After enduring the fury of a 10-day Alaskan storm, we were rewarded with one six-hour period of sunshine during which we established a new four-pitch route on a small, unclimbed wall in Little Switzerland. Green Couch (III 5.10a) was a fun and high-quality consolation prize after getting completely skunked on our main objective, a traverse of the Dragon’s Spine, a long, unclimbed ridgeline. [The Dragon’s Spine lies a few miles down glacier (northwest) from the Trolls and other formations.] We named the cliff the Red Dragon Wall because of its red-varnished face; it is located just southeast of the Dragon’s Spine, right where the Pika Glacier meets the granite. The climb consists of mostly splitter hand and finger cracks up to 5.9, with a 5.10a move through a small roof. There is an additional pitch through very moderate terrain to top out and walk off the wall. Overall, the rock and climbing are very high quality.

Zach Clanton