19 Jun Two new climbs in Hayes group

 
During a 16 days trip,  Ryan Hokanson and Samuel Johnson carried out the first ascent of  two new routes (the second ending  just below the summit due to a lightning storm) in the Hayes Group in the eastern Alaska Range.
 
Original objectives – a new route on Mount Hess or on Mount Deborah – proved impossible because the conditions were quite warm on both objectives: “ were a few weeks late since the ‘ice feature’ the want  to climb on Hess was a waterfall visible from over a mile away up to about 11,000’”  Hokanson reports  
 
So they moved to Hayes Glacier where conditions were better: here the duo first completed in a single-push the ascent of the direct west face of Mt. Hayes. The route is 6,500-foot, V AI3 R. They did 16 rappels and 1000m descent following a different line farther to the north.
 
  
After a rest day, the duo climbed a new route on the NE wall of Mount Balchen 3395 m, 3,500-foot V AI4 M6.  
 
In 2009, Ryan Hokanson and Samuel Johnson won Stump Mug Award for their project of an alpine style ascent of the southeast of Mount Logan , whose ascent  has just carried out  by the Japanese Katsutaka Yokoyama and Yasushi Okada).
 
Source: climbing, alpineessence , ryan hokanson
 
Photos : alpineessence ryan hokanson