Steeple Spire, Cathedral Spires, Kichatna Mountains. In June Mike Graber, Alan Long, Al Bartlett, and I returned to the Kichatnas to attempt the east face of Kichatna Spire. Our efforts were frustrated by horrendous weather with storms pinning us in camp for eight and ten days at a time. Four days of extremely difficult aid climbing on terrible rock gained us our 1000-foot high point, a very cold night in hammocks in a waterfall, and an even colder return down the overhanging face in a blizzard. When time ran out for Kichatna, Bartlett and I made the second ascent* of Steeple Spire (P 6600), located on the eastern rim of the Shadows Glacier two-and-one-half miles north of the Credibility Gap. We followed a superb mountaineering route along the Northwest Ridge on the only clear afternoon in ten days. In all, we had rain or snow for twenty-five of our twenty-eight days, but morale remained high with skiing and eating heading the activities list. A better group of climbing companions I could not have asked for.

David Black, Buff Mountaineers

*First ascent by New Mexicans in 1976.