Summary
Mt. Frances (this name is not approved by U.S. Board on Geographic Names) is the 10.4 kft peak whose summit is 1.4 miles north of the Kahiltna Basecamp located at 7.0 kft.
Our plan was to first climb and descend the Frances E Ridge, wanding the route to aid our subsequent descent after we climbed the more challenging SW Ridge. We were able to reach the base of the E Ridge, and also climbed the lowest portion of the SW Ridge, but avalanche conditions (E Ridge) and challenging rock climbing (SW Ridge) turned us back. The information we gained and the routes we established and documented for the glacier approaches to the climbs may help future attempts.
As is typical of the Alaska Range, we lost a few days to weather, but we experienced no significant storms. The wind was often calm and never strong. Basecamp temperatures were typically near freezing and likely never got below +20 F. The often-sunny weather made Basecamp pleasant and the glacier sometimes too warm for travel.
Team Members
Mark Stier – Leader
Andy Doig – Co-leader
Actual Schedule May 2025
May 17th: Air travel to Anchorage. Map at https://caltopo.com/m/9VGQFGD
May 18th: Shop for supplies
May 19th: Alaska Railroad to Talkeetna; register with Denali NP&P; we were about 50th in the
Talkeetna Air Taxi (TAT) queue due to recent poor weather but in the evening we
suddenly were to be on the “next flight”; however, the next flight did not depart (weather)
May 20th: TAT working through their queue but does not reach us
May 21st: around 1 PM TAT flies us to Kahiltna Basecamp; poor visibility encountered for preferred
air route leads pilot to switch to back-up route (see link above); set up tents at
Basecamp
May 22nd: Depart Basecamp at 8 AM to wand route to, and cache snowshoes and poles at, base of
Frances E Ridge. We had hoped to ascend the lower portion of the E Ridge but
widespread wet snow avalanches began just after we reached its bottom at 8.1 kft; return to Basecamp
May 23rd: We wand glacier route to base of Frances SW Ridge; return to Basecamp
May 24th: Depart Basecamp at 4 AM to attempt SW Ridge; reached 7.1 kft; return to Basecamp
May 25th: depart basecamp at noon to retrieve wands and cache at base of E Ridge; return to
May 26th: overnight snow; day in Basecamp
May 27th: wake up at midnight to climb E Ridge but cancel plan due to overnight
snow; TAT 9 AM flight to Talkeetna
May 28th: Andy AKRR to Anchorage; redeye flight to Boston arriving 29 May
May 29th: Mark AKRR to Anchorage
May 30th: Mark day in Anchorage; redeye flight to Boston
May 31st: Mark home
General Notes
Unlike for Denali/Foraker climbs, advance registration with Denali NP&P is not required for climbs of the many other peaks. We easily registered at the Talkeetna ranger station without having an assigned time slot. We used at Basecamp the mandatory Clean Mountain Cans provided at no charge by the Park Service.
On snowshoes we successfully traveled a total of about 13 miles through heavily crevassed/bridged terrain without any crevasse falls or even “punch-throughs.” The paths we chose were often selected because of ski or boot tracks left by previous, seemingly solo, climbers. At all times away from Basecamp we traveled as a roped team of two, with five large knots (we used figure eights with a long bight twice passed back through the eight) spaced 2-3 meters apart. The remainder of our 60-meter rope was sufficient such that we each carried enough rope butterflied at the top of our packs to reach our partner should a crevasse rescue be required. We each carried two pickets for anchors or running belays.
One of the guided teams at Basecamp used a nearby crevasse for rescue practice. The May 2025 location of that hole is marked on our Caltopo map (see below) as it may be suitable for future use by SSMC teams.
Gabby’s (Basecamp Manager) daily 7PM one-day weather forecasts, broadcast on FRS Channel 1, were helpful for our planning. We were especially thankful for the daily longer-range forecasts John Stevens sent directly to our inReach Mini.
SE Fork Kahiltna Glacier Routes
The terrain of the SE Fork of the Kahiltna Glacier, which is heavily broken and crevassed away from Basecamp, has an established path only for the Denali W Buttress climbers. Other than general advice in Puryear’s climbing guidebook there are no published routes for climbers to reach either the E Ridge or the SW Ridge from Basecamp.
