St. Elias Southeast and East Ridges Attempt. On June 13, Steve Bain, Karen Bush, Charlie Carr, Ben McKinley, Chip Morgan and I were on a fork of the Newton Glacier right below the southeast ridge of St. Elias. Our goal was to complete the unclimbed southeast ridge, an extremely technical, long, exposed route. The following morning we wove our way across yawning crevasses to the base of a couloir that led up to the ridge. A large sérac near the couloir gave way, setting off an avalanche that consumed the entire couloir in Volkswagen-sized boulders. We looked for alternatives. Charlie Carr led up three pitches on a loose class-5 rock face that we believed connected with a snow ramp to the ridge. We fixed the route and returned to camp. When we returned the following day, we noticed that our fixed lines had been drenched in avalanche debris. Only 20 minutes after Charlie and I had returned from a high-speed retrieval of the gear, an enormous rock-and-snow avalanche swept the face. Luck was with us that day. We moved camp to just north of the base of the southeast ridge and tried to find a route onto the ridge from this side. Charlie Carr, Chip Morgan and I climbed steep avalanche-prone slopes beneath séracs and over large slanting bergschrunds. Charlie led the last steep pitch on loose snow and rock to a knob on the ridge where we could assess the 2000-foot exposure on both sides of the knife-edged ridge that grew to 5000 feet where the ridge leveled off. Immediately ahead lay loose steep snow that with the slightest loading appeared ready to collapse onto the Newton Glacier. Then came a steep multi-pitch rock section that looked loose and slightly overhanging near the top. These sections were minor in comparison to the steep rock and ice 3000 feet higher. It was obvious it was too late in the year for safe snow conditions. Regrouped for the east ridge, we carried loads and camped just below 11,000 feet. We had a choice of either the sharp, jagged ridge or a long, steep snow face. Charlie Carr led onto the steep face and discovered loose granular sugar snow that would not pack and offered no protection. On our return we found that the face would have involved at least eight pitches of completely unprotected, steep, exposed and avalanche- prone climbing. The next day we tried the jagged ridge. An hour and a half of painstaking step-cutting and stamping put me near the top of the ridge where one slip would have sent all of us tumbling 2000 feet to the Newton Glacier. I put in all my remaining protection, plus both my tools; the snow could not have been more dangerous. Karen Bush led past me onto the ridge and found slightly denser snow. Steve Bain climbed along the ridge and Charlie Carr went past him. They found weak cornices. We agreed that we could not justify the objective hazards and quit. One last note: for most of the climb we had a commanding view of the Abruzzi route. The huge avalanches that swept down all parts of the upper Newton Glacier, some starting from Russell Col itself, others sweeping across the glacier and up the other side, deposited sérac blocks larger than small houses and made this route and its approaches highly dangerous. It would be foolhardy to consider the route, especially in May, June and July.

Peter A. Cooley*

* Recipient of an American Alpine Club Climbing Fellowship Grant.