Marcus Baker, First Winter Ascent, Chugach Mountains. On Febru
M arcus Baker, First W inter Ascent, Chugach M ountains. On F eb ru ary 6 Rob Bowen, G reg D urocher, Charlie H am m ond and I started up the M atanuska G lacier for M arcus Baker. The first couple of days we w ere lost am ong m oraine piles and crevasses on the lower glacier and hardly m ade any forw ard progress. We were packing supplies for 20 days on red sleds. H am m ond injured his knee and we had to escort him back to the road. Finally we hit sm ooth going and m ade it to Base Cam p at 6800 feet on F ebruary 11. The w eather had been perfect and rem ained so the entire trip, though never w arm er than -15° and always windy. On the 12th we shouldered eight days of food and headed up the northeast ridge. W e placed our first high cam p (actually our seventh cam p) in a crevasse at 9300 feet. Cam p II was no more than a bivouac cave dug into very hard snow at 11,900 feet. T he view was very im pressive, from M ount Spurr to Bona. On the 14th we traversed over the north and middle summ its to the 13,176-foot south sum m it of
M arcus Baker. We descended to Base Cam p in one easy day, picking out attractive peaks to climb on the 40-mile walk back to the road. On the 16th Bowen and I skied over a pass to the M arcus Baker G lacier to P 10,955 at its head, some five miles from Base Cam p. The west ridge was an easy climb but it offered more great views. A fter a rest day and another day of moving down glacier, we stopped at the foot of another enticing mountain. P 8660 is just north of the junction of the east fork and the main M atanuska Glacier. On the 19th D urocher and I climbed it via its southwest face on mixed snow and rock for another first ascent. Brian O konek , M ountaineering Club of Alaska
M arcus Baker. We descended to Base Cam p in one easy day, picking out attractive peaks to climb on the 40-mile walk back to the road. On the 16th Bowen and I skied over a pass to the M arcus Baker G lacier to P 10,955 at its head, some five miles from Base Cam p. The west ridge was an easy climb but it offered more great views. A fter a rest day and another day of moving down glacier, we stopped at the foot of another enticing mountain. P 8660 is just north of the junction of the east fork and the main M atanuska Glacier. On the 19th D urocher and I climbed it via its southwest face on mixed snow and rock for another first ascent. Brian O konek , M ountaineering Club of Alaska
