Barkley Ridge; Wrangell St Elias

Although May and June are normally chosen for climbing in the Wrangell St Elias range, as teachers they were forced to go later, finding the snow softer, but not unmanageable. They had originally hoped to make the first ascent of Peak 9270 (2825m), the highest point of the Barkley Ridge, but with unsettled weather in the area, they followed the recommendation of their bush pilot and transferred their attention to the rarely visited upper reaches of Granite Creek. Once dropped off, they lost no time in tackling as many peaks as possible. They reached the summits of three, Peak 8329 (2539m) at AD-, Peak 7679 (2341m) at AD, and Peak 7178 (2188m) which gave an easy ascent on ski: all were assumed to be first ascents. An attempt at Peak 7890 (2405m) was thwarted by a large wall some 150 metres below the summit. They felt that there is still plenty of opportunity in this area of Alaska for exploration and first ascents of moderate difficulty.