On May 27, Ky Hart, Earl Lunceford, and I climbed a new route on the north face of Williams Peak (10,636’). Davy Crockett’s Squirrel Gun is located climber’s left of the super-classic June Couloir (a.k.a. Kitty Litter Couloir, III 5.7), first climbed in 1986 by Kirk Bachman and Ben Franklin. However, our addition covers a very different style of terrain.

The first pitch, at M6, is the crux. It begins in a gray dike and moves through an offwidth and chimney before heading left on thin face moves. The second pitch is M5 and starts in a number five–size offwidth. This pitch ends with some long runouts. After that, several long and much easier pitches bring one to the summit ridge. We descended the June Couloir, which was surprisingly difficult, leaving pins for rappel anchors. We encountered some nasty natural rockfall; future parties might find it more enjoyable to descend the south face of the mountain in an up-and-over style.

This was my second attempt at this route. I bailed on a solo attempt two weeks earlier due to a lack of wide protection and my usual fear of being alone in hard terrain, but I came back with the perfect crew and had an incredible day on a spectacular route. Davy Crockett’s Squirrel Gun has 1,200’ of climbing over eight pitches and is IV M6.

— Matt Ward