On April 29, Nik Mirhashemi and Mark Pugliese established a 1,500’ alternate start to the French (Northwest) Ridge of Huntington. Their line begins near the start of the 1984 route Polarchrome and climbs straight up to the ridge, reaching it below the First Step, the first significant difficulty of the French Ridge route. The pair did not continue to Huntington’s summit but instead downclimbed snow slopes to climber’s left of their route. They suggested their line is a good, lower-commitment objective during unsettled weather. They named the route Macho Madness (M6 75°).

– Information from Denali National Park and Mark Pugliese