New Zealand Mt Crillon Expedition 2019 : Fairweather Range, SE Alaska / by Paul Knott

After almost a week of delay due to insufficient visibility for the glacier landing, we
reached base camp on the Brady glacier close to foresummit 7950ft and the east ridge of
Mt Crillon. Deep soft snow meant we had to stamp out a takeoff runway, despite the
power of the turbo-charged Beaver aircraft. The next day we spent a few hours making
an access route around the toe of a ridge towards the start of the route, in preparation for
an early twilight start. This turned out to be the limit of our progress. A series of fronts with
significant snowfall and poor freezes prevented further safe activity. Following a forecast
update projecting continuation of the same pattern until at least 23 April, we realised that
we would have insufficient time to climb Mt Crillon or any other significant objective even
if conditions subsequently improved. Hence, we flew out when a marginal clearance
allowed, skirting banks of cloud as we had also done on the flight in. Unsettled and at
times stormy low-pressure weather continued in the area until high pressure finally
commenced on 27-28 April. By this time, we would anyway have needed to depart for our
scheduled return.
Paul’s nine previous trips to this part of Alaska/Yukon all produced a usable weather
window for climbing. Other parties in those years were not always so lucky.