Ellesmere-Bowman Island. Bowman Island, with its striking 1870- foot rock tower, lies in the middle of Makinson Inlet, a large fiord in the east coast of Ellesmere Island, roughly 800 miles from the North Pole. My previous expedition in August 1976 (see C.A.J. and A.A.J., 1977) made a reconnaissance of the area. We had climbed a number of peaks southwest of the island, but were unable to reach Bowman itself with our Avon inflatable boats because of heavy ice. In May 1978, I returned with another combined U.S.-Canadian expedition, this time equipped for ski mountaineering: U.S. group: G.V.B. Cochran, Caroline Cochran, P. Cornell, W. Graham, P. Rogers, and H. Schriebl; Canada group: K. Ingold, S. Rosenbaum, and E. Whalley. We covered the 100 miles from Grise Fiord settlement to Base Camp with sledges and snowmobiles, aided by local Eskimos. Base Camp was on sea ice in a tributary of Makinson Inlet, five miles southeast of the island. Five first ascents of shore peaks (including P 2100) and several other excursions were made by various members of the party on skis via glacier routes. The Canadian group made a first ascent of P 4250, probably the highest summit in the “Thorndikes,” east of the Makinson Inlet tributary fiord; the highest summit on the west side (3900+ feet) had been climbed by our U.S. group in 1976. As for Bowman Island, the easier east summit was climbed first during a reconnaissance. The highest point, Bowman Peak (P 1870) our main objective, was climbed on May 17 by Graham, Ingold, Schriebl and Whalley under difficult conditions of snow-covered rock and wind. Peak altitudes refer to NTS Craig Harbour Sheet #49SW and 49SE, 1:500,000 Aero ed, except for Bowman Peak, which as a result of recent Canadian government surveys has been revised from its former 1500 feet. For details see Canadian Alpine Journal, 1979. Scientific work included mechanical strain measurements in arctic sea ice.

George Van B. Cochran