Mt. Brussels North Face, IV 5.10

Notes from a July 2004 ascent with Rich Akitt

We approached by going to the Brussels-Christie col, scrambling up the initial dragon’s back to the base of the Northeast Ridge and, where the ridge got steep, contouring to the base of the route. This made it easy to leave a pack to be retrieved on the descent (from the ridge it takes only a few minutes to traverse back to the base of the route); but more importantly, it avoided thrashing directly up the heinously loose scree below the north face. Either way, the approach from the valley bottom is long: between looking for a crossing over raging Fryatt Creek and more than 1000 m of elevation gain over complicated terrain, it took us 3.5 hours from the Brussels campground to the base of the route.

While we followed the North Face route description in Selected Alpine Climbs in its broad outlines, it was not always easy to relate the ground we climbed to the guidebook description. Below is a description of the line we followed. The rock on the first pitch left something to be desired. The remaining pitches had decent and sometimes even excellent rock, although just about every pitch also had some loose blocks to contend with. We took 6 hours from base to summit. From the summit register it appeared that ours was only the second ascent of the route.

1. 50 m, 5.8. Start below a big band of overhangs some 60-70 m up. The overhangs are interrupted by a deep gash with a wet streak oozing from it. We started some 20 m right of the streak, aiming for a left-leaning line of weakness. Getting onto this left-leaning ramp requires some careful climbing up a friable face, but nothing too alarming. Follow the loose but easy ramp up and left to a ledge below a right-facing flake.

2. 50 m, 5.9. Follow the flake for a few metres then move out left and up to below an arching left-facing corner immediately right of the water streak. Climb the corner with sustained climbing and belay on the right edge of a small scree bowl.

3. 60 m, 5.8. Cross a deep hidden gully (wet scree or ice) and climb a bottomless chimney to easy ground. The chimney is loose at the start but quickly improves. Follow an easy gangway going left and belay wherever you run out of rope.

4. 40 m, 5.6. Climb one of several possible easy corners onto the large scree ledge halfway up the face. Cross the ledge and climb up and left onto a pedestal at the base of a square-cut right-facing corner.

5. 40 m, 5.10. Climb the corner past a large square block to a bulge, step right around the bulge, and make a few more steep moves to reach the right end of a good ledge. The climbing is sustained and solid for the grade, but well protected.

6. 60 m, 5.9. From the left end of the ledge, climb a right-facing corner with sustained but well-protected climbing. Near the end of the pitch, angle right to easier ground.

7. 60 m, 5.8. Follow the slot above with interesting climbing to the summit ridge. The summit is another 30 easy metres away to the right.

Rappel and downclimb the NE Ridge (lots of fixed stations). Reverse the approach with possibly some rappels down fourth-class ground.