approach gully, and in the process we found a rappel anchor with a mix of very new and worn and faded tat. Ultimately we decided to just downclimb the 4th class ramps, which was terrifying. After that we scrambled back across the approach ledge, and a quick scree surf down the east gully whisked us to grassy slopes and a pleasant hike out from Paradise Basin.