UKC

So You Think You Are Hard?

© www.japanesecaribou.com.
So you think you are hard? Well maybe not, but Japan's Masatoshi Kuriaki is, reports Climbing magazine's Dougald MacDonald. Kuriaki is making quite a name for himself in the bitter Alaskan winter, in fact he is known as the "Japanese Caribou."

"Japan's Masatoshi Kuriaki summited 17,400-foot Mt. Foraker in the Alaska Range on March 10, completing the first solo winter ascent of the sixth-highest peak in North America. Kuriaki flew onto the Kahiltna Glacier in late January and spent weeks ferrying loads and working his way up the seldom-climbed Southeast Ridge of Foraker.

The 135-pound, 33-year-old man, nicknamed the “Japanese Caribou” in Alaska, has also soloed Denali in winter, via the West Buttress (1998). He has made three attempts on the West Ridge of 14,573-foot Mt. Hunter in winter, reaching as high as 9,000 feet. Last winter, he spent 58 days on Denali in winter, reaching 12,300 feet on the South Buttress, despite losing most of his climbing hardware to an avalanche at 11,600 feet."

Full report at Climbing.com

A previous report at Climbing.com reported another harsh winter ascent, "Jed Brown and Colin Haley made the probable first winter ascent of Mt. Huntington in the Alaska Range, via an extremely fast ascent of the West Face Couloir (Nettle-Quirk route).

Full report at Climbing.com


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21 Mar, 2007
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