Description
The north face of Mount Huntington is one of the most dangerous walls in the Alaska Range, and Denali’s southwest face is one of the largest and most technically difficult. Roberts and McCartney made the first ascents of both, eschewing any notion of fixed ropes or siege tactics. With success as their only option, they got themselves to the foot of these faces with the bare minimum of gear and simply started climbing. The ascent of Mount Huntington’s North Face was made in the summer of 1978; Denali Southwest Face, in 1980. These two legendary climbs created a stir at the time, and a flurry of controversy and criticism followed the Denali climb. Years later, some people went so far as to suggest that the Huntington climb was a fake. Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature, 2016.
Simon McCartney was introduced to the mountains of the United Kingdom by his father, becoming a full time climber before his 19th birthday. Now a successful businessman living in Hong Kong, McCartney’s dubious talent in calculated but compulsive risk-taking has continued, albeit on some of Southeast Asia’s most prestigious buildings rather than the highest mountains in Alaska. A chance reconnection with the adventures of his youth reminded McCartney that while the strength of old climbing ropes fades, the bond between old climbers only gets stronger.
