North America, United States, Alaska, St. Elias Range, Mount Bona

Publication Year: 1996.

Mount Bona. On April 18, Gavin Vaughn and I (George Pinney) were flown into the St. Elias by Paul Claus. We landed on a fork of the Russell Glacier directly below the north face of Mount Bona. We skied to 8,000 feet on the glacier and established basecamp where we sorted through three weeks of food and equipment. On the 19th we began our climb via a chute to the west that led to a bowl, and camped on the flanks of the prominent ridge coming off Bona to the northwest. On the 20th we nearly reached the ridge crest, but were held back by the deteriorating weather and a difficult set of bergschrunds that slowed our progress. We camped in a filled-in crevasse and spent the 21st waiting out the storm. On the 22nd we crested the ridge and camped on a saddle at 13,000 feet. At 15,000 feet we were hit by high winds but the sky remained clear. After four hours we had climbed 3,420 feet up moderate terrain using only one tool and reached the summit of Mount Bona at 16,421 feet.

George Pinney, unaffiliated