A number of new ice climbs were dis- covered and

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Ice Climbing in Colorado.
A number of new ice climbs were discovered and climbed in the winter season. Several icicles were found in
Paradise Creek Canyon near Rifle. Jim Balog, Jim Logan and Jon
Krakauer climbed Parachute. They ascended three pitches of 80’ to
overhanging ice; a tube or chimney of lacy ice capped by an overhanging
curtain was the crux. The climb was thought to be harder than Bridalveil. Bridalveil Falls, one of Colorado’s classic winter ice climbs and one
of the most important ice climbs of the 197Os,has recently been the scene
of controversy. The falls, which run over property controlled by the
Idorado Mining Company, have been climbed numerous times since the
1976-1977 season. However, since mid-winter of 1979, Idorado has restricted access to the falls. Although Bridalveil Falls lie within a national
forest, the company owns patented mining claims for the land and has a
legal right to prevent people from using it. On February 20 Kevin Cooney
and Tom Pulaski made the approach to the falls under the cover of darkness (the mining company has taken to posting guards near the entry),
climbed it and descended to tind the sheriff waiting, ticket in hand. At a
court hearing, Cooney was sentenced to a $250 fine, seven days in jail, or
two years’ probation.
MICHAEL
Mount
Alice,
East Face, Rocky
Mountain
National
KENNEDY
Park, 1978.
I
made the first ascent solo of a new line on the right side of the east face
of Mount Alice in August, 1978 (NCCS V, F9, A2). The route takes
the crack line that diagonals up and slightly left. It had been previously
attempted by unknown climbers. I did nine roped pitches, then unroped
and climbed some 350 feet (up to F9) to the summit scree. The route
went 90% free.
JAMES
BEYER
CANADA
Yukon
Territory
Mount Logan and Mount Kennedy.
Climbing activity in Kluane
National Park was again up this year. We had 30 groups made up of
158 people spending a total of 3693 man-days in the park. Five parties
climbed the King Trench route of Mount Logan successfully: Canadians
Dave Wood, Thomas Pulaski, Rick Hum, Dave King, Art Burrows and
Paul Parker; Canadians Siegfried Noestaller, Walter Burns, Dominic
Niehaus and Reinhold Plankensteiner; Canadians Martyn Williams, Hector McKenzie, Bob Jickling, John Solem, Gordon Blanz, Russel Patrick
and Mike Beedel; Swiss Kurt Hegglin, Franz Stocker, Hans Studer, HansBeat Siiss and Hans Renggli; and Canadians Roland Reader, Peter Mix,
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EXPEDITIONS
Stanley Rosenbaum and James H. Whitteker. Six groups climbed the east
ridge: Canadians William Norrie, Paul Zimmerman, Tom Saunders and
David Pors; Canadians Christopher Kubinski, Rick Engman, Leonard
Potter and Columb Puttick; Canadians Kevin O’Connell, David Hobill,
Saul Greenberg, Howard Bussey, Carl Lund and Paul Ritzema; Canadians Gerald Holdsworth, France Fux, Mike Maxwell and Robert Oruig;
Canadians Rob Kelly, Peter Charkin, Pete Ford and Patrick Paul; and
Canadians Willie Pfeisterer, Tim Auger, Peter Perrin, Murray Hindle,
Tom Davidson, Chuck Hume, Ron Chambers, Rick Staley, Doug Burles
and Lloyd Freese. Americans Franz Mohling, Paul O‘Sullivan, Jim Bock,
Sarah Chaney, Chuck Huss and Tom Masterson successfully climbed the
Centennial Ridge of Mount Logan but did not go on to the summit. Three
groups climbed Mount Kennedy via the Cathedral Glacier: Americans
James Eason, Peter Hoose, Linda Laterneau, John Murphy, Tim Neale
and Tracy Sheer; Japanese Akira Nakamura, Hideo Saito, Kougo Sato,
Shingo Yamamori, Masao Abe and Kautoshi Onishi; and Japanese Hidehiro Sugawara, Kiyoshi Yamakawa, Masaru Watanabe and Katsuhiro
Sasaki.
