From the top of Squirrel Hill we traverse across a large glacial basin below the steep couloirs of the Direct West Buttress on the way to Windy Corner. At the far end of the basin we ascend a short slope to Windy Corner and work our way around the sometimes icy and always exposed corner.

There is often fixed protection on the traverse around the corner and the difficulty of this section varies greatly with the amount of snow covering the blue ice at the corner.

Once around the corner we still have a very broken section of glacier to navigate before reaching the easy section leading to Camp 3 at 14,200 feet. The cracks around the corner were responsible for a whole rope team and two solo climbers falling 80 feet into a crevasse during the 2005. AAI guides and climbers were the first on the scene and successfully extracted all members of the team from the crevasse in less than 45 minutes.

Video Clips (May take a while to load depending on connection speed)

Starting the traverse around Windy Corner. At the crux of the traverse.

Looking up at the start of Windy Corner.


Looking back across the basin and to the top of Squirrel Hill.


A rope team approach the apex of Windy Corner in good conditions.


Nearing the crux of the traverse around Windy Corner.


The steepest part of the Windy Corner Traverse.


A climber passes fixed protection at Windy Corner.


Nearing the end of the traverse around the corner.


Out of the difficulties.


Taking a much needed break after the exciting traverse around Windy Corner.