Mounts Steele, Wood and Walsh and Other Climbs Made from the General Camp of the Yukon Alpine Centennial Expedition. Of the peaks climbed by the expedition in or on the Steele valley watershed, only Steele and Wood have official names. Mount Walsh, the only peak outside the watershed to be climbed from the camp, also has an official name. Ascents of these peaks were as follows. Mount Steele (16,644 feet) : Fifth ascent on July 29 by Helmut Microys, Klaus Boerger and Mrs. Wendy Teichmann. They traversed the peak from a high camp south of the mountain, ascending the 1937 Washburn-Bates route and descending the southeast ridge to the Y.C.C.E. high camp. Sixth ascent on August 4 by Microys and Stan Rosenbaum, reascending the route descended previously by Microys’ party, the southeast ridge, the first ascent of this ridge. Seventh ascent on August 7 by Scipio Merler, Miss Freddie Chamberlain, Mrs. Ruth Gaffer, Dave Wessel. Eighth ascent on August 10 by Michael Matthews, Murray Foubister, Tim Griffin, Tatsuya Nagahama. Both the seventh and eighth ascent parties climbed the mountain from the high camp on the southeast ridge. On August 3 Hans Schwarz (guide), Dave Bidwell, Merler and Wessel climbed from the Walsh high camp to the Steele high camp, which was the first ascent of this section of the ridge. Merler and Wessel returned to the Steele high camp on the 6th to complete the climb. Mount Wood (15,885 feet): third ascent on August 10 by Peter Fuhrmann (guide), Peter Brogden, Mrs. Judy Cook, William Hurst, Stan Paterson, Neil McCubbin. The route led from the high camp up the southeast ridge to the summit. Mount Walsh (14,780 feet) : fourth ascent on July 26 by Fuhrmann, John Dynneson, Colin Godfrey, Ernst Reinhold, Arthur Schwarz, Dieter von Hennig; fifth ascent on August 5 by Hans Gmoser (guide), James Bennett, Mrs. Cook, Foubister, Paterson, Bruno Struck; sixth ascent on August 6 by Hans Schwarz, Alain Arsenault, William Frantz, Griffin, McCubbin, Nagahama; seventh ascent on August 7 by Bernard Royle, Gordon Adams, Ned Baldwin, Miss Jean Finley, Mike Goodchild, Ronald Royston. All four parties climbed the mountain from the high camp up the west ridge to the summit. These climbers were flown to high camps by helicopter.

