North America, United States, Alaska, Peaks above the Kahiltna Glacier

Publication Year: 1965.

Peaks above the Kahiltna Glacier. Late in May, Margaret Young and I flew our Cessna 180 onto the Kahiltna Glacier and established camp among the group of granite peaks that lie inside the “great bend” of the Kahiltna. We explored the immediate vicinity and climbed the lower summit of a nearby split pinnacle, placing three pitons and a bolt for safety. The higher one would have required 30 to 40 feet of aid, using bong- bongs, which we did not have. Some days later we climbed a peak which measured 7800 feet by aneroid. This peak was just west of the highest peak of the group and just north of the bend. One lead of Margaret’s straight up a 140-foot section of snow-plastered rock was hair-raising as she hung onto icicles while standing on a thin covering of snow and ice without pitons. After some days we took off and landed near the base of the very prominent 10,105-foot peak some ten miles south of Mount Hunter. The climb took 22 hours and was highlighted by a fall into a crevasse and a few pitches of steep, very exposed snow near the top. The fifteen-minute flight back to camp was a pleasant finale to a long day.

James Richardson, unaffiliated