Toilsome Peak, first ascent; Worrisome Peak, northwest ridge. Ross Noffsinger, David Stchyrba, and I helicoptered with Pollux Aviation to a 5,500' saddle on the ridge northwest of Troublesome Glacier, in the western Chugach, on June 26. We scrambled a mile northeast to Peak 6,325' and found no summit cairn, though it’s been previously ascended (southwest ridge and south face) by Jim Sayler and possibly others. We retraced our route and descended to 4,000' on Troublesome Glacier. From here we made the first ascent of Toilsome Peak (5,250'), via the chossy southern slopes, and the second ascent of Worrisome Peak (5,690'), via a new route (50° snow) up its northwest ridge. We descended Richard Baranow and Sam Pepper’s 2005 southern route. We climbed back up to our landing site and moved camp to Blissful Lake (3,300') at the base of notorious Baleful Peak (7,990'). However, a summer storm had deposited several inches of snow and ice on the 5,000' 4th-class northeast ridge, turning us back at 6,300'. We hiked out to Eklutna Lake over the next two days.

Dave Hart, AAC and Mountaineering Club of Alaska