Mount Moosilauke
Ice climbing up Jobildunc Ravine to the summit
4,802 ft
Dates Climbed: 1/29/05, 1/11/07, 10/4/09, 12/7/2013
Mt Moosilauke via Jobildunc Ravine Alpine Ice Climbing
Dec 8, 2013
Eric and Matthew Gilbertson, Dave, Susan
Second from the left gulley, 3 pitches, WI2-3
There exists a secret ravine on the side of Mt Moosilauke that hold numerous multipitch alpine ice routes, but isn’t in any guidebook. There are no official trails leading into Jobildunc Ravine, but if you know where to look there’s actually a secretly-maintained trail leading right to the base of the climbs.
We started out at the Ravine Lodge Road Sunday morning and hiked in a couple miles to the trailhead and then up the Asquam Ridge trail until it crossed the Baker (Asquamchumauke) river at the outlet of the ravine. A few minutes beyond the crossing we cut into the woods on the left and stumbled across the remains of the old trail into the ravine. Apparently this trail was abandoned around 1970, but somebody has been going in and axing out all the blowdowns, so it’s essentially as easy to follow as a normal trail!
Jobildunc Ravine on the east side of Moosilauke
We hiked up this trail for about an hour until we entered a boggy area and got our first glimpse of the ice climbs. There are four distinct gulleys all 2-3 pitches long, with the left most being fairly narrow but the right most one very wide with many variations for climbs.
We followed the trail until it disappeared below the climbs, and then bushwacked to the base of the longest gully, the one second from the left. We split up into two teams of two and climbed up the gulley for 3 solid pitches before topping out in the bushes above.
After packing up we bushwacked a quarter mile and intersected another abandoned but apparently maintained trail, which led us right to the summit of Mt Moosilauke. We descended via Mt Jim and the Asquam Ridge trail, reaching the car 13 hours after we left.
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