University Peak | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 14,470 ft (4,410 m) [1] NAVD88 |
Prominence | 3,210 ft (980 m) [1] |
Isolation | 3.71 mi (5.97 km) [1] |
Listing | |
Coordinates | 61°19′38″N141°47′07″W / 61.32722°N 141.78528°W |
Geography | |
Location | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska, U.S. |
Parent range | Saint Elias Mountains |
Topo map | USGS McCarthy B-3 Quadrangle |
Climbing | |
First ascent | June 19, 1955 by Keith Hart, Leon Blumer, Sheldon Brooks, Tim Kelly, Norman Sanders, Gibson Reynolds, R. Houston |
Easiest route | snow/ice climb |
University Peak is a high peak in the Saint Elias Mountains of Alaska. It is one of the twenty highest peaks in Alaska , and one of the fifty highest peaks in the United States . It can be considered a southern outlier of the large massif of Mount Bona. However, it is a much steeper peak than Bona, and presents significant climbing challenges of its own.
The peak was named by Terris Moore during the first ascent of Mount Bona; the name refers to the University of Alaska.
The first ascent of University Peak was in 1955, via the North Ridge. The leader was Keith Hart, University of Alaska. The party consisted of Gibson Reynolds, Columbia University, Leon Blumer, Sydney, Australia, Tim Kelley, University of Washington, Sheldon Brooks, Pacific Lutheran College and Norman Sanders, University of Alaska. The climbers started at the foot of the Hawkins Glacier, and negotiated a difficult icefall to gain a basin at around 10,000 feet (3,000 m) elevation, on the west side of the North Ridge. This is still the recommended easiest route, but now one can fly into the 10,000-foot (3,000 m) basin to avoid the icefall. This route is rated Alaska Grade 2+.
A much harder route (Alaska Grade 5) was climbed on the East Face of the peak (from the Barnard Glacier) in 1997, by Carlos Buhler and Charlie Sassara.
This East Face route, named "Third Semester", involves 8,500 feet (2,600 m) of 50-80 degree snow, ice and rock capped with a 300-foot (90 m) vertical ice cliff. The descent is via the North Ridge. The first ascent party, Charles Sassara and Carlos Buhler, took 6 days to complete the traverse, including 2 days of storm that prevented movement.
University Peak consists mainly of an eroded subvolcanic granodioritic intrusion that formed approximately 8.4 million years ago. [2]
Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base-to-peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft (5,500 m), with a topographic prominence of 20,194 feet (6,155 m) and a topographic isolation of 4,621.1 miles (7,436.9 km), Denali is the third most prominent and third-most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of the U.S. state of Alaska, Denali is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.
Mount Saint Elias, the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about 26 miles (42 km) southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side of Mount Saint Elias forms part of Kluane National Park and Reserve, while the U.S. side of the mountain is located within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.
Mount Blackburn is the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska in the United States. It is the fifth-highest peak in the United States and the twelfth-highest peak in North America. The mountain is an old, eroded shield volcano, the second-highest volcano in the U.S. behind Mount Bona and the fifth-highest in North America. It was named in 1885 by Lt. Henry T. Allen of the U.S. Army after Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, a U.S. senator from Kentucky. It is located in the heart of Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, the largest national park in the country.
Mount Sanford is a shield volcano in the Wrangell Volcanic Field, in eastern Alaska near the Copper River. It is the sixth highest mountain in the United States and the third highest volcano behind Mount Bona and Mount Blackburn. The south face of the volcano, at the head of the Sanford Glacier, rises 8,000 feet (2,400 m) in 1 mile (1,600 m) resulting in one of the steepest gradients in North America.
Mount Hayes is the highest mountain in the eastern Alaska Range, in the U.S. state of Alaska. Despite not being a fourteener, it is one of the largest peaks in the United States in terms of rise above local terrain. For example, the Northeast Face rises 8,000 feet (2,440 m) in approximately 2 miles (3.2 km). This large vertical relief contributes to Mount Hayes being the 51st most topographically prominent peak in the world.
