BEAR’S TOOTH

From June 5-19, Polish climbers Janusz Golab, Jacek Fluder, Stanislaw Piecuch and Grzegorz Skorek established a new route (VI 5.10+ A3, 1400m, 41 pitches) on the northeast face of Bear’s Tooth, starting on the pillar 250 meters to the left of The Useless Emotion (VII 5.9 WI4, ca. 1430m, Bridwell-Christensen-Dunmire-Jonas-McCray, 1999). We spent ten days on the wall, six of it climbing, two waiting out a storm and two for the rappel. The climbing went mostly free at 5.10+, with a few sections of aid up to A3. During the climb we found much brittle rock, but rockfall damaged our portaledges only slightly. Our route was the fastest ascent of the face (The Useless Emotion took twenty days) and the longest route (The Useless Emotion starts 250 meters higher). (The route lengths are the climbers’ estimations. -Ed.)