Giant Ice Wall, Mt. Silverthrone

Giant Ice Wall, Mt. Silverthrone, 1945
Silver gelatin print
Gift of Bradford Washburn, 1994.88.37
Anchorage Museum

The human figures in Washburn’s photographs are sometimes identified in the title, in his daily diary entries, or in annotations made while processing film after an expedition. For this photograph, Washburn wrote: “Norman Bright is dwarfed beneath a huge ice-wall just east of Silverthrone Col, 12 miles east of Mt McKinley.” Bright participated in many expeditions with Washburn, including a 1937 attempt to climb Mount Lucania when they were forced to abandon all unessential gear due to bad weather. In August 2022, a team led by Griffin Post, a professional skier, and Dr. Dorota Medrzycka, a glaciologist, recovered equipment, cameras, and undeveloped film 85 years after Washburn cached them.