The Second West Buttress Ascent of Mount McKinley

Denali climbers most typically use the West Buttress Route, pioneered in 1951 by Bradford Washburn, after an extensive aerial photographic analysis of the mountain.

In 1958, a six man expedition lead by Ed Cooper and consisting of Fergus O'Connor, Marty Mushkin, Clarence LaBell, Bob Elliott and Bruce Gilbert made the second successful summit of McKinley (Denali) using the route Washburn had pioneered.

In this remarkable film taken and narrated by Gilbert, now 80, we see a glimpse of what pioneering mountaineering was like. 

Don Sheldon provided air support to the expedition.