Hayes Range

A two man expedition with the objective of the unclimbed NW face of Mount Deborah. They had been led to believe that they could fly into the Upper Gillam Glacier from Talkeetna, but this turned out to be a misunderstanding, and they had to fly in by helicopter from Anchorage. During their first night on the glacier a violent storm destroyed their tent, and they resorted to building a snow cave. After 1000m of insecure mixed ground they exited the face onto the NW ridge because of avalanche risk on the central line. After a bivouac they continued up the ridge for another 1000m to the summit of Deborah. They descended the S face to the Yanert glacier, re-ascended to the bivouac on the NW ridge for a second night, and returned to their base the next day. The quality of rock was very poor, and the best climbing is on ice routes in the spring.