The link below shows the actual paths we took to the base of each climb. While the glacial terrain surely varies from year to year, we believe the GPS tracks shown may significantly aid the route-finding of future climbers. Note that the portion of the route shown above 7.1 kft up the SW Ridge and down the E Ridge to 8.1 kft are notional and are not based on a GPS track. The map locations of the key pitches on the SW Ridge are estimates only and may be incorrect.
Frances E Ridge Notes
On 22 May we did not make an alpine start as our objective was to identify and wand the SE Fork glacier approach. It was a sunny day and during the approach to the base of the E Ridge we noted there were no wet snow avalanches coming down the many gullies nearby. However, upon our reaching the base of the E Ridge gully it seemed that suddenly every gully in the area started to slide. We cached our spare pairs of snowshoes/poles (to be used as part of a subsequent descent of the SW Ridge) in a location that we believed would not be buried by wet snow slides.
The gully at the base of the E Ridge is a known avalanche slope, so we easily decided to abandon what would otherwise have been an afternoon ascent of the gully.
When we returned on 25 May our cache was intact. It had likely been visited by a ski team in the interim.
We awoke at midnight 27/28 May in anticipation of making a very early start to climb and descend the E Ridge before the sun was likely to create more wet snow slides in the E Ridge gully. Unfortunately it had snowed during the night and we decided we needed to let the new snow settle for a day before climbing on it. The deteriorating weather forecast for intermittent snow showers for the next few days subsequently brought an end to our climbing plans.
Frances SW Ridge Notes
During our 23 May recce we identified the north slope of the bottom of the SW Ridge as our initial ascent route. The more south-facing bottom of the ridge had much less snow covering the many boulders and rocks. While there was no evidence of recent rockfall on the southern aspect, it was clear that the slope is subject to significant rockfall risk.
On 24 May our 300 ft. elevation ascent up the snow, with occasional rock, to a notch in the ridgeline was uneventful. However, upon reaching the ridgeline we were confronted with a short slab of rock which was free of any sizeable cracks and seemingly unprotectable with our rock gear. (In hindsight, thin blade pitons may have been useful.) We successfully traversed around the south side of the ridge to avoid the slab. After another pitch of climbing we paused to discuss the snow conditions.
Our route remained in the shade for the moment but the sun would soon be shining directly upon our path and we recognized that should we subsequently decide to descend the route the snow would not likely support our weight. Thus we decided to downclimb back to the notch. After one additional pitch of downclimbing the snow/rock, we did one rappel down a steeper section we had previously ascended then continued down-climbing more moderate snow back to our cache of snowshoes/poles.
We donned our snowshoes and returned to Basecamp. A careful review of our photos may enable us to determine where we reached on the SW Ridge. As of this writing we believe we reached the ridge below Puryear’s “Tower 1.”
Group Gear
While we borrowed several SSMC items in advance of our climb we took only one of the SSMC VE25 tents, and multiple wands, to Kahiltna Basecamp. The remainder of our gear was owned by the Frances team. The MSR Front Range floorless pyramid tent was again a clear success for our meals. Setting it up and breaking it down proved to be unnecessarily time-consuming due to an error by Stier.
We very satisfactorily used two MSR Whisperlite stoves for melting snow, plus one for cooking. We continue to believe they are far superior to the XGK stove models due to their quiet operation. The three stoves consumed a total of just less than one gallon of white gas during our week on the glacier.
We located our two tents a couple hundred yards up the hillside above the typical locations for Basecamp tents. That proved to be a good choice to reduce the hubbub from arriving and departing aircraft and teams.
We plan to return the gear we borrowed from SSMC before the end of June.
Photos and Videos
A photo essay is appended below. A few of our video files are separately accessible at xx.
Conclusion
The Frances E Ridge, and we believe the SW Ridge as well, are within the capabilities of several of our SSMC climbers. We have many detailed photos of the SW Ridge that are not included in this report but can easily be shared upon request. Several of them may prove useful for planning a climb. We encourage our SSMC colleagues to consider making future attempts of Mt. Frances.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Stier and Andy Doig
