Eagle River to Eklutna Traverse (With 2nd ascent of Mt Soggy (7190') 4th ascent of Mt Yukla (7535'), and 1st ascent of Pk 5775' enroute)
by Greg Higgins , Scree 8/80

Rick O'Kelly, Shawn Wilson, and I set out Sunday night to camp along Eagle River on this trip that I had planned after viewing spectacular Thunder Gorge on the Club Crow Pass trip earlier this year.  Under blue skies on Monday we hiked into the Gorge (the prominent drainage across from the Raven/Camp Creek complex) on the northwest side to eventually address the terrible underbrush above VABM 2070 gaining only one mile in 3-1/2 hours of hiking to camp below the south wall of Pk 5775' just beyond its western drainage.

Tuesday dawned clear and after watching a flop-eared black bear foraging, we moved camp up to Lake 4209 (dubbed "Blue-eyed Lake" from the profusion of Blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium angustifolium Mill., found on its drainage slopes lower down).  Amongst breath-taking alpine scenery, we set out at noon for Mt. Soggy, gaining the SE Ridge via the huge snow chute shown on the map.  The ridge beyond was an obscure collection of broken blocks and chutes requiring much route finding and an occasional roped pitch until we reached the summit snowfield at 3:40 p.m.  A survey marker sits due north of the 1st ascent cairn of Art Davidson and John Bousman (July 16, 1964 via the S Ridge).  Their entry was water-soaked and illegible, but on drying became readable.  We placed a new register and brought cut their paper for the Archive.

The next day also was fair and while Rick climbed the steep SW snow chutes of Pk 5775' (dubbed "Vertigo" because of the view from above looking down on Rick's ascent), Shawn and I went west to eventually rope onto the hanging glacier SE of Yukla to gain the E Ridge at Pass 6250'.  Steady scrambling brought us to the tower above 7100' where our ridge became a nightmare of crumbling exposed debris necessitating a protected traverse to the NW to gain the NE Ridge and the twin summits shortly thereafter at 1:15 p.m..  The higher west summit has a nice cairn, but the register was in poor shape because the last two parties lacked a pencil.  The following was noted:  1st ascent, Art Davidson and John Bousman via the E Face and NE Ridge on July 15, 1964; 2nd ascent, Robin Bowen, Jeff Morehouse, and Keith Anderson on Aug. 2, 1971, "from Eklutna in 3 days"; and 3rd ascent, Brian Okonek, Dirk Bodnar, and P J Stuart on May 13, 1976 via the S face.  We replaced this register also, and brought the originals down for presevation.

The weather was changing, so early Thursday morning we hauled our packs NE of Blue-eyed Lake to gain the saddle and the W fork of the Eklutna Glacier.  From here we made excellent time to Pichler's Perch picking out routes for prospective climbs on Beelzebub, Peril, and Bellicose on the way.  .We hiked up the ridge E of the cabin towards White Lice (6650') in the afternoon, but rain and a lowering ceiling sent us back down.

On Friday after cleaning the cabin and packing up Hut Book #1 for copying, we picked our way down the glacier to camp near the road where it joins Eklutna Lake.  On our walk out Saturday we visited with MCAers John Lohff and Steve Van Goor on their way into Stiver's Gully, as well as John Dillman who had just returned from a very good trip to Little Switzerland.