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Alaska Seminar: Climb of Mt. Frances

Posted by: Jason Thompson | May 10, 2012
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mount McKinley
Elevation: 7,200'

Hello once again. We went out to play today in the Alaska range. Our objective was Mt Frances which sits just north of the base camp. We are camping at 7,200 ft, Mt Frances sits at 10,450 ft. We left camp at 8 am in the cold morning air, the sun was just coming around the south buttress of Denali to touch the north buttress of Mt Hunter.
Our climbing involved a glacier approach via what some people refer to as rackets or otherwise snowshoes. We then transitioned into our crampons and went climbing up a super fun 1,200 ft chute. We climbed up steep snow surrounded by beautiful Alaskan granite and pitched things out a few times, where we gained the East ridge.
The views from the ridge and summit offered glimpses of some amazing features in the range. Masioli’s tower sticks out in plain site as does the south face of Denali.
Our problem today was that the views quickly disappeared. Some weather came in and it began to snow.  We began our descent and five rappels later we were back on the glacier. Everyone did great and had a super fun time.
The plan is to fly off tomorrow back into Talkeetna.

A very successful trip up here in Alaska.
RMI Guide Jason Thompson

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