Big New Alpine Line on Mount Huntington
The Technicolor Super Dream is a long technical route up an esthetic buttress on the peak's west side
Two Canadians and one American have taken advantage of the good spring conditions in Alaska to establish a new route. Zac Colbran, Grant Stewart and Dane Steadman have climbed a buttress on the west face of Mount Huntington where no climber had gone before.
The route follows very steep mixed terrain linking rock corners into large ice features to establish 700 metres of highly-technical new ground before intersecting with the upper climbing of the Colton/Leach to the summit. They called the 1,300-metre route The Technicolor Super Dream, and it’s graded AI5+ M6+ A2.
Colbran, Stewart and Steadman are highly experienced climbers. Colbran and Stewart, who visited Alaska together in 2022, were recipients of this year’s John Lauchlan Award.
Huntington is steeped in climbing history, with the first ascent coming in 1964 by Lionel Terray et al. Then in 1965, David Roberts, Ed Bernd, Don Jensen and Matt Hale established the cutting-edge Harvard Route at VI 5.9 A2 70-degree ice. In 1978, Jack Roberts and Simon McCartney climbed the imposing north face. In 1981, Nick Colton and Tim Leach climbed their now classic route up the west face. And in 2017, Clint Helander and Jess Roskelley spent five days making the first ascent of the Gauntlet Ridge.
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