Alpinist Jackson Marvell on Alaska's Broken Tooth: A Classic Exit Through the Central Range

The Broken Tooth rises from Alaska's Coffee Glacier like a throne carved in ice and stone. For alpinist Jackson Marvell, this striking feature in the Central Range represented something deeper than just another objective. It embodies he calls, "a classic rite of passage for Alaskan climbers."

"Climbing something and then exiting the Alaska Range is always epic," Marvell explains. "Climbing a new route on a stunning feature and then exiting the range by any means necessary - whether it's skiing, walking, or boating."

This spring, Marvell and friend, Chantel Astorga carried seven days of food and supplies into the range, determined to establish a new line on the unfinished route first attempted by Mark Westman.

Mixed Terrain and Calculated Decisions

The climb started strong. Marvell led the first block of ice pitches, followed by Chantel taking over for several more. They climbed in alternating blocks, pushing 1,400 feet up the steep mixed terrain. Then Alaska reminded them who sets the rules. 

"The sun came around the wall faster than we expected that morning," Marvell recalls. "We got pinned in this gully with stuff shedding down on top of us, so we dug into the side of the gully under a roof and sat there for like eight hours."

When the sun finally left and conditions improved, Chantel took over the leads and continued climbing into the evening. They pushed another 800 feet before encountering increasingly sketchy conditions late in the day with no good bivvy site.

"We both made the decision, we're out here for an adventure, not to push our luck on this thing," Marvell says. "Let's go enjoy the rest of our exit rather than force the climb to happen."

They rappelled the entire route that evening and slept low on the upper glacier, about a thousand feet from the mountain's base. By morning, they'd shifted focus to the 80-mile journey ahead.

The Real Adventure: An 80-Mile Slog out of the Backcountry

The exit began with a day of skiing down-glacier, followed by what Marvell describes as the crux of the entire expedition. They reached the Coffee River and began the slow work of navigating toward open water, pulling inflated packrafts behind them.

"We were going through avalanche debris over the river every couple hundred yards," Marvell explains. "We'd have to take out and ski, pulling our boats behind us, bushwhacking through all the alders."

That section consumed roughly 14 hours of brutal effort. When they finally hit open water, the relief was immediate.

"We went from crawling through bushes and lowering boats down steep banks to suddenly making miles down the river," Marvell says. "We got our skis lashed to the outside of our boats with smiles on our faces again. Throughout those two days of bushwhacking, it got pretty grim. We were like, 'Dude, are we going to have to ski the whole way out dragging our boats?'"

Entering Bear Country

As they approached the crux rapids in a tight box canyon, Marvell and Chantel opted to portage across the top to reach the main river. Bushwhacking through thick alders with boats, skis, and paddles on their backs, they stumbled onto something that stopped them cold.

"We came across a dismembered moose - a fresh kill from a grizzly," Marvell describes. "There's a leg here, the main part of the body over there. Chantel's like, 'Dude, do you have the gun?' I'm like, 'No, it's in the top of my pack.' So I'm crouching down and she's trying to dig into the brain of my backpack to get the gun out. We were so spooked."

From the moment they dropped off the main glacier into the valley, grizzly tracks were everywhere. They hung food away from camp and cooked at a distance… until a rainstorm forced them into their tent for a full 24-hour weather hold.

"We were just creeping in the tent, eating food with all these bears wandering around us," Marvell laughs. "It was kind of sporty."

Fueling Multi-Day Efforts

For lightweight nutrition on extended objectives, Marvell has refined his approach over years of expeditions. His body burns calories at an extreme rate such as when he lost 27 pounds in seven days on Jannu expedition, despite eating multiple freeze-dried meals daily.

"My metabolism is just different," he says. The challenge at altitude isn't just calorie

 intake but it's finding something tolerable when the appetite disappears. Traditional freeze-dried meals require fuel and time. Energy bars provide mostly carbohydrates. Marvell has incorporated RecPak's complete nutrition into his system, particularly for breakfast.The traditional alpinist's breakfast, forcing down an energy bar with coffee, stems from a fundamental problem: finding something you actually want to eat at altitude. "We don't have enough fuel up there to each be making another freeze-dried breakfast thing," Marvel says. The solution needed to be quick, nutritionally complete, and tolerable when appetite vanishes above the clouds.

The liquid format works in cold environments and settles well at altitude which are two critical factors when every meal is a negotiation with your body. "I haven't had any stomach issues or had to choke it down," he notes - high praise from someone who's experimented with nearly every expedition food option available.

The Long Game

Marvell and Chantel made it back to Talkeetna on May 16, a week after they'd flown in. The Broken Tooth remains unfinished, but that's part of the game.

"We're going back anyway," Marvell says simply.

It's an attitude forged through years of alpine objectives where success isn't guaranteed and survival is the baseline requirement. Marvell balances sponsored climbing with contract work, finding that staying engaged in work outside the athlete world keeps him sharp and happy.

"I've never been one to be much of a social media personality," he explains. "If I do that, I'm losing some of my own heart for climbing."

That authenticity extends to his approach in the mountains. The Broken Tooth expedition embodied the classic Alaska experience of attempting something hard, adapting when conditions dictate, and executing a committing exit through wild country where grizzlies own the valleys and weather makes the final call.

When Marvell returns to the Broken Tooth, he'll bring the same calculated approach: push hard, stay safe, and respect that in Alaska, the mountain always gets the final vote.