On May 7, pilot Paul Swanstrom flew Derek Buckle and me from Haines to ca 3,700’ on the lower Seward Glacier close to the Yukon border. The week prior, storms had broken precipitation records for much of neighboring southeast Alaska. Our objective was the complete east ridge of Mt. Augusta (14,070’). I had tried accessing this ridge in 1993 via a spur from the north, reaching ca 10,500’ on the spur (AAJ 1994). Our plan was to make a long traverse over the east ridge of unclimbed Mt. Eaton continuing along the unclimbed ridge to Mt. Augusta.

Several sources misrepresent the location of Mt. Eaton and incorrectly state that it was previously climbed. Canadian and USGS maps correctly show the summit directly overlooking the lower Seward Glacier, the main corridor between the icefields and the coast. The only known previous attempt was by our team in 1993. After starting the climb, we realized we could not complete the traverse to Mt. Augusta in a short weather window, so we stashed surplus supplies and shifted our aims to the summit of Mt. Eaton only.

On May 10, from our high camp on an exposed foresummit at ca 8,700’, we took a little over five hours to cover the 3km to the main summit of Eaton, as we climbed over false summits, huge mushroom-domes, and undulating corniced ridge. On top, the GPS read 10,946’ (3,336m), which corresponds well with the 3,320m contour on the Canadian map. Ahead, the 5km or so to Mt. Augusta looked similarly straightforward, although undoubtedly foreshortened. Conditions were clear but windy. As we started our descent, clouds descended with us. By the time we reached our foresummit highcamp, Derek was too tired to go further. I consoled myself with the forecasted day of additional good weather. However, during the night, wind-blown snow half-buried our tent. We packed and began to descend, but found ourselves groping in almost total whiteout—untenable in the crevassed and corniced terrain. We climbed back up to the foresummit and re-pitched the tent.

We had one day of spare food, but in the ensuing nightmare we became trapped for the next eight days. During that time, 20’ or more of snow fell at our camp. We had to keep the tent mostly sealed from weather, so could not safely use the stove and relied on melting water in our sleeping bags. We tried a snow cave, but found the speed of burial even more alarming. We made a second attempt to descend on May 15, which served only to demonstrate the thigh-deep snow and our weakened ability to cope. We concluded our only prudent option was to raise an emergency with Kluane National Park. An impressive effort was launched on our behalf, but to little avail.

Late on May 16 I listened intently as Craig McKinnon in the park office set out the grim forecast. We mentally prepared ourselves for a hungrier and more wearing round of blizzards and burials­—a definitive clearance was potentially another five days away. After our eighth stormy night, on May 19, the morning dawned clear and calm. At around 6:45 a.m., rescuers Dion Parker and Scott Stewart landed a helicopter next to us, and some edgy navigation around rapidly building clouds brought us to Haines Junction and the greeting, “Are you the back-from-the-dead climbers?”. It was several more days before the weather settled and our base camp could be retrieved.

Paul Knott, New Zealand