King Peak (Yukon)

King Peak
King Peak
	Aerial view, 2006
Highest point
Elevation	5,173 m (16,972 ft)
Prominence	1,073 m (3,520 ft)
Listing	North America highest peaks – 9th; Canada highest major peaks – 4th;
Coordinates	60°34′59″N 140°39′14″W / 60.58306°N 140.65389°W
Geography
	King Peak Yukon, Canada
Parent range	Saint Elias Mountains
Topo map	NTS 115C10 King Peak
Climbing
First ascent	June 6, 1952 by Keith Hart and Elton Thayer
Easiest route	glacier/snow/ice climb

King Peak (sometimes called Mount King) is the fourth-highest mountain in Canada and the ninth-highest peak in North America. Situated just west of Mount Logan (highest in Canada), in Yukon, it is considered a satellite peak of the massive mountain.

Climbing history

The first ascent of King Peak was made in 1952 by some students from the University of Alaska. Russell Alston Paige, Keith Hart, Elton Thayer and Bill Atwood walked to the Ogilvie Glacier at the foot of Quartz Ridge where the majority of their supplies had been air dropped. They reached Camp 2 on the west ridge on June 3. After waiting two days for a storm to subside, Hart and Thayer set out for the summit while Atwood remained in camp due to a knee injury. After struggling with rock towers and icy crests, they reached the top on June 6, 1952.^[2]

The second and third ascents were also completed in 1952 by an American team who had also just made the first ascent of Mount Augusta. From the south side of King Peak, they made their way up to the east ridge occasionally traversing to the north side to avoid steep slopes. After two failed summit attempts on July 20 and 21, Pete Schoening and Gibson Reynolds succeeded in negotiating the gendarme that had rebuffed the failed attempts and reached the top on July 23. Schoening returned the next day with Dick McGowan and Bill Niendorff to complete the third ascent.^[3]