LLOYD
FREESE,
Kluane National
Park
Mount Hubbard.
Andy Williams of Alcan Air had said that we
should not be distressed to see clear weather at Kluane Lake and still
not be able to fly because of bad weather in the mountains proper. His
warning kept recurring in our minds as we basked in the sun on Kluane
Lake from May 18 to 24. By 3:30 P.M. on May 24 Peter Hoose, Linda
Letourneau, John Murphy, Tim Neale, Tracy Sheer and I were busy
setting up camp and sorting gear at 6400 feet on the Cathedral Glacier,
which was to serve as Base Camp. En route, Hoose and I were landed
at 7800 feet on the south arm of the Kaskawulsh Glacier where we
placed a ten-days’ food and fuel cache for our return ski trip. We began
the ascent of the lower icefall of the Cathedral about noon on the 25th.
Camp II was established that evening at the base of the upper icefall at
8400 feet. The third day, in deference to the extreme heat beneath the
cloudless blue skies, which were to continue for 13 of the next 14 days,
we delayed leaving camp until six P.M. We found the route through the
west side of the upper icefall to be straightforward and fast. We established our high camp at 10,500 feet, beneath the large snow bowl leading
east toward Mount Kennedy. On May 27 we left about noon for what
was an unsuccessful 9%-hour round-trip attempt to reach the summit of
Kennedy. We were able to reach a prominent bergschrund 400 feet below
the summit on the south face of the summit pyramid. On May 29, after a
day’s rest, we started back up the bowl above us to look at a route we
had seen two days before which led between high serac fields on the
northwest face of Mount Hubbard and disappeared toward the north
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ridge of Hubbard (first climbed by Poles in August, 1974). Turning left
out of the bowl between Hubbard and Alverstone, we ascended the moderately steep ramp which threads its way between overhanging seracs,
crossed a large, open bergschrund, and soon found ourselves on the eastwest-trending plateau which rises to the west to meet Hubbard’s north
ridge. Twenty minutes later we stood on Hubbard’s summit (15,015
feet). The following day was spent sitting out a small St. Elias storm.
On May 31 we descended to Base Camp. On June 2 we packed our
sleds and began the traverse to the Kaskawulsh. We skied 12 miles to
place camp at 5000 feet on the Lowell Glacier just at the base of a small
feeder glacier which bounds the south side of Ulu Mountain. The next
day we skied 11 miles, placing camp west of the Cascade Icefall at 4500
feet near the south entrance to a prominent north-south-oriented pass.
The pass was only moderately steep and after two hours we skied out
onto the upper Lowell and headed across the glacier to a northwestsoutheast-trending pass leading onto the upper Dusty Glacier and the
bowl at the head of the south arm of the Kaskawulsh. After 8% miles
we camped at 6300 feet three miles east-southeast of our objective canyon. On June 5 we skied six miles to the pass onto the Dusty Glacier.
Camp was placed at 8200 feet at the summit of the pass. The next
morning brought an easy three-mile ski down to the 7800-foot cache on
the south arm of the Kaskawulsh. June 7 was our last full day on the
glacier. Peter Hoose and I went for a climb on the ridge which lies north
of Pinnacle Peak. Viewed from our camp, looking west, there are two
ridges, a south and a north ridge, which give access to a series of aligned
summits along the major ridge. We selected the easternmost summit
(lO,OOO+ feet). We approached its north ridge by skiing the ramp and
bowl leading to its south-southwest side, which enabled us to ski to within 800 feet of the summit. We finished the climb by scrambling up 400
feet of loose scree before using crampons for the final 400 feet of corniced ridge. Phil Upton in Alcan Air’s Helio-Courier picked us up early
on the 8th.
JAMES E. EASON, Mountaineering
Club of AIaska
Canada-Coast
“Chutine
Range
Peak”, Owens Peak, and Other Peaks of the Stikine Region.
