Mountaineers Anna Pfaff, Andres Marin, and Tad McCrea have successfully completed a challenging new mixed route on the south face of Mount Providence, a remote and seldom-climbed 3,429-meter peak in Alaska.
The trio finished the line at the end of last month, nearly a year after an earlier attempt. In 2023, Pfaff and Marin, along with Thomas Bukowski, had established most of the route, climbing 983 meters up the south face before turning back about 100 meters below the summit. At the time, they graded the climb as V, M5, AI4, 5.10.
This year, Pfaff and Marin returned with McCrea to complete the route to the summit. Their success marks a rare ascent of the peak, which is known for its steep, technical faces. According to Marin, Mount Providence has only been summited once or twice before.
The south face of Mount Providence has seen only a few attempts in modern climbing history. In 2004, climbers Samuel Johnson and Jeremy Piggott established a new route on the western half of the face. Their 13-hour climb followed a dramatic couloir and rock buttress, reaching the summit ridge. They graded their route V, WI4, M6.
In 2016, Andy Anderson and Kim Hall made another notable attempt. They climbed an 800-meter line up a rock buttress and couloir, grading it IV, M5, WI4. Although they did not reach the summit, their route was praised for its aesthetics and technical quality.
The latest ascent by Pfaff, Marin, and McCrea adds to the small but growing legacy of difficult climbs on Mount Providence’s rugged terrain.