Mount Deborah from the North, Attempt. After flying in from Harding Lake to a gravel bar on the edge of the Gillam Glacier, John Bouchard, Bob Garmirian, Tony Goodwin and I packed our gear about eight miles up the west fork of the Gillam to a point directly across from P 9730, a satellite of Deborah to the north. The first day of climbing we established a fixed line above the bergschrund on P 9730 and the next day, after 12 hours of climbing reached a point about 10,000 feet on the north ridge. The route proved to be difficult climbing on extremely rotten schist, knife-edged, and corniced with loose snow in spots. Two of the party reached a point about 700 feet above the small col between P 9730 and the main peak. At this point we ran out of rope and hardware, having just reached the upper part of the north ridge, probably about five rope lengths from its junction with the northwest ridge. The route appeared feasible but very exposed and heavily corniced. We decided not to climb due to a lack of rope to fix the last section of the knife edge. Retreat in the event of bad weather would be next to impossible without securing the route. Later, three of the party made an ascent of a peak just over 10,000 feet due west of Deborah via its long northwest ridge.

Thomas Lyman