North America, United States, Alaska, Fairweather Range, Mount Fairweather from Glacier Bay

Publication Year: 2000.

Mount Fairweather from Glacier Bay. On April 8, Mark Jefferson and I left Gustavus in two double kayaks with gear and supplies for an ascent of Mount Fairweather. We paddled 60 miles up Glacier Bay to its northwest terminus at Tarr Inlet. Tarr Inlet ends at the Grand Pacific, a tidewater glacier east of Fairweather. We switched to skis and sleds and skied up this glacier to the Grand Plateau Glacier and eventually climbed the mountain via the normal Northwest Ridge route on April 29. It was a 58-mile ski from Tarr Inlet to high camp on Fairweather. We intercepted the normal route approximately 42 miles from Tarr Inlet. We could have gained high camp by two other shorter routes, but each of these has a lot of objective hazard, though they would make an interesting future approach. We returned to our boats by the same route and paddled back to Gustavus after 35 days. We believe this was the first time anyone had climbed the mountain via an approach from Glacier Bay along the Grand Pacific Glacier.

Michael P. Dziobak, unaffiliated