How ‘The North Face’ Got Its Name
Fifty years ago, Doug Tompkins founded The North Face to supply explorers with gear that could help them tackle more difficult objectives than ever before. But one question that comes up regularly is where the name ‘The North Face’ came from. If you read the FAQ on thenorthface.com, you will find this answer:
“In the Northern Hemisphere, the north face of a mountain is generally the coldest, iciest and most formidable route to climb. Our founders thought this name reflected our mission and dedication to the extreme.”
It’s an interesting idea, but raises the question: What is it that makes the north face so “formidable”?
In the Northern Hemisphere, it is true that the north face is usually colder and icier than the other faces of a given mountain. On both a daily and yearly basis, the northern side receives less sunlight and spends more time in the shadow, giving snow and ice a greater chance of remaining year-round. A group of climbers planning an approach from the north side of a peak may need to prepare and equip themselves for rock, snow, and ice in the span of a single day. Even if the conditions aren’t particularly treacherous, frosty toes and a lack of sunlight have a way of adding psychological difficulty to any northern approach.
But the north face is characterized by more than just colder temperatures and an increased chance of snow and ice on the surface. Although we tend to think of mountains as eternal figures, towering over the surrounding landscape forever, the fact is that they change dramatically over time. According to Hayden Miller, a climber and geochemistry PhD student at Caltech, “Physical weathering is the principle driver of our most dramatic mountain landscapes”. That is to say, the mountains that we love to play on are constantly being sculpted by erosion from sediment that is carried by water and ice.
One major cause of physical weathering on steep faces comes from temperature fluctuations in the rock, says Miller. As the temperature goes up and down, any water or ice found in the rock expands and contracts, and will eventually cause the rock to collapse, crumbling away to create a slope with a more gentle angle. Over thousands of years, steep slopes that receive more sunlight are slowly massaged by the freeze and thaw cycle to become less and less extreme, while northern faces remain steep and can even be held together by permafrost that acts like glue.
On the other hand, Miller points out, a more extreme force for erosion is glaciation. Glaciers are a very effective tool for carving steep, shear faces, becoming particularly forceful where the headwall of a glacier comes in contact with steep terrain. While their colder nature makes north faces less susceptible to the effects of the freeze and thaw cycles, it also means that glaciers are more likely to form on their flank. Since the Northern Hemisphere has experienced more glaciation than the Southern Hemisphere in recent history (recent meaning the last 2.58 million years!), glaciers have had a profound impact on the mountains that we love to explore so much.
So while a southern face is more likely to be slowly broken down and settle into a gentler slope, a northern face is more likely to be carved away and left with an extreme slope. It doesn’t take an expert mountaineer to decide which of those sounds like the bigger challenge. Add snow and ice into the equation, and you have the makings of an epic climb. When Doug Tompkins set out to equip climbers, it was his intention to help them push further in their exploration than ever before, tackling the most formidable challenge available to them: The North Face.
