Candidate: #4
Location: Yukon Territory, Kluane National Park and Reserve – a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Range: Saint Elias Mountains
Elevation: 5,173 metres
When searching for information on the candidates for Canada’s 100 Famous Mountains, I usually conclude that if there is little information available then the mountain’s candidacy is contestable. As I compiled a draft of suitable candidates, I was well aware that I would soon reach the point where I had more than 100 mountains worthy of being on the list, as there are many well-known peaks that are frequented by hikers and climbers and which are located near urban centres or popular resorts. Some mountains would have to be cut from the list in favour of the more familiar ones. Furthermore, I wondered early on if it was really necessary to include all of Canada’s summits over 4,000 metres or only the most famous ones, and as I searched for information on King Peak I found not only few sites but little information on the sites I found. Would King Peak be one of the high mountains that should be nixed from the list? I decided no.
My arguments for why King Peak should be included are as follows: though information on the Net is sparse and King Peak, like many other peaks of the Saint Elias Mountains, is rarely climbed (the ascent in 1999 by Garry Roach’s team was only the seventh) the mountain makes up for its lack of familiarity with its height, beauty, and the technical difficulty involved in climbing it. King Peak is the fourth highest mountain in Canada and the ninth highest in North America. Canada has only five summits clearing 5,000 metres and there is a list of the summits of over 4,000 metres. It would seem a shame to omit a spectacular mountain such as King Peak. A satellite peak of Mt. Logan, its peak is a sharply defined pointed pyramid towering over the ice field, and Allan Carpe, a member of the first ascent team on Logan remarked, “The most impressive views being of glorious King Peak, whose precipitous sides and terrible arêtes would seem to defy hope of conquest.” It was finally ascended, however, in 1952 by K. Hart and E. Thayer.
King Peak is named after William King, a commissioner of the International Boundary Commission and director of the Dominion Obeservatory from 1890 to 1905.
Sources:
http://www.peakware.com/peaks.html?pk=2853
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Peak_(Yukon)
http://www.bivouac.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=235
Photo:
Next: Mt. Steele
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