When an anticipated trip to Mount Logan fell through at the last moment
I began scrambling to rescue something from the summer season. Two
years previously my wife Betty and I and three friends had explored a
portion of the northern Stikine Icecap from a base camp on Chutine
Lake, B.C. (Canadian Alpine Journal, 1979, p. 36). We thoroughly
enjoyed the area and knew that it still offered many worthy climbing
objectives. We were able to recruit two of the previous trip members,
Geoff Faraghan and John Hoiberg, and friends Nathan Hoover, Jason
CLIMBS
AND
EXPEDITIONS
I97
Winnett, Les Wilson and his son Chris. On June 27 we were back in
our old Base Camp at Chutine Lake (950 feet). Poor coastal weather
had ruled out the airdrop we wished to do on the icecap. For five days
we worked on re-establishing our route to the icecap, making several first
ascents of bordering peaks along the way, Finally the weather cleared
and the plane returned to the airdrop. Food and fuel sufficient for ten
days were dropped on the edge of the icecap at 6600 feet. We left Base
Camp and reached the airdrop twenty-four hours later. After picking up
the supplies, we set off on skis for a 40-mile loop east of the international
boundary. Much of the time glacial fog swirled around us and we were
forced to navigate by compass. Along the way we stopped to climb
Boundary Peak 75 (7776 feet), Boundary Peak 76 (7442 feet), and
Owens Peak (8 100 feet), all first ascents. Peak 75 was climbed via a
glacier on the southwestern (Alaska) side. Peak 76 was climbed via the
long, sharp class 4 east ridge in an abominable mixture of rain, sleet,
snow, and nearly zero visibility. Ten hours were required just for the
round trip between the false and true summits, and we were forced to
bivouac for the brief night. Owens Peak, on the other hand, was climbed
via the southeast glacier in spectacularly clear weather. Both summits
were visited, the northeast proving to be slightly higher. After our return
to Chutine Lake we set our sights on the highest peak in the area, 9633foot “Chutine Peak”. So named by the first climbing party to visit the
area in 1973 (C.A.J., 1974, p. 19), it rises spectacularly right out of the
eastern shore of the lake. Two attempts made on the peak in 1973 were
unsuccessful, due at least in part to poor weather. Four days remained
before the plane was to return, just enough time for a light, fast assault.
Les and Chris Wilson, Geoff Faraghan, and I made a nerve-wracking
crossing of the icy lake in our flimsy four-man raft. We chose to tackle
the peak along a prominent south-projecting rib. Each successive thousand feet on the first day alone produced a radically different terrain-a
miserable, unstable sandy slide; sound granite ledges and slabs; an incredible, jumbled deadfall; and a packed sand slope covered with low spruce.
At timberline (5300 feet) we found a convenient heather carpeted camp
spot and two tiny snow patches. This spot was one of the few respites in
the unrelenting 45” slope and the snow was the first source of water on
the otherwise dry rib. The next morning we traversed west into a deep
gully to avoid gendarmes at the head of the rib. The gully was ascended
to a large snowfield and thence to a prominent saddle southeast of the
peak. We were now in the clouds and would, in fact, never see more
than small parts of the upper mountain. From the saddle our route up
the southern slopes of the southeast ridge was a seemingly interminable
maze of rotten, rocky gullies. When we finally reached the foot of the
summit glacier we were faced with a treacherous granular ice slope. Once
over this the final 500 feet to the summit was a snow slog, enlivened only
by the ever present danger of pitching over the precipitous northeast face
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in the near zero visibility conditions. An ice bollard was used to get off
the summit glacier and great care was taken in working back down the
rocky maze. However, on reaching the saddle it miraculously cleared
and we were back at our comfortable camp spot by ten P.M. The following day we made a leisurely return to Base Camp one day ahead of
schedule. The weather was beautiful and we foolishly gorged ourselves
on most of our remaining food. Then, the night before we were to be
picked up, the weather suddenly turned bad. For two extra days we
waited impatiently in the rain. But as quickly as it had come on, the
bad weather abated, and on July 21 we were treated to a spectacular
flight back across the icecap to Juneau.
