Mt. Dickey: A New Route and a Brilliant History

The Cutting Edge

Alaska’s Great Gorge of the Ruth Glacier has captured the attention of alpinists from around the world for generations. Mt. Dickey and the other giant peaks lining the gorge have also been fertile venues for the evolution of the sport. So it was for Tom Livingstone and Gašper Pintar in the spring of 2024, when they set out for a new line up Dickey’s 5,000-foot south face. To navigate the challenges of this iconic area, they combined rock, snow, and ice techniques along with intricate route-finding and their signature British and Slovenian resilience. In this episode, Tom tells the story of their new route, and we also hear about the Ruth Glacier's place in climbing history from AAJ Editor Dougald MacDonald and veteran alpinist Freddie Wilkinson. Plus, climber and author David Roberts talks about Dickey's first wall route (climbed 50 years ago!) in audio from the AAC archive.