A Long Day on Rumble
by Joe Anders, Scree 2/97

It was a clear late summer day.  Ted and I looked out our office windows at the warm blue skies.  It was obviously way too nice to stay in the office - where could we go?  After looking over our maps, we decided to give Mount Rumble a try.

I talked Ted into leaving bright and early for a change.  Actually, it was a pretty easy task since we estimated this would be a 20+ miles & 10,000'+ day and we would need all the daylight we could get.  After a couple of false turns, we headed up Prudhoe Bay Avenue, took the 3rd left after the blacktop ends onto Deloris Drive, right on Mariah Drive then follow the switchbacks up until the road ends at a gate.  Park at the last switchback before the gate.  Hike up the road, past an old abandoned cabin, then up a well worn trail into Ram Valley.  We were a little unsure about where to park the car - apparently there are still several places where inadequate public access to the back country still exists.

Ram Valley is a real jewel!  It's classic Alaska alpine meadow, easy hiking and wonderful views.  The blueberries were thick and ripe!  We counted over 40 sheep before we quit trying to keep track of them.  Ted brought his dog, "Sheba" and another dog that he was dog-sitting, "Houdini".  Houdini barely follows orders from his normal boss and did not pay any attention at all to us.  Houdini was so excited by all the sheep that he decided to chase several over the ridge.  That was the last we saw of old Houd!  We called and called, but the dog was gone.  Ted was worried - I thought good riddance to the ill mannered beast.

At the top of the valley, we left the green alpine meadow and started walking up a stream bed that marked the transition between meadow and glacial moraine.  We climbed out of the stream bed and traversed along the left side of the moraine field.  It was easy going - the rocks were large enough to hop on.  We were treated to wonderful views of Korohusk, Cumulus, Pleasant and Raina.  As we approached the top of the moraine field, we encountered ice under a thin veneer of rock and dirt and the going got a little trickier, but still not too bad.  At Bombardment Pass, we looked down at Peters Creek, 2500' below us and up at Rumble, 5000' above Peters Creek.  Too bad there isn't some way of banking altitude.

Down several more moraine fields, then across another alpine meadow that brought us to the mouth of a hanging valley.  The view from this point is indescribably beautiful - views of the headwaters of Peters Creek, incredibly rugged snowcapped mountains, the Peters Creek valley stretching out to the west...just wonderful!  The route up Rumble is easy to see - a gully behind a southerly ridge.  A faint sheep trail on the right side of the hanging valley descends to Peters Creek.  Shoes off for the creek crossing, then follow the creek up and around a ridge.  Once over the south ridge, there awaits the mother of all nasty scree slopes.  Looking up, it doesn't look too bad.  Two hours and 3000' later, you have a choice - left or right around a smaller ridge.  We couldn't remember which way we had been told to go, so we tried calling out on a cell phone to get some directions.  That worked about as well as we figured it would, so we chose the right gully, the correct route it turns out.

This really is a scree slope in a class all its own.  The rock size couldn't be better designed for making for miserable climbing.  Half step up, slide back a step, and it goes on forever.  Finally, we were at the top of the nasty at small saddle between two rock faces.  About 50' below the slope top, some orange flagging on the right marks where you climb out of the scree and get on a rock face - a rotten rock face, crumbly hand holds, lots of loose debris under foot and a 100' - 200' fall waiting for you when you slip.  This is where we stopped.  To continue, we wanted a fixed line to hang onto.