Mt. Maynard

Mt. Maynard, Chugach Mountains, Whittier.
September 28th, 2008
Highpoint: 4050 feet

On one of the best climbing days of the fall, I headed to Whittier to climb Mt Maynard. This is the prominent mountain that hosts the tunnel from Portage to Whittier. I accessed the mountain from the Whittier side, hiking up to Portage Pass and then up the Southeast face and up the South ridge to the summit. The trickiest part of this climb was the 60 degree slopes up the Southeast face (actually coming down was a lot worse than going up) and involved alder-belaying and down-climbing wet moss using the ice-ax for protection and brake. The summit ridge is very broken up (boulders with lots of hidden holes) but is not steep or technical. The summit provides glorious views in all directions.

View of Portage Galcier and Portage Lake from bench above Portage Pass.
View of Whittier and Passage Canal from about 2500 foot elevation on Mt Maynard.
Looking South across moonlandscape at about 3000 foot elevation on Mt. Maynard
Self-portrait with false summit of Mt Maynard in the background
Looking South along the summit ridge with the Kenai Mountains in the distance
The summit ridge was fairly narrow and snow-covered holes between boulders made it extra fun. The West face glacier with Portage Lake in the background
The final part of the summit ridge with the true summit being the far one.
Passage canal and Prince William Sound in the sunset.
Bard Peak (center) , Shakespare Shoulder (left) and the Whittier Glacier in the background.
Shakespare Shoulder (3517 feet) and Bard Peak (~3800 feet) are on my list for next year.

Looking North towards Learnard Mt (?) in the sunset.
This being late September, the days are getting much shorter. I failed to take that fully into account and ended up hiking out in the dark.
Northern panorama from the summit of Mt Maynard. Learnard glacier and Mt. Learnard make up the forground and the high Chugach mountains can be seen in the background.
Southern panorama from the summit of Mt Maynard. The Kenai mountains and the Harding Icefield are prominent in the center with the most prominent summit being Carpathian peak which sits at the head of the Portage glacier.