For the peak in California's Sierra Nevada, see Mount Russell (California)

Mount Russell (California)

Mount Russell is a peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the U.S. state of California, about north of Mount Whitney. It rises to an elevation of and is the seventh highest peak in the state.- Geography :...

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Mount Russell is one of the major peaks of the central Alaska Range

Alaska Range

The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 650-km-long mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest end to the White River in Canada's Yukon Territory in the southeast...

, approximately 35 mi (56 km) southwest of Mount McKinley

Mount McKinley

Mount McKinley or Denali in Alaska, United States is the highest mountain peak in North America and the United States, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.- Geology and features :Mount McKinley is a granitic pluton...

 (Denali). Though much lower than McKinley or its neighbor Mount Foraker

Mount Foraker

Mount Foraker is a mountain in the central Alaska Range, in Denali National Park, southwest of Mount McKinley. It is the second highest peak in the Alaska Range, and the fourth highest peak in the United States...

, 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 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).

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 Dan Osborne. That ascent proceeded via the now-standard North 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+

Grade (climbing)

In rock climbing, mountaineering and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a climbing grade to a route that concisely describes the difficulty and danger of climbing the route...

, 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.

In 2008 five additional summits were put up on Mt Russell.