In an expedition worthy of the state they call “The Last Frontier,” a three-man alpine team have quested up a new route on the east face of Alaska’s Mount Dickey.
Alan Rousseau, Matt Cornell, and Jackson Marvell named their impressive new line Aim for the Bushes (a reference to the Will Ferrell movie The Other Guys).
The team spent three days completing the 1,600-meter route, graded AI6 M6X. It’s near a previous route called Snowpatrol, which was established in 2004 by Andy Sharpe and Sam Chinnery.
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
After reaching the 2,909m summit via Aim for the Bushes, Rousseau, Cornell and Marvell descended back to base camp in just under three hours.
“We found a lot of adventure on our three-day push up the face,” Rousseau wrote. “The route kept us engaged from the first pitch to the last, We had a ton of uncertainty about this thing. At least a dozen times on the route we looked up and didn’t know if we would find a passage through the next rope length. Fortunately, we managed to scrape our way through and had some good (albeit cold) times along the way.”
A mile wide and 5,000′ tall
Located on Alaska’s Ruth Glacier, Mount Dickey is already “one of the most impressive peaks in the Ruth Gorge,” according to Mountain Project.
“Its east face is so enormous that it’s hard to comprehend that it is actually a mile wide and 5,000′ tall,” Mountain Project writes. “There are numerous routes on the south and east faces of this mountain but they are all very serious and committing. A more reasonable route to the top is via the west face which is a moderate 35 to 40-degree snow climb. For strong experienced parties, there is still a lot of new route potential on this mountain.”
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
As for Rousseau, Cornell, and Marvell, they’ve proven they have the ambition and teamwork to succeed in the high mountains.
Last year, they took on Denali’s Slovak Direct, an iconic route of 3,000 meters of committed climbing on North America’s highest peak. First climbed in 11 days back in 1984, Rousseau and crew set a new standard by cruising up in just 21 hours and 25 minutes in 2022 — crushing the previous 60-hour record.
