Peak 10,522', Ascent. On May 29, Kelly Bay of Wrangell Mountain Air flew me into the upper Chisana Glacier at around 8,300 feet on the southeast side of this mountain. I was climbing alone since I had been unable to locate a climbing partner. In early April, I had been in this same area with Howard Mozen to attempt Peak 10,522' and others, but we were unsuccessful due to high winds and snow.

I immediately donned skis and headed up toward the 9,200-foot col due east of the summit. Here I kicked off the skis and donned crampons. I followed this eastern ridge, which was fairly easy until a couple of hundred feet from the summit, where a large serac was separating from the summit block. There was a large crevasse that skirted the whole summit block with an overhanging ice wall on the uphill side. I crossed the crevasse on the far right and stayed on the ridge crest around the serac wall. This offered some nice 40-60° climbing on snow and ice for 60 feet or so with 3,000 feet of exposure down the northeast face. Above this it was an easy walk to the summit. I first saw this peak from the summit of the Presidents Chair in 1993. Peak 10,522' resembles Mt. Deborah of the Alaska Range and I had referred to it as “Little Deborah” since that initial sighting. I believe this was the first ascent of the peak.

Danny W. Kost