Mount Huntington is a striking rock and ice pyramid in 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...

, about 8 miles (13 km) south-southeast 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...

. It is also about 6 miles (10 km) east of Mount Hunter

Mount Hunter (Alaska)

Mount Hunter, or Begguya, is a mountain in Denali National Park in Alaska. It is approximately 8 miles south of Mount McKinley, or Denali, the highest peak in North America. "Begguya" means child in the Dena'ina language...

. While overshadowed in absolute elevation by McKinley, Huntington is a steeper peak: in almost every direction, faces drop over 5,000 feet (1,525 m) in about a mile (1.6 km). Even its easiest route presents significantly more technical challenge than the standard route on McKinley, and it is a favorite peak for high-standard technical climbers.

Mount Huntington was first climbed in 1964 by famed French alpinist Lionel Terray

Lionel Terray

Lionel Terray was a French climber who made many first ascents, including Makalu in the Himalaya and Cerro Fitzroy in the Patagonian Andes ....

 and party, via the Northwest Ridge, also called the French Ridge.
The second ascent the following year, via the West Face/West Rib, is chronicled by noted climber and author David Roberts

David Roberts (climber)

David Roberts is a climber, mountaineer, and author of books and articles about climbing. He is particularly noted for his books The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah: A Wilderness Narrative, chronicling major ascents in Alaska in the 1960s, which had a major impact on the form of mountaineering...

 in The Mountain of My Fear. The mountain can be accessed either from the West Fork of the Ruth Glacier

Ruth Glacier

Ruth Glacier is a glacier in Denali National Park and Preserve in the U.S. state of Alaska. Its upper reaches are almost three vertical miles below the summit of Mount McKinley. The glacier's "Great Gorge" is one mile wide, and drops almost over ten miles , with crevasses along the surface...

, on the north side of the mountain, or the Tokositna Glacier, on the south side.

Notable ascents

• 1964 French Ridge Lionel Terray
  Lionel Terray
  Lionel Terray was a French climber who made many first ascents, including Makalu in the Himalaya and Cerro Fitzroy in the Patagonian Andes ....
  
   et al.
• 1965 Harvard Route (VI 5.9 A2 70-degree ice) by David Roberts
  David Roberts (climber)
  David Roberts is a climber, mountaineer, and author of books and articles about climbing. He is particularly noted for his books The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah: A Wilderness Narrative, chronicling major ascents in Alaska in the 1960s, which had a major impact on the form of mountaineering...
  
  , Ed Bernd, Don Jensen, Matt Hale.
• 1978 North Face Jack Roberts and Simon McCartney, summit reached on July 6, 1978.
• 1978 Southeast Spur Joseph Kaelin, Kent Meneghin, Glenn Randall and Angus M. Thuermer, Jr., summit reached on July 9, 1978.
• 1989 Nettle-Quirk Route disputed FA by Dave Nettle and James Quirk, summit reached May 24, 1989.