No Summits…Part 2
May 16, 2011
The rest day was a blessing in disguise; we were both more tired and sore than we let on to each other the day before. Some planning and contemplating our options led us to Mt. Crosson (12,800’) and the SE Ridge. It seemed moderate but challenging and well within our time frame, even if we lost a day or two to bad weather.
We awoke to another beautiful day in the Alaska Range and quickly broke camp and packed the sleds. We decided to not cache any food and take it all so we would have options if the weather changed. The plan was to cross the Kahiltna and negotiate the icefall under Mt. Crosson’s southeast ridge, our intended route up. Once through, we would cache extra food and gear at the 7100’ icefall camp and head up the south facing couloir to set camp at 8500’ on the ridge proper. We rigged up, packed up and got moving. The route across the glacier was well wanded by a previous party and we made good time negotiating the large crevasses and icefall. We crossed the 3 miles and sat enjoying the sunshine at the icefall camp by 11:30 that morning. Read the remainder of this entry »








