Thompson Ridge Area, Chugach Mountains. On June 12 Jim Miller flew Bob Jacobs, Ole Kanestrom and me to the Thompson Ridge area. We landed on a sandy gravel bar near Ross Green Lake, where a Polish expedition had set up Base Camp. We joined them for a week of climbing in this spectacular wilderness. A Pole, Pawel Kubalski, climbed with us. Later that same day, the four of us set out to establish Advance Base on an unnamed glacier which lies along the east face of Needle Mountain. We set up camp at 5000 feet early the next morning after climbing through the badly broken icefall all night. Due to snow conditions, we did all our climbing at night. Most of the couloirs began to avalanche around 9:30 A.M. On June 14 we left camp at midnight to ascend the northwest rib of P 8178. This peak lies on the ridge which is due east of Needle Mountain. We made our way through the crevasses and then through the séracs near the base of the rib. The snow rib was 45°, steepening to 55° or 60° a few hundred feet below the summit. On top we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise and panoramic views of the Bagley Icefield and all the way to Mount Logan to our east. We traversed the ridge from P 8178 to P 8096 to the north and descended its west ridge. On July 15 we ascended Needle Mountain (7573 feet) by the snow couloir on its east face to a col on the ridge just south of the summit spire. Bob Jacobs led the final 30 feet up the spire from which the peak gets its name. On June 16 we climbed the two southernmost of the three 8000-foot spires which lie just south of Needle Mountain. Again we ascended a steep couloir on the east face of the ridge. We returned to camp just before large avalanches wiped out our tracks. Jacobs and Kubalski also climbed P 6564 by its northwest face. Poles Czerwinski, Maczynski, Piekarczyk and Sobolewski had just climbed it from the east two hours earlier. On June 17 we descended to the Polish Base Camp. On the lower glacier it was exciting due to the rapid snow melt. Kubalski was unlucky enough to spend an hour extricating himself from a crevasse. On June 18 we climbed P 6667 by a snow couloir on its east face. Reaching a col just north of the summit, we followed the ridge to the summit. We believe that these were all first ascents except Needle Peak, P 6564 and P 6667, second ascents.

Danny W. Kost, Unaffiliated