PAUL
TAMM
Ape Lake, Monarch Icefield Area. From June 18 to July 8 Erin
Corey, Anson “Ace” Moore, Eleen Baumann, and I made several new
climbs in this area. From camps on the icefield we ascended Erehwon by
the east ridge and Dagon’s south face on good rock. “Lilith,” 3 miles
southwest of Belial, was also climbed. From Ape Lake, Moore and Corey
climbed “Lombroso,” 1.4 miles southeast of Musician; Baumann and I
ascended “Point Daniel,” the easternmost summit in the cirque of peaks
immediately northwest of the snout of the Noeick Glacier. The latter four
climbs appear to be first ascents.
RICHARD
G. MITCHELL,
JR., M.D.,
Vnafiliated
The Brother and the Sisters, North Faces, Niut Range. After nearly a
month of waiting for the usual “Indian Summer”, Fred Beckey, Bill Lahr,
and I at last got our proposed traverse of the Niut Range underway. At
ten A.M. on September 15, after being flown in to camp atop Bench
Glacier, we set out for the north face of the Brother. Intricate routefinding and a few steep snow pitches, capably led by the rugged and
ageless Fred Beckey, found us apparently on the verge of gaining access
to the intended ascent route, a rather steep ice a&e on the west edge of
the face. A seemingly impassable crevasse system yielded via an F6
pitch on a rock buttress emerging from the icy face. An easy traverse
led to the undulating 35” to 50” ice ar&te which was followed to the west
summit. After reaching the true summit, in waning sunlight we downclimbed and rappelled the southeast ridge to the unnamed glacier east of
the Brother. But it was dark and with three sets of “bad eyes” we soon
accepted the inevitable “unexpected” bivouac. After resting for half a
day at camp, Bill Lahr and I decided to attempt the north face of the
Sisters. On the clear, cold morning of September 17 we set out down the
Bench Glacier one-and-one-half miles to the base of the climb. We chose
CLIMBS
AND
EXPEDITIONS
199
a line that would reach the east ridge about 300 yards east of the true
summit. Following a concave section of glacier at the base of a long
chute-like ice gully separating the Brother and the Sisters, we soon
reached a sharply defined rock a&e between adjacent ice gullies. We
running-belayed this lOOO-foot Sth-class a&e until we reached a ramp
just below an overhanging section high on the buttress. A tricky, irreversible step-across move, protected by a pin (FS), was the key. A short
mixed pitch led to the prominent green-ice couloir three pitches below its
top. With only three ice screws for protection and belays, we climbed
meticulously. Fog drifted in and out of the notch and resisted our efforts
to observe the obviously steep and difficult tower that now barred our
way to the summit. We decided to spend the night at the notch. The fog
finally dissipated enough for us to see a possible route up the tower. Bill
led a continuously steep and difficult pitch with an awkward crux-a
small, thin overhang and traverse problem (F8). Storm clouds were now
appearing on the horizon as we scrambled up two easier pitches to the
top of the large flat-topped tower. The summit itself was still five pitches
away. We down-climbed to yet another notch and crossed an exposed ice
slope to the far side. We climbed the summit tower directly up its northeast a&e on mostly good gneissic granite. Three interesting and varied
pitches on or near the crest of the steep, sharply defined corner went F7,
F8+, and F7, with the crux being a short, difficult crack leading through
a vertical wall. Clouds and fog were already swirling around the summit
whose cairn registered only one previous ascent. Retracing our route
back to our bivouac site, we quickly packed and in rapidly deteriorating
weather began a long, three-day foodless march to Base Camp. More
than two feet of snow had fallen by the time we reached the now empty
camp. The others had left for help and returned one-and-one-half days
later with the helicopter. Our “Indian Summer” was over.
