The Alaskan giant that kept its true summit hidden for over fifty years

Countries & Cities · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Mount Blackburn stands as the tallest peak in the Wrangell Mountains, yet for decades, climbers scaled the wrong summit. While explorers reached the eastern peak in 1912, it took until the 1960s for new maps to reveal that the western summit was actually the mountain's highest point.

Located within the expansive Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Mount Blackburn is a massive, ice-covered shield volcano. Its sheer scale is defined by its dramatic local relief; the west face plunges over 11,000 feet toward the Kuskulana Glacier in less than four horizontal miles. This independence makes it the 50th-most topographically prominent peak globally, serving as a primary source of ice for glaciers like the Kennicott and Nabesna.

The mountain's history of exploration is marked by a persistent geographical misunderstanding. In 1912, Dora Keen and George Handy completed a pioneering ascent of the 16,286-foot East Peak, which they believed to be the summit. Keen’s achievement was notable as the first ascent of an Alaskan peak by a woman, but the team did not traverse to the true high point. It was not until 1958 that a team including Bruce Gilbert and Hans Gmoser reached the western summit, though they remained unaware they had claimed the mountain's highest point until USGS mapping confirmed it years later.

Geologically, the peak represents the eroded core of a shield volcano that likely ceased activity between 3.4 and 4.2 million years ago. Because the mountain is permanently shrouded in ice, its internal structure remains largely obscured, though researchers infer a summit caldera modified by glacial erosion. Today, the standard route follows the 1958 path up the North Ridge, offering a moderate climb that contrasts sharply with the arduous, crevasse-ridden routes attempted by early twentieth-century explorers.

The mountain was named in 1885 by Lieutenant Henry T. Allen to honor Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, a Kentucky senator. As the fifth-highest peak in the United States, it remains a centerpiece of the Alaskan landscape, bridging the gap between historical mountaineering ambition and modern geological understanding of the region's volcanic past.

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