Mount Augusta, also designated Boundary Peak 183, is a high peak in the US state of Alaska and the Canadian territory of Yukon. It lies about 25 km (16 mi) south of Mount Logan and 25 km east of Mount Saint Elias, respectively the first and second highest mountains in Canada. Mount Augusta forms the eastern end of the long ridge of which Mount Saint Elias is the center and highest point.
Mount Crillon is a high peak of the Fairweather Range, the southernmost part of the Saint Elias Mountains. It lies southeast of Mount Fairweather, in the promontory between the Gulf of Alaska and Glacier Bay. It is included in Glacier Bay National Park. The peak was named after Felix-Francois-Dorothee de Bretton, Comte de Crillon, by his friend, the French explorer Jean Francois de Galaup de la Perouse.
Mount Bona is one of the major mountains of the Saint Elias Mountains in eastern Alaska, and is the fifth-highest independent peak in the United States. It is either the tenth- or eleventh-highest peak in North America. Mount Bona and its adjacent neighbor Mount Churchill are both large ice-covered stratovolcanoes. Bona has the distinction of being the highest volcano in the United States and the fourth-highest in North America, outranked only by the three highest Mexican volcanoes, Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl, and Iztaccíhuatl. Its summit is a small stratovolcano on top of a high platform of sedimentary rocks.
Mount Miller is an isolated peak of the Saint Elias Mountains in Alaska, United States. It is notable for its position among spectacular icefields, its distance from any inhabited place, and its large rise above local terrain. It is over 65 miles (105 km) from McCarthy, the nearest habitation, and over 105 miles (169 km) away from Yakutat, the nearest significant town. Exemplifying the size of the mountain, the south flank rises 9,000 feet (2,700 m) above the Duktoth River valley to the south in approximately 9 horizontal miles (14 km).
Mount Natazhat is a high peak of the Saint Elias Mountains, of Alaska, United States, just west of the border with the Yukon Territory of Canada. It lies on the northern edge of the range, south of the White River and north of the Klutlan Glacier. Mount Natazhat is a little-noticed peak; however it is a very large peak in terms of rise above local terrain. It rises 9,000 feet (2,743 m) in less than 7 miles (11.3 km) above the lowlands to the north, and 7,500 feet (2,286 m) in about 4 miles (6.4 km) above the Klutlan Glacier to the south.
Mount Wilson is the highest summit of the San Miguel Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The prominent 14,254.1-foot (4,345 m) fourteener is located in the Lizard Head Wilderness of San Juan National Forest, 10.6 miles (17.1 km) north by east of the Town of Rico in Dolores County, Colorado, United States. Mount Wilson should not be confused with the lower Wilson Peak nearby.
Mount Russell is one of the major peaks of the central Alaska Range, approximately 35 mi (56 km) southwest of Denali. Though much lower than Denali or its neighbor Mount Foraker, Russell is a steep, dramatic peak and a significant mountaineering challenge in its own right. To give a sense of its size and steepness, note that its summit rises 6,560 ft (2,000 m) over the Chedotlothna Glacier to the northwest in only 1.8 mi (2.9 km), and almost 10,000 ft (3,000 m) above the lower Yentna Glacier to the south in only 8 mi (13 km).
Mount Drum is a stratovolcano in the Wrangell Mountains of east-central Alaska in the United States. It is located at the extreme western end of the Wrangells, 18 miles (29 km) west-southwest of Mount Sanford and the same distance west-northwest of Mount Wrangell. It lies just inside the western boundary of Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve and is 25 miles (40 km) east of the Copper River.
Mount Jarvis is an eroded shield volcano and stratovolcano in the Wrangell Mountains of eastern Alaska. It is located in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park about 10 miles (16 km) east of the summit of Mount Wrangell. The mountain sits at the northeastern edge of the massive ice-covered shield of Wrangell, rising nearly 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above it in a spectacular series of cliffs and icefalls.
Carlos Buhler is one of America's leading high altitude mountaineers. Buhler's specialty is high-standard mountaineering characterized by small teams, no oxygen, minimal gear and equipment, and relatively low amounts of funding; yielding first ascents of difficult routes in challenging conditions, such as the Himalayan winter season.