GARY
Canada-Interior
BRILL,
Too Loose Alpine Club
Ranges
Pigeon Spire, East Face Variation, Bugaboos. In August, 1978 Robin
Kinnaird and I made a variant of the Kor-Cooper route on the east face
of Pigeon Spire. We followed this fine route until we reached the long,
left-facing dihedral near the center of the face. Instead of continuing
upward on aid (as the first-ascent party had), we free-climbed up and
left for several pitches along obvious cracks to a huge headwall near the
top of the spire. Rappel slings were found in this section. After a 130foot horizontal friction traverse right (F8), we climbed up a 60-foot
corner to a stance upon a flake (F8+). A 60-foot tension traverse right
across water-polished rock brought us to the upper Kor-Cooper line,
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which consists of free-climbing and another pendulum. Done this way,
the face may be climbed free except for the two straightforward tension
traverses. (NCCS IV+, F8+, Al.)
GENE L. FRANCIS,Vnafiliated
Canadian
Rockies
Mount Geikie, North Face, Ramparts, 1979. (This route was mentioned but not described in A.A.J., 1980.) Dean Hannibal and I did a
new route on the north face of Geikie in late August, 1979. We followed
the prominent buttress in the center of the face and then directly up a
shallow buttress in the center of the bowl in the top half of the face to end
about 100 meters west of the summit. The total time up was about three
days with a late start on the first and an early finish on the fourth. The
lower buttress had many pitches from F7 to F9 with a total of 15 to 20
points of aid. The rock was better than the usual Canadian kind and the
buttress was sheltered from rockfall. We stayed slightly left of the crest
until we reached the top of the red rockbands. In the lower-angled upper
bowl the rock was looser with sections of grave! overlying slabs where the
ice had melted due to a very dry season. This was generally F5 with sections of mixed ground and hard, short steps. The final two steep pitches
were on unavoidable water-ice in the usual storm. We descended what
was probably also a new route, down the south ridge.
GEOROEH. LOWE, III
Mount Dennis, Northwest Face, and Other Ice Climbs. At the end of
March, Peter Monkkonen and I set up camp under Weeping Wall and
from there did four day-climbs on ice. These climbs were in the finest
Scottish tradition, with midday starts and midnight descents: Weeping
Wall, Polar Circus (first four icefalls), Distant Blue, and the Northwest
Face of Mount Dennis. The most arduous of these was Dennis whose
first two icefalls had already yielded to Spring warmth and had to be
bypassed to the left with mixed climbing. Above, an upended ocean of
ice was still intact. Countless pitches later, well after dark, we finally
started down through the woods to the right by bushwhacking and rappelling while continuous spindrift avalanches created a moonlight maelstrom over our ascent route. The most pleasant climb was Distant Blue
which we espied from the Icefield Highway. Distant Blue is a terraced
curtain of ice two miles up the Beauty River on the north wall of Tangle
Ridge. An accursed approach on snowshoes was followed by four aesthetic, vertical pitches and a light-hearted descent back to the highway.
RICHARDLORENDOEGE
CLIMBS
AND
EXPEDITIONS
201
Mount Woolle~t, South Face. After hair-raising experiences on the
road, Karl Gerdes, Rob Boyd, Chris Jones, Jim Sedinger, Tom Kemp and
I crossed the cold and swift waters of the Sunwapta River bound for
Mount Alberta. Woolley shoulder is something every climber should
experience. Unbelievable loose rock and steep snow lead to one of the
most dramatic vistas imaginable. Directly ahead as you crest the shoulder
rises the north face of North Twin. Easy glacier walking brings one to a
high bivouac looking across to the east face of Alberta and in this particular instance to a constant stream of avalanches after nearly a month of
bad weather. A brief reconnaissance persuaded us to give Alberta time
to settle down. We set our sights on an ice slope splitting the south face of
Mount Woolley. This proved an enjoyable day. Although the slope never
exceeded 60”, vertical strac-like formations to the left allowed for excitement. The climb was longer than we expected, or we were slower than
we should have been, and we got to the summit only late in the afternoon. Whether this route had been done before we were unable to discover. We never got a try at Mount Alberta as clouds settled over the
mountain and us.
