MT COWEN NORTH EAST ARETE

Phil and I decided on a fall climbing adventure to Montana. To start the trip we drove to the West Fork of Rock Creek Trail head near Red Lodge. Our goal was to climb the Whitetail Couloir in alpine ice conditions. Kyle and I skied the couloir in winter conditions a few years ago.

It was windy when we arrived, windy all night, and windy the next morning.

The wind just kept blowing harder, 40mph gusts at low elevation. I  noticed some darker clouds rolling up the canyon. The wind stayed the same and the clouds continued to build.  We decided to pull the plug. There is  no reason to willingly go head first into those conditions.

We swallowed our pride and walked the 7 miles back to the car.

Our primary goal was still the NE Arete on Mt Cowen. It is rated a grade 3  5.6 climb, said to be similar to the East Ridge of the Grand Teton. We drove  to the Elbow Lake Trail head in the Paradise Valley and camped.

Phil has the ultimate stand up trail head grill. It has a flat top grill attachment, and a large propane tank. We had a ton of trail head food, like steaks, burgers,and bacon and eggs.  We had other supplies too.

We slept through a really cold night at the trail head,  made a great bacon and eggs breakfast, then headed up to Elbow lake.

It is about 8 miles and 3600 vert to Elbow Lake on a good trail. The trail is unique and interesting in that it has many different environments along the way. From the lushness of Mill Creek down low, to the Sahara desert like switchbacks, then the rolling alpine streams and meadows to Elbow Lake.

At sunrise we hiked a couple hours through lush alpine meadows to the base of the arete.

We reached the ridge and started soloing  3rd and 4th class for a few hundred feet. It began to get steeper and narrower, then we decided to rope up.

The climbing was pretty exposed for the first few pitches on the arete. To shave some weight, we climbed short 30 meter pitches with a single rope folded in half.

The climbing  felt really committing the whole time. It was not really difficult, just that we didn’t see anybody  the whole time we were out there. Real wilderness climbing.  Retreat would have been extremely gear and time consuming. I thought we might see someone when we came down the standard route, but we didn’t.

The climbing on the north side of the arete was 4th, easy 5th class climbing if it was dry.  It had 6 inches of snow on all the slabs, and filled the cracks with snow, it made things a little more challenging for the easy grade. We kept climbing short pitches through snowy slabs and chimneys and finally arrived at the summit.

The views from the summit were amazing. Pilot and Index peaks were very prominent, as well as the rest of the stunning Beartooth mountain range.

We started down the “standard route”, which is rated 4th class, and made our way toward the upper cirque.

We spent  a second night at Elbow Lake instead of walking out to the car in the dark. Nothing much at the trail head, so we stayed at the beautiful Elbow Lake and walked out the following day. We arrived at the trail head and enjoyed some more treats from the cooler. Awesome climb in the amazing Absaroka mountains. Thanks to Phil for leading pitches into the unknown.