Related News / Mount Dickey new climb in Alaska by Frieh, Diesinger and Stuckey

Mt Dickey, Alaska

Mt Dickey, Alaska: The team on the summit around 5 pm on the 21st of March. Orange: John Frieh Green: Chad Diesinger Purple: Jason Stuckey - Photo by John Frieh

Mt Dickey, Alaska: The team on the summit around 5 pm on the 21st of March. Orange: John Frieh Green: Chad Diesinger Purple: Jason Stuckey

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Jason Stuckey leading the first belayed pitch off the glacier early on March 20th (first day). The ice was more neve than ice so though protection was limited the sticks were solid. From here the route continues up and right.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Chad Diesinger (green jacket) and Jason Stuckey (back to camera) settling in for a

Mt Dickey, Alaska: the line of Blue Collar Beatdown (V WI4 M4 65°), climbed in mid-March 2015 by John Frieh, Chad Diesinger and Jason Stuckey.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Chad Diesinger belaying Jason on the pitch pictured before.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Jason Stuckey (white backpack) belaying Chad Diesinger (foreground) up one of the first (of many) snow pitches on March 20th.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Chad Diesinger racking up for one of his blocks on March 20th.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Chad Diesinger belaying Jason Stuckey (out of the frame). As soon as we had enough light in the sky to start climbing (Day 2: March 21) we immediately abandoned our snow cave mostly as an opportunity to start generating some heat and warm up slowly. Unfortunately the first pitch out of the cave was one of the deepest, unconsolidated snow pitches of the entire route and it required hours to lead. While Jason warmed up trenching his way up the mountain Chad and John courted hypothermia.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Chad Diesinger continuing the trench Jason started out of the snowcave. It isn't completely obvious in the photo but Chad is 6 feet tall and the trench is as deep as he is. At a few times the trench was deeper/taller than any of us. Anyone who has climbed in Alaska will tell you this is slow, wet but mostly miserable.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Jason Stuckey elated he is off the face and onto the summit plateau. And after 1.5 days (at his point) without sun it was nice to enjoy a little warmth. The team had spent much of the second day (March 21) attempting to get off the face; after two failed attempts (difficult/dangerous terrain turned us around) we had discussed if we needed to start considering attempting to reverse the route. As this would have been extremely difficult we continued our efforts; fortunately our third attempt was successful.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: After summiting we almost immediately began our descent down the West Ridge of Dickey to take advantage of the light to speed our descent. We nearly reached the 747 pass just before dusk and decided to enjoy a brew stop before the cold of the night. At this point we had more or less been on the go and awake for 41 hours. Photo of Jason Stuckey enjoying a brief respite.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Chad Diesinger (blue jacket/upper climber) and John Frieh (red jacket/lower climber) following one of the early ice pitches on day one (March 20).

Mt Dickey, Alaska: Chad Diesinger on the summit plateau finally off the face on March 21.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: John Frieh (red backpack foreground) and Chad Diesinger (out front) trudging for the summit. As easy as it would have been to skip the summit and head straight for the descent the team completed the route to the summit of Mount Dickey.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: John Frieh (red backpack foreground) and Chad Diesinger (out front) trudging for the summit. As easy as it would have been to skip the summit and head straight for the descent the team completed the route to the summit of Mount Dickey.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: John Frieh leading the descent down from the summit. Behind John on the lookers left is Mount Huntington; almost 4 years ago to the day Jason and John climbed Mt Huntington together making the second winter ascent ever of Mt Huntington. This was Jason and John's first time climbing together. In 2014 Jason and John and a third person made the FWA of Mt Huntington's French Ridge.

Mt Dickey, Alaska: After summiting we almost immediately began our descent down the West Ridge of Dickey to take advantage of the light to speed our descent. We nearly reached the 747 pass just before dusk and decided to enjoy a brew stop before the cold of the night. At this point we had more or less been on the go and awake for 41 hours. Photo of John Frieh enjoying a brief respite.

Mt Dickey, Alaska. Red: No Such Thing as a Bargain Promise (VI A0 WI5R M6, John Frieh, Doug Shepherd, 2012). Blue: Blue Collar Beatdown (V WI4 M4 65°, Chad Diesinger, John Frieh, Jason Stuckey 2014).

The formidable NE Face of Mt Dickey, Alaska