The mountains of Southcentral Alaska are not known for their rock quality (although what they lack in splitter cracks they more than compensate for with splitter couloirs). There are some pockets of decent stone in the vast Chugach and Kenai ranges, but they’re few and far between. In the greater Anchorage area, it generally seems like the Front Range (Ship Creek to Indian Creek) has the most solid rock. South of Indian Creek through the Kenai, where not directly influenced by glaciation, the “rock” seems overwhelmingly to be friable shale.
I’d largely written off Mt. Alice as a scramble route; the limited beta I could find emphasized how sketchy the climbing was due to loose and nearly un-protectable rock with rockfall in channeled terrain being such an issue that even going with a partner would be questionable. Down in Seward for the beautiful fall weekend of September 29-30, 2018 I decided to at least give it a look, going by the classic Alaskan “don’t know till you go” adage, as it is a high and prominent summit of the area that undoubtedly promises wow-inducing quantities of eye candy on a clear day. While Alice doesn’t get climbed often via any route, it’s south ridge is the “standard” summer route (after the much saner SW face snow route disappears for the season).
The south ridge is relatively sane, until the thoroughly deranged final 700-800′ up the summit pyramid from the col above the prominent SW couloir. About four miles of hiking and reasonable scrambling (with beyond world-class views the entire way) from near sea level, through a bit of rainforest, and along a westerly ridge that becomes more southerly brings one to this notch below the last 700-800′ of demented 4th-5th class climbing. Throughout this four mile stretch of hiking and scrambling to the base of the summit pyramid, I kept thinking to myself: maybe it’ll look better once I’m directly below it; I’m too far away to really tell…
Well, it did not look better once I was directly below. The beta I had noted the crux of the route being directly above the col in the form of a 30′ 5.0 crack with the best rock of the route. I did not notice a “crack” directly above the col. I did, however, notice a striking ~50′ crack climber’s right of the col – but it was more like a 5.7 flaring fist crack. I spent at least 45 minutes looking and scrambling around the first ~20′ above the col, but did not find anything I was comfortable with sans rope, gear, and knowledge of what lie above.
The summit pyramid, and rough sketch of the route in red:
I took another look DIRECTLY above the col, and did notice a chunky “crack” of decent rock with exposure to the west. My beta mentioned exposure to the east, and that really threw off my route-finding and had me thinking the 5.7ish fist crack to the climber’s right was the way.
I went up the chunky low 5th crack, and found myself standing on top of a steep slope of wickedly exposed gravel that went into a steep, loose gully that heads up towards a prominent “tower” of choss. From the route description I had, it seemed I was back on track. I followed this 4th class gravel slope up to a steeper, but more solid, wall. This wall of more vertical rock wasn’t as steep as the first, but longer and the rock was much less desirable (near vertical climbing through talus chunks glued in place by mud). Above this was an extended section of more wickedly exposed 4th class scrambling through blocky steps covered in fine grained gravel that leads to a second prominent choss “tower.” Above this, another easy fifth section on questionable but relatively solid rock. Then, a final (relatively easy – compared to what had already been climbed) 3rd-4th class scramble to the summit.
Godwin Glacier from Alice summit:
Godwin Glacier and peaks south to Resurrection Bay:
Godwin Glacier and peaks north:
Hanging out on the summit was no relief; I knew I still had to get back down 700-800′ of some of the steepest garbage rock I’d ever climbed. The typical flirting-with-death thoughts ran through my head: I’ll be so glad to get off this alive, I should be more thankful for what I have, I should do something chill next weekend, etc. As the route is 4th-5th class for several hundred feet, the route-finding was still intense even though I’d just climbed up it: the loose choss all looked the same. With some exposed ledges that I couldn’t see beyond, there was a lot of tip-toeing around and peeking over the ledges to make sure I picked the right line down.
The complete south ridge of Alice:
I finally made it back to the col. It was a relief, but I still had about four miles to get back to the trailhead – over a mile of which was still heads-up, exposed 3rd-4th class. I would have liked to enjoy the views more, and take my time (with a long break to relax and remove my boots), but I had no water and there isn’t any reliable water available along the entire route late season (there were a couple pools of snow melt, but I didn’t trust them without a water filter given that they were relatively stagnant and had items like ptarmigan feathers floating on the surface).
I do not feel it would be responsible to recommend this route to the summit, even though the views are absolutely stunning. It would, however, still be a worthwhile and challenging hike just to do the westerly-southerly ridge to the base of the summit pyramid – and this section is recommendable. If you want to bag the summit, I’d suggest climbing the much saner SW face snow route in the spring. It requires good timing in terms of desirable snow and avalanche danger, but if you have the knowledge and experience to figure that out (and the technical skills for steep snow climbing with a bit of rock scrambling) it looks like a fantastic alpine route. It’s also likely much faster, if you’ve got the approach dialed, because you avoid the entire westerly-southerly ridge section (that involves time consuming scrambling and route-finding) by just heading up the valley, moraine, and glacier directly to the base of the relatively straightforward SW face.
Video:
Gear used:
- La Sportiva Trango TRK boot
- Black Diamond Trail trekking poles
- Black Diamond Nitro 22 pack
- CAMP Speed helmet