New Alpine Route in Alaska’s Ruth Gorge
The Great Wall follows mixed rock and ice up the south face of Mount Dickey
British alpinist Tom Livingstone and Slovenian partner Gašper Pintar have made the first ascent of a route on the south face of Mount Dickey (2,909 m) in Alaska’s Ruth Gorge. It took them four days and they’ve yet to grade it but named it The Great Wall. Livingstone called their trip “a great Alaskan adventure.”
The experienced climbers first attempted other test-piece routes, including Blood from the Stone, which was first climbed by Sean Easton and Ueli Steck at M7+ WI6+X A1, and repeated last spring by Matt Cornell, Sam Hennessey and Rob Smith.
About the poor conditions, Livingstone said, “Gross falling snow mushrooms, or long steep protection-less pitches were unpleasant. In total we tried six routes, staying busy and psyched! Hats off to everyone that’s climbed cool routes in the Ruth.” About the difficulty, Livingstone said, “Gašper said it was the hardest alpine route he’d ever done. It certainly was a hard combination of many different types of climbing, over many different days, with many different tests.”
The Ruth Gorge, despite the bad conditions, has been busy this spring with visiting climbers. Sadly, an accident last week claimed the life of an American in the Ruth Gorge – read more about it here.
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