BROCK A. WAGSTAFF
Peaks near the Freshfield Icefield. In August, I spent 16 days alone in
the region just west and south of the Freshfield Icefield. Approaching
from the east, I hiked for two days to Bush Pass, descended into the headwaters of the Valenciennes River and then followed a south tributary upstream to the Campbell Icefield. I scrambled up Mount Alan Campbell,
hoping to claim a first ascent but I found a cairn on top. The next day I
found an enjoyable third-class route up the southwest face of Mount
Freshfield and had time to slog over to Mount Dent. Then I crossed the
Campbell Icefield to camp near Waitabit Lake. I climbed Mount Barnard
by a new but not recommended route, the south buttress; it was long,
difficult for an unroped climber and very loose. On the descent I passed
over the summit of Waitabit Peak and Mount Trutch. The next day I
scrambled east over the saddle into the cirque west of Mount Mummery
and found a thousand feet of fine climbing on quite solid rock leading
out of the cirque to a high point on the rim (9800 feet). From there I
climbed Nanga Parbat via the southeast ridge and went across the upper
Freshfield Glacier to Mount Trutch, which I climbed via a 50” ice face
on the right end of the northeast face. I then went down the west side
to reach the same couloir I had descended the day before. I then climbed
unnamed P 10,120, a mile southwest of Mount Mummery, which I would
like to name in memory of Chuck Loucks. To my surprise I was able to
piece together a reasonable line on the west face of Mummery by following various snow and ice gullies directly below the south summit. I set
my sights on an even more improbable line on the north face of Mount
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1981
Laussedat. The approach on gravel bars in Waitabit Creek was easy but
bushwhacking to camp below the mountain was agonizing. I spent seven
hours exploring various routes on the left side of the face before I found
a ledge leading left from the steep ice slope to a trough which led up
through the steepest section. There was rockfall. I descended the northwest ridge, also unclimbed, I believe.
DANE
Canadian
WATERMAN
Arctic
Asgard and Other Peaks, Bafin Island. Several expeditions from
Europe climbed in Auyuittuq National Park. Swiss Jean Troillet, Christian JIggi and Ruedi Homberger climbed Asgard via the southeast buttress (Scott-Hennek) route on June 24. Homberger and JIggi skied up
the northwest summit of Adluk Peak and Homberger skied up Mount
Battle. French Patrick Bourbousson, Jean-Marie Galmiche, Elizabeth
Sherding and Vlad Sergiescu climbed Asgard by the normal south ridge
on July 23 and by the Scott-Hennek route on August 2 and 3. They
climbed the normal route on Arayog, traversed Baldur from north to
south, climbed the east face of Kiiabuk and the north face of Breidablik
and traversed Tinfoil Ridge to Mount Northumbria. Italians Giulano
Mainini and Franc0 Trozzo climbed an unnamed peak northwest of
Asgard (LJ9796) on August 4. They suggest the name “Attigig.” Mainini,
Trozzo, Antonino Antinori and Marcello Cippitelli climbed Breidablik on
the 6th and Albert0 Leggi, Cippitelli, Trozzo and Mainini climbed Mount
Tyr on August 8.
R.E. REDHEAD, Auyuittuq National Park
Penny Icecap. On May 22, Rimas Gylys, Eric Laurin, and I were
dropped off at the snout of the Coronation Glacier. Hauling our gear on
sleds and snowshoes, we traveled the 25mile length of the Coronation
Glacier and crossed the southern tip of the Penny Icecap, the latter in
white-out conditions. On May 29, with the return of excellent weather,
we attempted the northwest ridge of T&te Blanche. Very loose, unconsolidated snow on the magnificent snow-covered knife-edged ridge turned us
back just above the second col. Three days later, Rimas and I attempted
Unnamed Peak LJ940993 by the southwest buttress. We turned back
after climbing a series of snow-filled gullies and aretes to within 500 feet
of the summit. On June 3 our entire party ascended Mount Turl,
MJO90922, from Glacier Lake by the northwest ridge. From the summit,
Rimas and I continued, climbing Mount Siki, MJ083907, by the northeast spur. The crux was the 400-foot, 60” to 80”, snow-covered ice face
just above the co1 between Turl and Siki. Three days later, on a “rest
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AND
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EXPEDITIONS
day” Rimas soloed Mount Tirokwa, LJ920764, by the West Couloir, falling into a crevasse to his armpits on the descent.
