  The direct detection of particle dark matter through its scattering with
nucleons is of fundamental importance to understand the nature of DM. In this
work, we propose that the high-energy neutrino detectors like IceCube can be
used to uniquely probe the DM-nucleon cross-section for high-energy DM of
$\sim$ PeV, up-scattered by the high-energy cosmic rays. We derive for the
first time strong constraints on the DM-nucleon cross-section down to $\sim
10^{-32}$ cm$^2$ at this energy scale for sub-GeV DM candidates. Such
independent probe at energy scale far exceeding other existing direct detection
experiments can therefore provide useful insights complementary to other
searches.
