Proud New Line on the Mooses Tooth

Canadian Alik Berg and American Skiy Detray are returning to their respected homes on either side of the border after a team effort bagged them a proud new line in Alaska.

Berg and Detray made headlines this year when they made the second winter ascent of the Greenwood/Locke M6 1,300 metres on Mount Temple.

After nearly a week and a final 80-hour push on Alaska’s Mosses Tooth, the team climbed Illusions of a Raven VI WI4R 5.9 A4 1,300 metres.

“We climbed a direct route right up the centre of the face. 1,500 meters,” Detray told Gripped as Berg was busy driving from Alaska to his home in Canmore.

“We had two bivies and then blasted the head wall, to the summit plateaus and the descent in an 80-hour push with two two-hour naps.”

The team spent five days total on the wall and topped out the summit plateau.

The Mooses Tooth is in the Ruth Gorge in the popular Alaska Range. Many people wonder where’s the apostrophe in the name “Mooses,” but the official United States Geological Survey doesn’t include it.

In 1964, the peak was first climbed via the Northwest Ridge by a party of German climbers. It was in 1975 that Jon Krakauer, Thomas Davies and Nate Zinsser climbed the famous Ham and Eggs Route on the south face.

The prize of the peak was the east face and after a number of esteemed alpinists including Mike Weiss, Jeff Lowe, Michael Kennedy and other made attempts. But, in 1981, Mugs Stump and Jim Bridwell climbed Dance of the Woo Li Masters VI 5.9 WI4+ A4 1,520 metres, which was given a direct start in 2001 by Bridwell and Spencer Pfinsten called The Beast Pillar VII A5 5.10b WI4+ M6 1,500 metres.

In 2013, three new routes were climbed on the east face: Bird of Prey  5.10 M7+ A2 90 degrees  1,500 m by Dani Arnold and David Lama; NWS V WI6 M5  1,400 m by Scott Adamson and Pete Tapley and Terror Terror  VI WI6 M7 R/X A2  1,500 m by Scott Adamson and Chris Wright.

Mooses Tooth’s east face routes:

You Can’t Fly  VI 5.10+ A3  1,400 m
The Useless Emotion  VII 5.9 WI4 A4 1,430 m
The Southeast Face  TD+: 5.8 WI5+ A3  1,300 m
The Beast Pillar  a direct start to The Dance of the Woo Li Masters VII 5.10b WI4+ M6 A5  1,500 m
The Dance of the Woo Li Masters  VI 5.9 WI4+ A4  1,500 m
Illusions of a Raven VI WI4R 5.9 A4 1,300 metres
Terror  VI WI6 M7 R/X A2  1,500 m
Bird of Prey  5.10 M7+ A2 90 degrees  1,500 m
Arctic Rage  VI WI6+ R A2  1,400 m
NWS  V WI6 M5  1,400 m

Source: American Alpine Club