RICHARD
TUCKER,
Unaffiliated
Victoria and Albert Mountains, Ellesmere Island. Dave Adams, Brad
Albro, Steve Trafton, Al Errington, Bill Davis, Martin Wailer and I spent
four weeks in May and June climbing and exploring on Ellesmere Island.
We flew by commercial jet from Vancouver, B.C. to Resolute Bay and
then boarded a chartered ski-mounted twin-engine Otter, which flew US
to the Mer de Glace Agassiz Glacier in the Victoria and Albert Mountains at 80” 12’ N., 76” SO’ W., 1040 miles north of the Arctic Circle
and 740 miles south of the North Pole.. Beginning on May 17, we each
hauled sleds, weighing 175 pounds at the start on nordic skis for transport of food and equipment. We made the first ascent of 17 peaks
between 6000 and 8000 feet in this unclimbed and largely unexplored
area of Ellesmere Island. In all, we established five climbing camps as
we ski-traversed in a generally eastern direction. Most of the climbs
involved ascents of ice ridges and ridge flanks. Finally, on May 30, we
turned our sleds to the north and descended the d’Iberville Glacier to
Ellesmere’s western shore. The five-day descent proved, at times, to be
very difficult due to severe, insidious crevassing. The sea was reached on
June 3.
DONALD
GOODMAN
Inglefield Mountains.
This expedition, sponsored by the Explorers
Club, was the third in a series organized by one of us (Cochran) that
has been aimed at exploratory mountaineering around Makinson Inlet in
southeast Ellesmere Island. The first (August 1976) and second (May
1978) were joint ventures with Canadian climbers and achieved many
first ascents including the 1800-foot rock tower of Bowman Island and
snow peaks along the southern side of this remote fiord in the high Arctic.
On these prior expeditions, interesting peaks had been viewed further east
on both sides of the inlet. Known as the Inglefield Mountains on the
north and Thorndike Peaks on the south, both groups are virtually unexplored. Members of the expedition included the undersigned as well as
Nancy Van Deren, William Mayo-Smith and Carl Schuster. We arrived
in Grise Fiord, the northernmost Eskimo settlement in Canada, on April
30. Three days later, we set out on a 125mile trip to Base Camp using
Bombardier snowmobiles and 14-foot Eskimo-type sledges or “komatiks”
which we had built and shipped north from New York. With the aid of
Eskimo friends, we reached Makinson Inlet after a very difficult two-day
trip complicated by deep, soft snow in the hills. From there, Base Camp
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had been expected to be an easy four- to six-hour run over smooth seaice. Unfortunately, the upper 20 miles of Makinson Inlet never cleared
of broken ice flows the prior year and it had piled into endless masses of
heaps and ridges, then frozen into place. The Eskimos, who had planned
to come only this far, deemed it hopeless and returned. After seven days
of reconnaissance and struggle, we placed a route through this “horizontal
icefall” and continued on to establish Base on May 13 on the north shore
of the Inlet at 77”18’40”N 79”46’10”E. The delays cost so much time
that plans for extended excursions to the major peaks in each group
had to be abandoned. Instead, we reconnoitered the Thorndikes by
making a ski climb to 2200 feet on P 2750, a prominent crag with a face
rising straight from the south shore. A final crampon ascent of the summit
was precluded by questionable snow. Next, we reconnoitered the Inglefield Mountains on the north shore by heading up a large glacier and
establishing camp four miles inland. From there half the group made
an unsuccessful attempt on the highest summit in the area P 4250, four
miles further northwest. The others (Cochran, Rosenfeld, Schuster)
made a successful ski ascent of a massive 3700-foot peak (77O22’20”N;
79’46’E) that was nearer camp. Clear weather on all climbs enabled
us to obtain the first good overviews of the Thorndikes and Inglefields.
A scientific program involving mechanical measurements in sea-ice also
was carried out in cooperation with the Polar Continental Shelf Project.
