ALASKA

Mts. Huntington (A: 12,240'), McKinley (B: 20,320'), Barrill (C: 7,650'), and Dickey (D: 9,545'). Routes shown are as follows. 1 Crime of the Century (VI 5.11b A4, 4,920', Avrisani-Bonneville-Craud-Robach-Wagner, 2002) 2 Italian Pillar (VI 5.11 A4, 5,250', Barattoli-Borgonovo-Defrancesco-de Dona-Leoni-Manica-Zampiccoli, 1991) 3 Southeast Pillar (VI 5.9 A3, 5,250', Roberts-Rowell-Ward, 1974) 4 Gross-Komarkova (VI 5.8 A3, 5,250', Gross-Komarkova, 1977) 5 Blood from the Stone (VI 5.9 A1 M7+ AI6+ X, 5,250', Easton-Steck, 2002) 6 The Wine Bottle (VI 5.11 A3, 5,250', Bonapace-Orgler, 1988) 7 Cobra Pillar (VI 5.10+ A3, 3,000', Donini-Tackle, 1991). For perspective, note that the Cobra Pillar is as long as the longest route on El Cap. [Photo] Brian Okonek

Editor's Note: The climbing season in the Alaska Range, hampered as it was by unseasonably warm weather, underscored the anomalous nature of the historic 2001 season. Among other climbs reported below, the Denali Diamond (Alaska Grade 6) received a repeat nineteen years after the first ascent, by Kenton Cool and Ian Parnell (U.K.). (See photograph on page one of this issue.) The pair avoided the original twenty-five-foot A3 roof at the top of the 3,000-foot rock wall by climbing a variation to the left at M7, and completed the roundtrip in five days; the first ascent took seventeen. The Wall of Shadows (VI 5.9 M7 95 degree ice/mixed) on the north face of Mt. Hunter's north buttress, which received its second ascent in 2001 by Kevin Mahoney and Ben Gilmore, was climbed free to the third ice band by Jimmy Haden and Russ Mitrovitch over two days in June.

Also on Mt. Hunter's north buttress, Stephen Farrand and John Kelley made the second integral ascent of Deprivation (Alaska Grade 6, ED+ 90 degree) in three days, tagging the summit. On Mt. Barrill, The Cobra Pillar (V 5.11a A2, 3,000', Donini-Tackle, 1991) saw its second and third ascents, by Jean-Pierre "Pee-Wee" Ouellet and Stefane Perron of Quebec, Canada, in early June, and a Polish-American team of Maciej Ciesielski, Zack Martin, and Jakub Radziejowski later in the month. The Canadians fixed four ropes before making their final assault, while the Polish-American team climbed the route in a forty-two-hour push.