Mount Redoubt, Mount Spickard, Mad Eagle Peak, North Cascades. On the north side of Mount Redoubt opposite the northeast-face route is a prominent Y-shaped couloir. On July 2 Bruce Anderson and I ascended the Depot Glacier, then crossed the bergschrund at the base of the couloir. We climbed steep but perfect snow up to 70° to the top of the left branch of the couloir. From the notch at the top we traversed slightly west and found steep snow and a little rock to take us to the west talus slopes (Grade III). On May 28, 1983 Bob Presser and I ascended the snowfield below the southwest face of Mount Spickard. We noted fresh avalanche debris below the standard southwest couloir. Close inspection showed a steep narrow couloir starting at the base of the southwest couloir which went directly to a small notch in the south ridge. We ascended good firn snow in the couloir for 600 feet to where we crested on the south ridge. There we found a weathered sledgehammer probably left by miners in years past. We followed the south ridge directly to the summit (Grade II). Mad Eagle Peak is the 8100-foot peak a half mile northwest of Redoubt. Its very long north ridge descends to Depot Creek. On July 1 Anderson and I attained the lower part of the ridge via the lower West Depot Glacier. The lower ridge was heather-covered scrambling, but soon we were confronted by a steep step with an obvious left-facing open-book. After two attempts on 80 feet of 5.9 climbing, we decided that a lack of rock shoes, number-four Friends and courage would prevent our doing the open-book. We descended to the base of the step and traversed on a ledge system on the east of the ridge for 100 feet where we ascended the left of two crack systems. This excellent 5.8 pitch was followed by three loose brushy pitches which led to the ridge crest. We scrambled along the crest or east of it for ¾ of a mile to a snowfield at the base of the steep summit area. We climbed to the top on very loose rock. It seemed as if the summit would fall over if two people leaned on it too hard. We descended to the Mad Eagle-Redoubt col. (III, 5.8.)

Steven C. Risse