| Eight of us, 4 from Seattle and 4 from Boulder, Co spent 26 days making the 1st ascent of Independence Ridge in July of 1964. The climb was steep and very exposed from the beginning with most of the difficulties being encountered from the bottom to 14800'. We set about 11,000 feet of fixed line for protection, which saved lives on more than one occasion and had five camps. The line went straight up the ridge to the lower plateau then curved upward and easterly under the NE Pk then under the West Pk to the summit. In places the ridge was heavily corniced in both directions and the coup de grace was a two foot wide 200 yard traverse of the knife edged ridge at the 14200 level with huge 80 degree 8000' drops off both sides, one of the greatest adrenaline rushes I've experienced in the mountains in over 45 years of climbing!
At 17200 we were treated to a seven day long storm with gusts over 80 mph and temps under -35F. We reached the summit in beautiful clear weather (which we had precious little of) on July 4, thus the name Independence Ridge. The return down the ridge was extremely dangerous and took three days in very heavy new snow and poor visibility.
The trip out was an expedition in itself as we did what we believe was the first traverse from the N side of Logan up the Hubbard and down the Kaskawulsh Glaciers to Kluane Lake pulling a 500lb sled and taking ten days. The river crossings were imposing and close encounters of the wrong kind with Grizzlies added to the excitement. All in all the climb and hike out was a phenomenal expedition with no injuries and a great attitude by everyone on the trip. |