Mount Tom White is a prominent 11,191-foot glaciated mountain summit located in the Chugach Mountains, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The remote peak is situated on land managed by Chugach National Forest, 72 mi (116 km) northeast of Cordova, and 20 mi (32 km) north of the Bering Glacier, North America's largest glacier. The mountain lies within the Copper River drainage basin, and is the eighth-highest major peak in the Chugach Mountains. Topographic relief is significant as it ranks 17th in prominence for all peaks in Alaska, and 52nd for all North America peaks. The first ascent of the mountain was made in 1973 by Story Clark, Chris Hall, Tom Kizzia, William Resor, Sarah Robey, and Don White.
Donoho Peak is a 6,696-foot-elevation mountain summit located in the Wrangell Mountains, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The peak is situated in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, 6 mi (10 km) north-northwest of Kennecott, and 9 mi (14 km) north of McCarthy, at the confluence of the Kennicott Glacier and Root Glacier. The peak's name was reported in 1931 by the United States Geological Survey. The mountain lies within the Copper River drainage basin. Bears frequent the Donoho Peak and Donoho Lakes area. An ascent of the mountain involves 14 miles round-trip from Kennecott to the summit, including crossing the Root Glacier and gully scramble via the south aspect of the mountain. Ruins of the Regal Mine remain at an elevation of 5,440 feet on the south slope of the mountain. Only small amounts of copper ore were ever produced, however. On a clear day the summit of Donoho Peak offers views of Mount Blackburn to the northwest and the Stairway Icefall on Regal Mountain to the north-northeast.
Mount Huxley is a 12,216-foot glaciated mountain summit located in the Saint Elias Mountains of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The remote peak is situated 75 mi (121 km) northwest of Yakutat, and 8.7 mi (14 km) west-northwest of Mount Saint Elias. The peak rises above the Columbus Glacier and Bagley Icefield to its north, the Tyndall Glacier to the south, and the Yahtse Glacier to the west. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into the Gulf of Alaska. The mountain was named in 1886 by English mountaineer Harold Ward Topham for Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), an English biologist. The mountain was officially named Huxley Peak in 1917, but the name was officially changed to Mount Huxley in 1968 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The first ascent of the peak was made June 9, 1996 by Paul Claus who landed his plane at 11,500 feet elevation on the western flank and climbed the remaining distance to the summit. The second ascent of Mt. Huxley, and first complete ascent from base to summit, was made in June 2018 by Scott Peters, Andrew Peter, and Ben Iwrey starting from the Columbus Glacier.
Mount Chitina is an 8,424-foot (2,568-meter) mountain summit located in the Saint Elias Mountains of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The remote peak is situated 113 mi (182 km) northwest of Yakutat, and 40 mi (64 km) northwest of Mount Logan. Mount Chitina rises 5,000+ ft above the confluence of the Chitina Glacier and the Logan Glacier. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into the Chitina River, which in turn is part of the Copper River drainage basin. The first ascent of the peak was made September 24, 1988, by Danny Kost and Donnie Hunton via the west ridge. The mountain's name is derived from the Chitina Glacier located at the base of the north slope, and was first published on a Canadian topographic map in 1958 no .
Split Thumb is a 5,523 ft (1,680 m) glaciated mountain summit located in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The peak is situated near the southern periphery of the Juneau Icefield, 9 mi (14 km) northeast of Juneau, 2.15 mi southeast of Nugget Mountain, and 4 mi (6 km) east of Heintzleman Ridge, on land managed by Tongass National Forest. Split Thumb is surrounded by the Lemon Creek Glacier to the west, and Norris Glacier to east. The Split Thumb Icefall is set on the east aspect of the peak. This peak's descriptive name was published in 1951 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The first ascent of Split Thumb was made July 2, 1954, by a Juneau Icefield Research Project party comprising Edward LaChapelle, Dick Hubley, Carlton Ray, Dr. Conrad Buettner, and Bob Goodwin.
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