Andy Simons Mountain is a prominent double summit mountain located in the

Kenai Mountains The Kenai Mountains ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghanen Dghili'') are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Alaska. They extend 192 km (120 mi) northeast from the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula to the Chugach Mountains, and have an average ele ...

, and the fourth-highest peak on the

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan trib ...

in the state of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

.Kenai Mountains peakbagger.com
/ref> The true summit is 1.3 mile west of the 5,300+ foot subsidiary east peak on this five-mile-long northwest-to-southeast trending mountain. The mountain is situated in Chugach National Forest, east of

Mount Adair Mount Adair is a prominent double summit mountain located in the Kenai Mountains, on the Kenai Peninsula, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The east summit is higher than the 4,940-foot west peak. The mountain is situated in Chugach National Forest, ...

, and north of

Seward, Alaska Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approxima ...

. The

Seward Highway The Seward Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from Seward to Anchorage. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Turnagain Arm, and Kenai Mountains. The Seward H ...

and Alaska Railroad traverse its western foot. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into

Kenai Lake Kenai Lake ( Dena'ina: ''Sqilan Bena'') is a large, "zig-zag" shaped lake on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. The lake forms the headwaters of the Kenai River, and is itself a destination for fishing and other outdoor activity. The Dena'ina call th ...

History

The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

of this mountain was made May 18, 1963, by a Mountaineerng Club of Alaska party led by Dave Johnston. This group left a summit register with the name "Big Bad Wolf Peak" as the intended name, in keeping with a theme of the already named Mother Goose Glacier at the south end of this mountain. However, that same year the Seward Chamber of Commerce submitted a request that the mountain be named after Andrew Adrian Simons (1882–1962), an early settler and

big-game hunting Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for meat, commercially valuable by-products (such as horns/antlers, furs, tusks, bones, body fat/ oil, or special organs and contents), trophy/taxidermy, or simply just for recreation ...

guide who in his 27 years as a member of the Alaska Game Commission worked to help conserve and publicize the game resources of Alaska. The mountain is in view of Andy Simons' Lakeview homestead which he lived on for more than 30 years. Andy would look at the mountain each morning to see if there were goats or mountain sheep on the slopes. Andrew Simons was born in

Närpes Närpes (; fi, Närpiö ) is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in Western Finland and is part of the Ostrobothnia (region), Ostrobothnia regions of Finland, region. T ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, August 10, 1882, and arrived in the Alaska area in the early 1900s as a

prospector Prospector may refer to: Space exploration * Prospector (spacecraft), a planned lunar probe, canceled in 1962 * '' Lunar Prospector'', a NASA spacecraft Trains * Prospector (train), a passenger train operated by the Denver & Rio Grande Western ...

, then Seward around 1908. He was licensed as the first registered hunting guide in Alaska in 1910, and held license No. 1 until his death on September 18, 1962. He was considered one of the best in his profession and was well-known to all big-game hunters the world over. The story of his career was told in magazines such as

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

, Collier's,

Field & Stream ''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American online magazine focusing on hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. The magazine was a print publication between 1895 and 2015 and became an online-only publication from 2020. History ...

, and Holiday. The name was officially adopted in 1963 by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Climate

Based on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

, Andy Simons Mountain is located in a subarctic climate zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. Weather systems coming off the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east ...

are forced upwards by the Kenai Mountains (

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

), causing heavy precipitation in the form of rainfall and snowfall. Winter temperatures can drop below 0 °F with wind chill factors below −10 °F. This climate supports a spruce and hemlock forest on the lower slopes.

References

External links

* Andy Simons Mountai
Weather forecast

Summit detail, photo
{{Portal bar, Mountains, Geography, Alaska Mountains of Alaska Mountains of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area North American 1000 m summits

History

Climate

See also

References

External links