On March 7th, 1988, Vernon Tejas, born Vernon Edward Hansel, became the first person to make a solo ascent of 20,320 foot Denali, North America’s highest peak.

During the climb, Tejas encountered storms causing him to dig a snow cave to shelter in and survive the mountain.

Tejas first came to Alaska and worked for the Alaska Pipeline and Alaska Telecom. He built and maintained communication towers on the slope.

By the 1980s, Tejas would be a mountain guide/rescuer operating on the Alaska Range as well as the Andes, Himalayas and Antarctica.

While Tejas had summited the mountain several times as a guide, this winter ascent put Vejas in the history books. Tejas made the climb despite having severely broken his ankle 6 years earlier in Yosemite.

In 2011, Tejas would record his 50th summit of Denali.

  1988, climb, denali, march, solo, tejas