The Northface of Strawberry Peak was discovered in 1936 by John Mendenhall. John and Ruth Mendenhall lead nine trips to establish routes on the face with the Sierra Climb Rock Climbing Section (RCS) from 1936 to 1943 as noted in old issues of the Mugelnoos. Ray Palmer and Keith Leaman made several attempts before climbing the whole face in 1968. Their route was mostly run out face climbing, with marginal protection, and a small crux roof on the first of about 5 pitches. Ray called the route "Godzilla's Revenge". Virgil Shields and Ben Chapman made an ascent in five pitches on the right side of the face in 1983 and can attest to the poor rock quality and brutal bushwacking to the base.
When Ray and I climbed the north face we approached the climb from the north side-Camp Colby. Others may know the current best approach. Alternately, hiking in from Red Box off Angeles Forest Highway is straight forward and negates the bushwhacking required from the north side.
All up in yo bidniss.
I climbed the first pitch of Godzilla a few years ago. I climbed the route to the right (Buttress of the Winter Wind) a few pitches up on two occasions, once solo. Second time (solo) I saw the first pitch anchors were beat to hell from rockfall, which appears to have come from a roof above, which spilled loosed rock chips all over the routes below. Aug 17, 2018