From Hollywood Gags to Alpine Feats: the 'Aim for the Bushes' Legacy

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In late March and early April 2023, American climbers Matt Cornell, Jackson Marvell, and Alan Rousseau flew into the Ruth Gorge. The trio was already known for bold winter ascents and lightweight pushes. Looking up at a striking cleft on the far left side of the East Face, they spotted an unbroken system of ice runnels, overhanging rock corners, and steep snow mushrooms.

Setting out with minimal gear to move fast, the trio endured three days of sustained technical difficulty. They encountered thin ice ribbons barely thick enough to hold the picks of their ice tools and complex mixed terrain where falling meant severe injury on remote Alaskan rock. On April 2, 2023, after bivouacking on tiny carved snow ledges hanging over thousands of feet of exposure, they reached the summit ridge. They established a 5,250-foot route graded AI6 M6 A1.

As documented by Alpinist Magazine, the team named their route "Aim for the Bushes." The dark humor of the Hollywood quote spoke directly to their psychological reality: staring down thousands of feet of sheer vertical drop where self-delusion will kill you, yet total commitment is required to pull the moves.