Mount Vancouver 2003

Before tackling their prime objective, this experienced duo elected to attempt the unclimbed North Peak of Mount Foresta, one of the multiple pointed summits between Mount Vancouver and Mount Seattle lying wholly in Alaska. Approaching from the east, their first attempt was thwarted by sustained diffIculties, but on their second, by climbing a shallow snow rib, they joined the east ridge at 1,951m. From a camp at 2,635m they were successful in reaching the North Peak where they were surprised to find that their GPS and altimeter readings of 3,341m (1O,960ft) were much less than the height marked on the map (11,960ft). However, as they were obviously lower than the South Peak (marked as 11 ,040ft) they assumed that the map height was a typographical error. (This has subsequently been confIrmed by the US Geological Survey.) Turning their attention to Mount Vancouver (4,812m), they camped a little beyond the BC site used in 1999 (MEFRef 99/38) but found that conditions had changed radically. The flat area on which their aircraft had landed four years earlier was now seamed with large crevasses, making the terrain far too dangerous for a two-man team to traverse.