Fairweather, 1982. At dawn of July 27, 1982 Dick Sletten, Warren Wilder and I attained the summit of Fairweather (4663 meters, 15,300 feet). It was a perfect day with spectacular views to St. Elias and Logan to the north, Glacier Bay to the southeast and all the peaks of the Fairweather Range. We had completed the second ascent of the west ridge, following the Gove party route of 1968. (See A.A.J., 1969, pages 304-7.) The ascent from the lake in Desolation Valley took eight days. The weather was mild by southeastern Alaskan standards. We had only one storm day when we were unable to travel. However, the late season presented problems for glacier travel on the approach and in sections of the icefall. The freezing line was at 10,000 feet, which resulted in weak and sagging snow bridges and avalanche conditions. The major climbing difficulty was loose unstable rock encountered while reaching the west ridge and at the 9500-foot notch, where the ridge drops off 400 feet.

John McDonald, Unaffiliated