Two New Routes Kick Off Alaska 2017 Season

The 2017 season in Alaska has started with a bang as Greg Boswell and Will Sim have climbed two new routes above the Buckskin Glacier, near the famous Mooses Tooth spire.

With bluebird conditions, the two climbed a new 30-pitch route on Bear Tooth called Beastiality. More details to come about the two lines as they become available.

I've seen more blue skies in the last three weeks than in my past three Alaskan trips put together. This kind of karma could come back to bite us, but right now @gregbozza and myself are just happy with our two lines above the Buckskin glacier. In this photo Greg is on one of about 30 incredible pitches on our route "Beastiality" on the Beartooth, which we climbed and descended over 4 days of Alaskan perfection. @scarpauk @outdoorresearch

A post shared by Will Sim (@willsimclimber) on Apr 25, 2017 at 10:07am PDT

There are a number of strong teams heading to Alaska this spring with big plans. There are reports of two strong American climbers going for the speed record on Denali, which is currently just shy of 12 hours return set by Kilian Jornet.

Among the many Canadians heading to the Denali area this spring are Brent Peters and Maarten Van Haeren. A number of strong European climbers will be making the trip, including Ales Cesen who just spent a month in the Canadian Rockies repeating test-piece mixed routes.

Cleaning fresh snow took much more time than climbing alone in Stanley Headwall. #mixedclimbing #stanleyheadwall #rockies #canada

A post shared by Ales Cesen (@alescesen) on Mar 27, 2017 at 7:35pm PDT

In 2016, a number of new routes were climbed including the new West Face Direct on Celeno Peak by Chris Wright and Graham Zimmerman at M6 5.10X A2+ for 2,000 metres.

With good conditions reported throughout the area, there will surely be a number of big sends going down in Alaska in 2017.