The Alaska Alpine Club's Stikine Icecap Expedition
By Aaron Thomas
Photo courtesy of Hazel Probst
Left to right: Hazel Probst, Leo Nordman, Torin Hooge and Simeon Ramirez stand at the summit of Castle Mountain
On August 26 this year’s recipients of the Peter Mackeith Grant presented their expedition to the Stikine Icecap. The team consisted of Torin Hooge, Simeon Ramirez, Hazel Probst and Leo Nordman. The team set out to climb three major peaks in the area: Kate’s Needle, Castle Mountain, and Mount Pratt.
The Stikine Icecap is located in Southeast Alaska in the Coast Range that borders Canada. The mountains in the region have striking vertical relief and are heavily glaciated, often being dubbed the Patagonia of North America. The icecap bears several iconic mountain peaks such as the Devil’s Thumb, which draws the eyes of elite mountaineers across the world. The Peter Mackeith Grant was established in 1981 by the family of the former Alaska Alpine Club president Peter Mackeith, who tragically passed away in a mountaineering accident. The grant financially supports climbers in the Alaska Alpine Club and empowers them to attempt new objectives.
Photo courtesy of Simeon Ramirez
Hazel Probst, Leo Nordman and Torin Hooge take a break to look through their bags and eat snacks while skiing on the glacier.
The team flew into Petersburg to wait for a weather window to fly onto the glacier. While they waited, they hunted down local Dieter Klose, an elusive climber who remains the primary authority when it comes to mountaineering in the region. Klose had recently advised Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell on their groundbreaking traverse of the all five peaks of the Devil’s Thumb.
After a week of waiting the skies cleared and they flew out towards the Stikine Icecap. They bushwhacked their way onto the Patterson glacier, then they drug their gear on sleds across the lower portions of the ice. As they ascended the glacier, they encountered several impassable icefalls which caused the team to reassess their approach. They messaged their new Petersburg friend Wally who is a helicopter pilot in the region, and he lifted them closer to the firn line of the glacier.
One difficulty the team had in navigating the icecap was outdated maps. Most information on navigating the region is 20 to 30 years old, now quite inaccurate given the acceleration of glacial recession due to climate change. The location of various hazards and icefalls dramatically shifted, which left the team unable to assess certain risks until they were on the ground. As glaciers melt out, they typically become more cravassed and fragmented, which makes travel more difficult.
Photo courtesy of Hazel Probst
Above the clouds on the Stikine Icecap
After being dropped at 4,000 feet on the Patterson Glacier, they continued their approach to their objectives. The next day, after a 15 mile ski, the climbers set up their basecamp.
The intense solar rays at higher elevations combined with the reflection from the glaciers made sunburns an issue. Even though the air temperature on the lower glacier was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, they described the heat being almost unbearable when the sun was out. In their post-trip reflection, Nordman remarked that an earlier start in the climbing season would have made for a more comfortable temperature range. The group had a lot of experience mountaineering in the Delta Range, where cooler temperatures are common.
As the team prepared for the climb at basecamp, they received weather info via satellite messaging. When the weather window finally arrived, they began their ascent of Mt. Pratt via the Northwest glacier route. They described decreasing visibility as they ascended and they found themselves in almost total whiteout towards the peak. Despite these challenging conditions, they were able to summit the mountain. According to the group, this was the first known ascent of Mt. Pratt. After descending on skis, they returned to basecamp and began planning their ascent of Castle Mountain.
Throughout the duration of the expedition, visibility remained a persistent issue. The region is well known for its heavy precipitation and poor weather conditions. They often found themselves waiting out bad weather. This May had the highest monthly precipitation in the area since 1940.
They had to turn back on their first attempt of Castle Mountain due to the whiteout. Two days later, they attempted the climb again and, although they encountered similar weather conditions, they pushed towards the summit. According to the group, the last known ascent of Castle Mountain occurred in the 1970s. On the way up, through a break in the clouds, they got their first glimpse of Kate’s Needle—their expedition’s final objective.
Photo courtesy of Simeon Ramirez
Torin Hooge, Hazel Probst and Leo Nordman ski back down Mt. Pratt to get back to basecamp after summiting
When preparing for the push to Kate’s needle, the weather models indicated that a potentially week-long storm was going to be rolling in sometime in the next few days. This left them the option of remaining on the icecap and waiting out a potentially brutal storm, or getting lifted off the glacier while the weather window still permitted a helicopter to land. They started out for Kate’s Needle when the weather looked like it might permit an attempt, but they returned upon worsening conditions. They packed up their basecamp and skied the 20 miles as night set in, to the landing zone as the weather closed in.
The clouds finally broke which allowed the helicopter to land. As they flew off the glacier, they narrowly escaped the coming storm. Their return to Petersburg marked the end of the expedition and a return to typical summer weather after spending weeks on the ice.
While reflecting on the trip as a whole, Nordman thought with greater consideration in selecting a weather window and more planning with Wally, they would have been better positioned to climb Kate’s Needle. “There's a chance we could have summited a Kate’s Needle, and that lesson felt really real”, said Nordman
In the coming spring, the team is debating whether to attempt a route on Denali or head to the Aleutians to climb. Regardless of their next destination, the Alaska Alpine Club continues to tackle bold new objectives and remains at the forefront of mountaineering in Alaska.