Mount Deborah, 1973. Unreported from 1973 was a traverse of the Alaska Range from the Black Rapids of the Delta to Yanert Station on the Alaska Railroad. It took us 34 days in May and June. We were Lonnie Chestnut, Bea Bigelow, Sue Criller, Ken Irving, Scott Kronsberg and I. We attempted Mount Balchen and Mount Geist and were avalanched off the latter. The weather was poor with rain and slushy snow. Ham radio greatly eased the coordination of an airdrop. This is becoming a useful tool in Alaska for logistics and safety. In February of that year Mark Hoffman, James Brady, Sonny Linder and Mike Davis attempted Deborah by the Harrer route, but via the icefall. They lost almost their entire hardware supply when a sérac collapsed onto a cache in the large Yanert icefall. Rob Wilson, Dick Heffernan, John Eichenower, Russ and Ralph Oberg, Robert Gunn and Kent Stokes reached 9700 feet on the north face of Deborah, where the north rib fades into the face and the very difficult climbing begins. They took 30 days, flying in and walking out. Heffernan and Eichenower climbed the sharp, pointy peak just east of Mount Hess, P 9448.

Daniel L. Osborne