For map references see National Topographic Series 1: 500,OOSmith Bay.
G.V.B.
COCHRAN,
E.D.
ROSENFELD,
and B. CAREY
GREENLAND
Peaks above Knud Rasmussen Glacier, East Greenland. On July 10
Douglas C. Anderson, leader, William Jeffrey, Andrea Mountain, Dick
Peart, Bob Dunken, Ian Carr, Noel Williams and I* flew to Kulusak.
From there we traveled by boat to Angmagssalik to pick up previously
shipped food and supplies, including an inflatable boat and motor. Petrol
was purchased in Angmagssalik (also available in Kungmiut or Sermiliqulq).
Loads were ferried by boat up Angmagssalik Fjord through
Iklsak, Ilivinga, Ikateq and Sermiliqulq Fjords to the snout of the Knud
Rasmussen Glacier. On July 17 we established a camp there and on the
19th made a food dump on the glacier. On July 21 and 22 we sledged
over difficult terrain from the dump to our first glacier camp (66”15’N,
36”W). On July 27 Andrea Mountain and I bivouacked in a storm at
* Recipient of a Vera Watson-Alison Chadwick Onyszkiewicz Climbing
Fellowship grant.
CLIMBS
AND
205
EXPEDITIONS
the foot of the central gully of P 1760 (5939 feet). After it cleared,
we set off up the gully. Bad snow, loose rock and poor belays characterized the climbing. After 2000 feet of roped climbing we reached the
shoulder of the mountain but retreated because of poor weather. Meanwhile Anderson and Jeffrey had attempted P 2070 (6792 feet) from
the south. Peart, Dunken, Williams and Carr climbed Rfidenbjerg on
July 31 by its southeast ridge. On August 7 Anderson, Mountain, Carr
and I set out on skis up the HBbets Glacier hoping to cross a 4625-foot
pass and to rejoin the others at a camp between Rddenbjerg and Tupilak.
En route we stopped to attempt P 1860 (6103 feet). We moved up the
southwest side on good mixed climbing. We found the only evidence
of another climbing attempt (rappel lines and pitons) there. Several
pitches of interesting climbing and easy ice ended on the shoulder of
the peak. Technical difficulties and a lack of bivouac gear caused us
to retreat. The entire team was back together on August 12. Jeffrey
and Williams climbed P 2070 by an easy snow gully on August 13.
On August 15 Anderson, Mountain and I repeated their route and met
Peart and Dunken descending from an ascent of the peak from the
southeast. On August 16 we started the long trip from the glacier to
the airstrip. On September 3 we flew out of Kulusak.
REBECCA
T.
UPHAM
East Green/and.
Inko Bajde, leader, Franci Gselman, Ivan Sturm,
Stefan Senekovir, Boro Jerebek, Adolf Lep, Zvone Koklif, Ivek VerebiE,
Janez Bizjak and Bojan Pajk reached Angmagssalik on July 7. They
were the third Yugoslavian expedition to Greenland. After three days
of bad weather, a helicopter dropped them near the junctions of the
Glacier de France and the Pourquoi Pas and Midgard Glaciers, where
they set up Base Camp. For the next two days they reconnoitered the
neighborhood of Base Camp. On July 13 Jerebek and Koklir headed
for the mountains on the northern side of the Pourquoi Pas Glacier and
in ten miles came to the southwest face of a striking mountain. In two
days of mixed climbing they ascended the 4000-foot-high face of this
virgin peak, which they called Edvardbjerg. While others climbed more
unclimbed peaks of the range, Bajde, Senekovir and Bizjak reconnoitered
towards Tassilaq Fjord, where they were to be picked up by boat on
August 3. They found the way very complicated and later discovered
that the boat pick-up would have been questionable because of ice. By
chance the helicopter visited Base Camp on July 16 and they arranged
to be picked up on July 28. They had no radio. From July 11 to 29 they
climbed 13 yet unclimbed peaks. After a week of extremely bad weather,
the expedition was picked up on July 29.
FRANCI
SAVENC,
Planiska Zveza Slovenije,
Yugoslavia