Heavenly Twins, complete North ridge Posted by bstory

 

I devoted one of the many dog days of summer 2022 to make an attempt at climbing the North ridge of Heavenly Twins from Kootenai creek.  The line is intriguing, climbing 4,000 feet from the banks of Kootenai creek.  A moderate amount of internet sleuthing and inquiring among friends didn't really disclose any good beta, so I went into it without much knowledge of route or difficulty.  Fortunately, giving it a blind go didn't feel reckless since bailing is possible for the entirety of the route.

I dropped a bike at the Saint Mary trailhead the previous evening, and and rolled up the Kootenai trail at first light.  The trail run was nice and cool and fun.  After a big water refill, I crossed the creek and attacked the bushwack.  It ended up being fairly stout but not too long, and I was soon meandering up slabs low on the ridge.  

Looking up the lowest bit of the ridge.  I climbed the most open visible slabs.

Still a long way to go.

The ridge soon became more defined and easier, and it was nice to grind up toward the alpine.  The middle third of the ridge has quite a few characteristically slow Bitterroot gendarmes, and I deviated from the crest several times when it became too slow or technical.  The steep upper mountain ended up being easy (easy 4th class) and quite enjoyable.  I arrived on the summit about 5.5 hours after leaving the creek and took a lunch break to enjoy the position. 

Final bits.

I traversed to Saint Mary peak via the normal high route.  The only two unusual aspects of the return were that I was low on energy, and it was absolutely scorching!  The bike ride down the Saint Mary road and back to Kootenai was smooth and fun.  With the return bike shuttle, it ended up being a solid 12+ hour day.  I think that descending straight to Kootenai creek would be faster than setting up the shuttle and traversing to Saint Mary as I did, but it was certainly more enjoyable to stay up high on a hot summer day and only bushwack once.

Classic view back to the Heavenly Twins from Saint Mary peak. 
I climbed the low angle skyline ridge.

This was a great day.  The ridge route was long enough to provide a good challenge, and the climbing was pretty good.  It was cool to see a new side of this iconic mountain.  I think that it could appeal both to climbers looking for a long, technically easy moderate alpine route and mountain runners with a climbing background. It does have epic/disaster potential for sure since bailing would necessitate a long and unpleasant bushwack back to Kootenai, followed by a long walk out to the car.