Excellent view of Mt. Williwaw

Mt. Williwaw rises to an elevation of 5445 feet, making it the highest mountain in the immediate Chugach Range, and proably the most daunting-looking peak from Anchorage. The standard route is to climb the wide southwest gully, which is usually filled with snow until late in the summer. Though this route is passed off as "nontechnical," I would DEFINITELY recommend an ice axe and boots capable of kicking steps, since one spill will send you bouncing down the bottom. The rock quality is also exceptionally poor, some of the worst I've found in the Chugach - not a range known for good rock to begin with. Once out of the gully, it's an easy climb to the top. To avoid descending via the gully, my climbing partners and I hiked almost all the way back down to the top of the gully, and then sidehilled around the back of the mountain, toward Koktoya Peak. I would advise avoiding this route, which is more or less a continuous series of scree slopes and small cliffs. This photo is taken from the top of Mt. Eliot, toward Williwaw's West and North faces (out of shade and in shade, respectively). The gully is out of view, to the right.