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Sarah Palin Attempts to Summit Non-existent Alaskan Peak

Alaska's former governor and VP candidate sparks Twitter flame war over trumped-up adventure on Denali
See that Tweet above? That's Republican Party sweetheart Sarah Palin letting the world know about her plans to climb the Sweettooth, a spur of Denali, with her husband Todd and 16-year-old daughter Willow. The ambitious adventure is part of her planned Discovery Channel series, Sarah Palin's Alaska. Impressive, no?

There's only one problem: "Sweettooth" doesn't exist on Denali. She might mean "Sugartooth," but even then, climbers who know the area are scratching their heads. "Sugartooth" is a multi-day, highly technical climb on sheer rock; despite Palin's ability to scale the ranks of Republican leadership, it's unlikely she's got the skills to send a "5.10b/c with short sections of A2, 16 pitches," according to Alpinist.com.

The Alaskan outdoor blogosphere is understandably taking Palin to task for 1) claiming to be an Alaskan mountain woman without even knowing the names of the places she's going, and 2) exploiting their state in a selfish bid for spotlight. Some speculate she'll fly in to the Ruth Glacier, take photos and go home. "Sweettooth = name of ridge you got wrong while trying to sound like a mountain woman," went one criticism.

But who are we to judge? Check out the following footage from ace climbers Zack Smith and Renan Ozturk, who won a McNeill-Nott Award for the third ascent for the "Sugar Tooth" (scroll to 2:32):

You are making her look smart with your shoddy journalism. Sweet tooth is a local name referring to another sub-peak of the Moose's tooth group. Just because you can't find it on the internet doesn't mean it does not exist. There are basically no skills required to get to the top of this feature.
Posted: Jul 23, 2010 Anonymous

If she does try and climb it... there's a good chance we won't have to worry about her running for president in 2012!
Posted: Jul 23, 2010 Stuart

cindyl wrote:That would be quite the story if the Palin family were going rock-climbing. And, not that I would ever defend Ms. Palin, but I'm more inclined to believe a comment that was on the same article:

You are making her look smart with your shoddy journalism. Sweet tooth is a local name referring to another sub-peak of the Moose's tooth group. Just because you can't find it on the internet doesn't mean it does not exist. There are basically no skills required to get to the top of this feature.
Posted: Jul 23, 2010 Anonymous

big_load wrote: refudiation!

big_load wrote: Oh-oh, that looks like a refudiation!