Outside California, Brinton made first ascents in Utah, British Columbia, and Wisconsin. Climbing in the southwest attracted Brinton and the early southern California climbers. Unsuccessful attempts to climb Monument Peak in Arizona with Glen Dawson in October 1937 and Shiprock in New Mexico with Glen Dawson and Bill Rice on January 8, 1938, finally led to success on June 5, 1938, when the threesome pioneered a route up the Sentinel in Zion National Park in Utah. In August 1938, Brinton joined a group of climbers who headed north to British Columbia to explore climbing in the Bugaboos in the Purcell Mountains of British Columbia. After an extended period of inclement weather, the group was able to climb the Bugaboo Spire by the Kain Route on August 20. Brinton and Glen Dawson also made the second ascent of Marmalata on August 24, and climbed Pigeon Spire. A first ascent of the West Ridge of Crescent Spire was achieved by Brinton, Homer Fuller and Howard Gates on August 28, 1938. On the way home, the group climbed Mt. Louis and Mt. Victoria in the Canadian Rockies. Finally, during the time that Brinton spent at Northwestern University in the war years (see below), he was associated with the Chicago Mountaineering Club. He made the first ascent of the eponymous Brinton's crack (class 5.6) at Devil's Lake, Wisconsin. It is said that during the first ascent, the renowned climber Fritz Wiessner backed off an attempt and then Brinton climbed to this high point, devised a traverse, and stamped his name on the classic-of-all-classics at Devil's Lake.