Mount Russell is one of the major peaks of the central
Alaska Range
The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBoar ...
, approximately 35 mi (56 km) southwest of
Denali
Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the th ...
. Though much lower than Denali or its neighbor
Mount Foraker
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...
, Russell is a steep, dramatic peak and a significant mountaineering challenge in its own right. To give a sense of its size and steepness, note that its summit rises 6,560 ft (2,000 m) over the
Chedotlothna Glacier
Chedotlothna Glacier is a glacier in Denali National Park and Preserve in the U.S. state of Alaska. The glacier begins in the Alaska Range between Mount Russell and Mount Dall moving northeast, then north. It is the source of the Swift Fork of th ...
to the northwest in only 1.8 mi (3 km), and almost 10,000 ft (3,048 m) above the lower
Yentna Glacier to the south in only 8 mi (13 km).
Mount Russell is the highest point in the
Kuskokwim River
The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River ( Yup'ik: ''Kusquqvak''; Deg Xinag: ''Digenegh''; Upper Kuskokwim: ''Dichinanek' ''; russian: Кускоквим (''Kuskokvim'')) is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth l ...
watershed.
The first ascent of Mount Russell was made on May 28, 1962, by a party led by Hellmut Raithel. The summit party comprised Klaus Ekkerlein, Robert Goodwin, and Peter Hennig.
They ascended the West Face from the Chedotlothna Glacier. The second ascent was in July 1972, by Thomas Kensler, Peter Brown, John Hauck, Dick Jablonowski, and Daniel L. Osborne. That ascent proceeded via the now-standard North East Ridge route, from the high basin of the upper Yentna Glacier to the northeast of the peak. This route is rated at
Alaska Grade 2+, and is made much shorter by the feasibility of landing at around 8,000 feet in the basin, just outside the wilderness portion of the park.
Overshadowed as it is by its larger neighbors, Mount Russell had seen only six recorded ascents by 2001.
However guided climbs of the peak are available.
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See also
*
List of mountain peaks of North America
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All ...
**
List of mountain peaks of the United States
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All su ...
***
List of mountain peaks of Alaska
This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a susexxleast of topographic prominence. All summits ...
*
List of Ultras of the United States
The following sortable table comprises the 200 most topographically prominent mountain peaks of the United States of America.
The summit of a mountain or hill may be measured in three principal ways:
#The topographic elevation of a summit me ...
References
External links
Alaska Range
Mountains of Denali Borough, Alaska
Mountains of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
Mountains of Alaska
{{MatanuskaSusitnaAK-geo-stub