British and New Zealand mountaineers are eligible for support from the Mount Everest Foundation, and in 2011 a number of New Zealand climbers were awarded grants. Two teams tried their luck in Alaska.
New Zealander Graham Zimmerman, resident in the US, joined American Mark Allen for an inspection of the previously unexplored North West Fork of the Lacuna Glacier, south of Foraker,. In particular, the two were interested in unclimbed subsidiary tops of The Fin.
The pair reached the area on ski from Kahiltna (Denali) Base Camp and settled for an attempt on an unclimbed top marked as Peak 12,213 (3,723m), south of the Fin. It is the 81st highest summit in Alaska.
They first attempted the South East Ridge, before being forced down by a storm from a point c750m up. This gave climbing of M5 and AI2.
After a return to Kahiltna Base, from where they climbed the West Ridge of Hunter, they set off again for the Lacuna and a second attempt on their peak, this time via the South Buttress, left of the previously attempted ridge.
On this occasion they had more success, climbing the buttress and couloir above (M6 A1 AI2) to join the South East Ridge just over 1,000m above its base. Here, in poor weather and with 300m of corniced arête remaining, they elected to retreat, regaining their camp on the glacier 26 hours after leaving.
Not deterred, just a few days later they made one more attempt, this time by an easier but more direct line following a prominent couloir in the centre of the South Face. Snow and ice conditions were good, and they reached their previous high point on the ridge in just five hours.
From here they negotiated the corniced crest above, reached the top, and regained their camp after a 20-hour round trip.
They have name the route To the Center (1,370m: AI2 and cornices), and the summit Voyager Peak after a NASA satellite, launched in 1977, which is still pushing further into space and sending back information.
Further south east in the coastal Fairweather Range, Paul Knott returned to the Johns Hopkins Glacier to attempt the first ascent of the North Ridge of Mt Orville (3,199m).
In 2009 Knott - originally from the UK - and New Zealander Guy Mckinnon became the first climbers to access the main Johns Hopkins basin, from where they made two first ascents.
This spring Knott, a Briton now resident in Christchurch, was accompanied by New Zealander Vaughan Snowdon. Unfortunately, the pair met with less stable weather and poorer conditions than during Knott's previous visit.
Orville, an impressive peak when viewed from the Johns Hopkins Inlet, has been attempted on several occasions from the south but only summited once.
Knott and Snowdon first accessed the eight-kilometre North East Spur that winds up to Orville's North Ridge. Early on their fourth day of climbing they reached a foresummit at 2,460m but saw they would have to rappel into a notch to gain the ridge ahead, which appeared to give sustained and exposed ground with a cornice-encrusted knife-edge.
Two further deep notches were visible and difficult ground extended for almost one and a half kilometres, around half the remaining distance to the summit.
An approaching weather front sealed the decision, and they retreated.
Later, they tried an unclimbed snow summit of c2,255m but were forced to retreat from the forepeak, while an attempt on Peak 2,527m was thwarted by a gaping rimaye and steep, powder-covered granite slabs. This collection of peaks, south east of Mt Abbe, has remained untouched since Jim Wickwire's 1977 expedition.
Knott and Snowdon managed to escape the region by ski plane ahead of a forecast storm.
The photograph shows the southern slopes of the North East Spur and North Ridge of Mt Orville from the North West Ridge of Peak 2,255m.
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