Chris Moore, another member of the team, climbs virgin terrain on Rapa Nui. Will Wacker photo.

Just past the northern skyline near the headwaters of the Chilkat River, a six-mile-long section of granite spires juts toward the sky from a bowl shaped, steep walled mountain basin.

Local alpinist Will Wacker named the area Rapa Nui because of its resemblance to the statues at Easter Island after exploring the cirque in 2012.

He wrote an…