Devils Thumb, Stikine Icecap, Third Ascent. The approach used by Culbert’s party was not yet clear of ice and so Rich Mathies, Brad Fowler, Craig McKibbon* and I flew with Chuck Traylor of the Stikine Air Service to the mouth of the Flood River, some 24 miles from the Devils Thumb. Fortunately we did not encounter the travail of the Beckey party (A.A.J., 1947, 6:3, pp. 269-277.) and had an uneventful hike up the left bank of the river to the glacier. Above the moraine we skied to the head of the Flood Glacier and then again from above the headwall across the icefield to the Devils Thumb. After arriving and retrieving our all-important airdrop, the weather deteriorated and we spent several days with only short sorties. When the storm broke, we made the first ascent of a small peak (P 8200) about a mile southeast of the Devils Thumb. Several days later, on June 26, we repeated Cuthbert’s east ridge route on the Thumb, as avalanches swept the snow off the other faces. Unthreatened by storms, we spent a beautiful night a short distance from the summit, although we could have climbed throughout the semi-dark five-hour night. We descended a new route with eight rappels straight down the south face to a hogback snowfield forming Beckey’s 1946 route and then down a rocky buttress avoiding loose snow.

GREG DONALDSON

* Recipient of a Boyd N. Everett Climbing Fellowship grant.