Iliamna, Winter Ascent. After landing us on the tricky Tuxedni Glacier ...
Iliam na, W inter A scent. A fter landing us on the tricky T uxedni G lacier, Lowell T hom as, Jr. said that he w ould take no more clim bers to this m ountain
because o f poor landing sites and unstable w eather, but he did a fine jo b for us. O ur original objective was the unclim bed northeast ridge, but after reaching w ithin 600 feet o f the sum m it in a w hiteout, hanging séracs and crevasse p rob lem s changed our m inds. W e set out at first light on February 21 across the north face to the also unclim bed northw est ridge. The clim bing was not difficult for the m ost part, with only one 150-foot pitch o f steep blue ice, but high w ind and cold m ade the w ind-chill factor − 55° F. G eorge R ooney, Rudi B ertschi, Ken Zafren and I w asted no time on the sum m it. A setting sun and increasing cold encouraged a rapid descent to our distant cam p. Just below the sum m it a cram pon failed and disappeared dow n the face. This m ade the descent m ore difficult but we reached our snow cave w ith ju st a few m inutes o f tw ilight left. W il l i H e r s m a n ,
M ountaineering C lub o f A laska
because o f poor landing sites and unstable w eather, but he did a fine jo b for us. O ur original objective was the unclim bed northeast ridge, but after reaching w ithin 600 feet o f the sum m it in a w hiteout, hanging séracs and crevasse p rob lem s changed our m inds. W e set out at first light on February 21 across the north face to the also unclim bed northw est ridge. The clim bing was not difficult for the m ost part, with only one 150-foot pitch o f steep blue ice, but high w ind and cold m ade the w ind-chill factor − 55° F. G eorge R ooney, Rudi B ertschi, Ken Zafren and I w asted no time on the sum m it. A setting sun and increasing cold encouraged a rapid descent to our distant cam p. Just below the sum m it a cram pon failed and disappeared dow n the face. This m ade the descent m ore difficult but we reached our snow cave w ith ju st a few m inutes o f tw ilight left. W il l i H e r s m a n ,
M ountaineering C lub o f A laska
