First Ascent on Bat's Ear in Alaska

Climbing.com has all the info on the first ascent of Bat’s Ear, quite possibly the tallest unclimbed peak in Alaska.

Ben Gilmore, Maxime Turgeon, and Freddie Wilkinson have the honor of being the first men to stand on top of the mountain. The three man attacked the South Face, which is nearly 3000 feet in height, in a single 23 hour push that saw them conquer the summit and return to base camp. The climbers rated the wall as a “maybe WI4+ M5+”, which is not overly challenging in and of itself, but their axes lost their edge on the large amounts of frozen gravel and very thin ice.

Bat’s Ear stands 11,044 feet in height and garnered it’s unofficial name thanks to it’s twin topped peak. The mountain is located between the upper Yentna and Lacuna glaciers near the southwest side of the Mt. Foraker massif, a remote region that sees little traffic.

While the description doesn’t sound incredibly daunting, we have to keep in mind that it is still quite cold in Alaska, and that this was still a first ascent, meaning that the climbers didn’t know for sure what to expect. 23 hours of climbing is not small feat either. Impressive job guys!

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Kraig Becker

Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.