Mount Jankowski, Southwest Face. A rapid trip to the spectacular peaks northeast of the Granduc Mine, near Stewart, was facilitated by a helicopter approach to the col between the second and third peaks of Jankowski. To take advantage of the currently clear, but generally unpredictable weather, we five set out immediately for a route on the southwest face, first making a glacier descent and then the climb of a long snow couloir. We found a good bivouac site on ledges below a headwall. The next day we continued up a branch couloir with some ice and loose debris. Jim Hilton and John Pollock explored a route on the crest of the west ridge, while Roy Ratliff, Brad McCarrell and I scouted rock gullies on the southwest face. We three were frustrated by a cumbersome, loose pitch which took some time (F6), but then progressed better. Short pitches and gully sections led to an easy summit ridge, where a glacier comes in from the north. Expecting a first ascent, we were dismayed to find a cairn on top (8750 feet) with the name of George Whitmore, who had done the climb alone in 1967 from the northwest glacier, a well kept secret. The next day Hilton and Pollock made the first ascent of Jankowski’s third peak, just as the weather turned worse.

Fred Beckey