West Kahiltna Peak, North Face, and Traverse to East Kahiltna Peak. On June 13 Bertl Breyer and I made the first ascent of the north face of West Kahiltna Peak in seven hours. The main difficulties were in the bottom third of the 3000-foot ice face. The main problem was to find a route through the ice terraces and séracs. The average angle was 45° to 50°. We continued on to make the first traverse of the ridge to East Kahiltna Peak and to Kahiltna Notch. This difficult ridge is in great part double-corniced and has sections up to 70°; it was nearly impossible to belay on the steep snow. It took us 17 hours from our camp on the northeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier until we were back in camp.

Udo Knittel, Deutscher Alpenverein