North America, United States, Alaska, Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains, Peak 9265 (Possible) First Ascent

Publication Year: 1997.

Peak 9265, (Possible) First Ascent. Peak 9265 sits just northeast of the intersection of the Anderson and Chitina glaciers, and only two miles from the Canadian border. On August 8, Gary Green of McCarthy Air flew me into a lake located at the confluence of the Chitina and Logan Glaciers. As the sound of the Super Cub faded, a strange noise on the hillside above me caught my attention. It took a minute for me to realize that the commotion was a grizzly growling and snapping its jaws at me from the brush. Luckily, I soon heard rocks rolling higher up the moraine and watched as the three cubs and one sow disappeared over the top. I headed on my way up the Chitina Glacier and made camp on the small stretch of clear ice an hour or so from the base of Peak 9265.

The next day I continued around the base of Peak. 9265 and set up a camp at around 5,000 feet on its southern flanks. The following day had intermittent showers and clouds, so I waited for better weather. On August 11,I went up the rocky gullies and ravines to the ridge crest at around 7,800 feet. A number of mountain goats in the ravines were surprised by my presence. I followed the ridge to around 8,800 feet, where I went up a snow gully to crest the ridge again. From there to the summit, which I reached by early afternoon, was a short walk. I had planned to continue along the ridge to the east, but there appeared to be some rock gendarmes that I would be unable to pass alone, so I enjoyed the views of the surrounding peaks, Logan, St. Elias, Bona, Craig, Wood, Bear, Tittmann, and many others. I then descended to camp, and the following day returned all the way back to the lake for my pickup on the morning of August 13. The hike out became an epic after it began to rain heavily in the early afternoon. I believe this was the first ascent of the peak.

Danny Kost