Long Gables and Ostenso

After negotiating an unstable ridge on their first attempt at Long Gables, the team made it most of the way up a ridge before being turned back by an impending two-day storm. While Schoening, Evans, Fukushima, and Marts waited out the storm, they felt the pressure of their pick-up date, January 15, looming only days away. Around 11 p.m. on January 11, the skies cleared and they set out in the midnight sun.

“This peak was a beautiful problem in alpine climbing, a devious route, steep snow, broken rock containing fourth- and fifth-class steps and a badly corniced summit,” Marts wrote in his trip report. “After returning to camp we packed up and headed for the glacier below to be picked up by Barry and Dick at midnight and returned to Gardner Base by motor toboggan.”

That same night Hollister, Silverstein, Evans, and Wahlstrom had started up Mt. Ostenso. They reached the summit after climbing a 6,000-foot slope and gully system to the top.

“Everyone was elated. Our success had extended beyond our fondest hopes, leaving us with six first ascents in a wild and beautiful area.”—Marts, 1967 AAJ