I'm looking for information on the Wrangell-St.Elias area. Anyone out there an expert on Mt. Bona?

Thoughts/Suggestions/Comments - Thanks

I've only trekekd and hiked in that area (Skolai pass, upper Chitina river) so my Bona experience is of an armchair variety.

From what I've heard the standard route from the east (Klutlan glacier) is fairly moderate and you land pretty high on Klutlan at around 10,000' (cheating!). However, the crevasse danger is serious and the weather of course. Don't know about the avy danger on the route. Clearly, your team needs to be completely self sufficient as you will be on you own. You will probably need ~2 weeks. I believe that the ascents from the west (from Skolai pass via Russel glacier) are possible but very rare.

The best pilot to fly there is Paul Claus of Ultima Thule Lodge located deep inside the park (google it). Another (possibly cheaper) option maybe McCarthy Air which is based in McCarthy. I'm pretty sure that a flight to/from Bona is quite a bit more expensive compared to say Denali but there is no climbing permit fee.

Great info -

Anything else on that range would be *much* appreciated!! There isn't a lot of info out there.
Thx

tigerlilly,

I'm in love with Alaska so it's a joy to chat about it.

Are you planning this as a guided trip? If so, this should be simple. There are several guiding companies that advertise the Bona climb. But even if you plan to go with your own team read carefully through the itinerary offered by the guides. It helped me a lot when I planned an unguided trip to Bolivia.

This one is located right in McCarthy and should have the most local knowledge:
thttp://www.steliasguides.com/alaska_mo ... imbing.htm

This guiding company is well known and also has Bona on its schedule
http://www.alaskamountainguides.com/pro ... _bona.html

Like I said I only trekked several times in that area with only basic mountaineering at lower eleveations. However, I got an impression that the best season there is earlier compared to Denali.

Thank you~

Shelling out the big dollars sure would make life easy. ..... I'm debating how stupid it is to try this without a guide.... thoughts?

2004...That was the year I went guided with George Dunn and IMG. Here is a link as I see they still offer the trip.
http://www.mountainguides.com/alaskan-ascents.shtml
There are some nice photos to look at, too.

I am not an experienced mountaineer so here I was guided. I have been on Robson, and Denali unguided, but in the Wrangells one is VERY isolated, hence for me a guide.
We were on the Russell Glacier, and was told that there have been very few people there ever.Albeit, the route was a class 2 I believe. Route navigation was a little tricky through the lower glacier and serac fields, and we had a honest crevasse fall at around 13,000'....where one never expected it to happen. The guy in front of me just disappeared.
It is a pristene true wilderness....not many places left like this on earth.

I don't frequent SP as I once did. I thought there was a page on Bona by a member named "dug". I do have some of the photos in my stream on SP. Probably have to dig for them though.

Best regards, Joel

It seems all the guides want to feed me fancy food, put me in a hotel, pick me up, fly me around etc.

Can I just hire a guide without the fluff?

tigerlilly wrote:It seems all the guides want to feed me fancy food, put me in a hotel, pick me up, fly me around etc.

Can I just hire a guide without the fluff?

Many guiding companies will let you do that. Do you really need a guide, or just the transportation/etc. set up?

The user 'dug' that was mentioned has left SP. If you PM me with your email address, I will forward it to him so you can ask any other questions you might have.

I climbed Bona in 1994, and went back for Churchill 5 years later. They share the same route to a saddle at 15,000'.

Bona is easy by mountaineering standards. The biggest concern is huge hidden crevasses. There have been countless big roped falls into them, and 2 fatalities on 2 seperate events. We had a big fall where our middle skier broke through and was free hanging until he could extricate himself an hour later.

This is nowhere to travel solo, and even 2 climbers would be pushing it from a crevasse rescue standpoint, especially late in the season (June).

Beautiful trip, though.

Dave