Last month and on the heels of unforgiving winter conditions, Dustin Byrne and Tad McCrea landed at the Mountain House in the Ruth Gorge. Prior to their arrival, temperatures had dropped below -30 degrees Fahrenheit. Deep snow and overhanging mushrooms stalled several team efforts to reach the top of the infamous Mooses Tooth massif.
With the winter now struggling to retain its bitter-cold grasp on the Alaska Range, Byrne and McCrea moved upward within a day of setting foot on the glacier. They made a quick, one-day repeat of the classic Ham and Eggs (V 5.9 A4, 3,000′) and were the first climbers to summit the peak this season.