Numerical designations were used for the peaks lying southeast of the General Camp. Since then an application has been made to the Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, requesting approval of the names which appear in quotation marks. Those on the south side of the Steele Glacier have been named after the twelve deceased presidents of the Alpine Club of Canada and those on the north side were names suggested at the camp. The name of “Mount Tempest” was used by Anderson Bakewell when he made the first ascent solo on August 26, 1941, after the ascent of Mount Wood. Some peaks were climbed directly from the General Camp and others from the “B Glacier” high camp; Peaks 0, 6, 8, “Promenade,” “Terrace,” “Teapot” and “Gmoser’s Gmesa” were climbed from helicopter landings. Helicopters had to be used to take climbers to many of the mountains because the Steele Glacier surge has made it impossible for anyone to travel on it. The lower parts of many of the subsidiary glaciers were also affected by the surge. Peaks 0, 1, 2, 2A, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and “Terrace” were climbed many times from camp, being the most accessible. Peaks 1, 2 and 2A are not listed among the following first ascents since they had already been climbed by Walter Wood’s previous expeditions. The following list is all of first ascents. Peak 0—“Mount Sibbald” (10,050 feet) on August 5 by John Tewnion, Gordon Adams, Ned Baldwin, Miss Freddie Chamberlin, Brian Kregosky, Ronald Royston, Gordon Smaill, Roland Schwerdtfeger, Mrs. Margaret Tewnion. The route led from the helicopter landing beside the Steele Glacier up the north ridge. Peak 3—“Mount Oliver Wheeler” (9850 feet) on July 19 by John Hunt, Colin Godfrey, Mrs. Joy Hunt, Ernst Reinhold, Andrew and Fritz Wiessner. The route led from the C (“Foster”) Glacier up snow and ice on the east face to the north ridge, which was followed over a sub-summit and on to the main summit. Peak 4B (9550 feet) on July 26 by Dave Parfitt, Dr. Joyce Davies, Miss Pat Gooding. Peak 4A—“Mount McCoubrey” (10,250 feet) on July 2 2by Bob Hind, Jack Cade, Jo Kato, Garry Kozel, Jim Lampard, Brian Thompson. The route led from the A (north branch of the "Foster”) Glacier up the north ridge to the summit. They descended to the 4A-Triplex col and then to the “Gibson” Glacier, which they followed down to the Steele valley. Peak 4—“Mount Moffat” (11,500 feet) on July 24, by Peter Fuhrmann (guide), Miss Judy Allen, Godfrey, Leo Smith, Andrew and Fritz Wiessner. From high camp on the B (east fork of the “Foster”) Glacier, the route led up the glacier to the Triplex-4 (“Samson-Moffat”) col and then up the ridge to the summit. Triplex—“Mount Samson” (11,000 feet) on August 5 by Fuhrmann, Miss Jean Finley, John Hopwood, Miss Marilyn Thompson. From the B Glacier high camp the route led up the glacier to the Triplex-4 col and up the ridge to the summit. Peak 5—“Mount Hickson” (11,350 feet) on July 22 by Roger Neave, Miss Chamberlin, Basil Dunell, Sterling Hendricks, Wallace Joyce, Dr. Douglas Lampard. From the B Glacier high camp the route led from the (“Foster”) Glacier up a broken rib to the northwest ridge and up the ridge to the summit. Peak 6—“Mount Foster” (12,000 feet) on August 7 by Tewnion and Mrs. Tewnion, Foubister, Kregosky, Michael Matthews, Smaill, John Thompson, Mrs. Rosa Thompson. The route led from the helicopter landing on the glacier south of Peak 7 (“Mount Patterson”) up a snow ridge to a glacial bowl and then up the south ridge to the summit plateau. Peak 7—“mount Patterson” (11,300 feet) on August 6 by Matthews, Trevor Morris, Miss Monica Nasmyth, Rodney, Sykes. From the B Glacier camp the route led up the C (“Foster”) Glacier to north of the hanging glacier and then up rock and snow to the north ridge and along this to the summit. Peak 8—“Mount Arthur Wheeler” (10,050 feet) on August 3 by Neave, Alain Arsenault, Peter Brogden, Miss Chamberlin, Mrs. Judy Cook, Foubister, Neil McCubbin. The route led from the helicopter landing at a survey station up to the north ridge and along the ridge to the summit.

The following first ascents were north of the Steele Glacier. "Mount Promenade” (9200 feet) on July 19 by Don Morrison, Miss Allen, Miss Sylvia Evans, Joyce, Jim Lampard, John LaPlace, Mike Piggott, Robert Peters, Tom Swaddle, Andrew Woznicki. From the helicopter landing on the glacier between "Tempest” and "Terrace,” the route led up the glacier and then up rock and snow gullies to the top. "Gmoser’s Gmesa” (9000 feet) on July 19 by Hans Gmoser (guide), Barry Coulter, Leon Hawes, Miss Ngaere Houghton, Ken Philp, Walter Robinson, Gerrit Schlee, Bill Sharp. The route led from the helicopter landing up the glacier between this peak and "Terrace” to the upper snowfield and thence up the northeast ridge to the summit. "Terrace” (9700 feet) on July 26 by Schlee, Miss Elma Demchenko, Mrs. Crista Dietz, Joyce, Dr. Douglas Lampard, LaPlace, Miss Jean Logie, Peters, Smith, Dick Thompson, David Vallance, Bob Wharry. From the helicopter landing, the route led up the glacier to the south ridge and then across the east face below the ridge up to cliff bands and then south below the summit and up a snow slope on the west to the summit ridge. "Mount Teapot” or "Teepee” (9300 feet) on August 10 by Hans Schwarz (guide), Henry Baldwin, Miss Jane Coble, Kregosky, Jack Miller, Mrs. Joan Miller, Steve Saba, James Thorsell. The route led from the helicopter landing up to a gully on the southwest that separates the peak from the west ridge and then up the gully to the summit. They descended the west ridge.

David R. Fisher