Mount Moffit is a peak in the

Alaska Range The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBoar ...

in central

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., ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, about 10 miles (16 km) east-southeast of

Mount Hayes 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 Fa ...

. It is notable for its steep faces and large relief above local terrain. For example, the north face drops 7,400 feet in approximately 1.2 miles (2 km) horizontal distance. William Shand Jr., Benjamin Ferris Jr., and Sterling Hendricks made the first ascent of Mount Moffit on August 12, 1942. All three had been part of the first ascent team for Mount Hayes the year before. Unfortunately, Shand died shortly after the climb in an unrelated car accident. It was proposed that his name be attached to this peak; however the name was mistakenly attached to a slightly lower peak to the south of Mount Moffit. This mountain was named in 1950 by the

U.S. 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, and ...

for Fred Howard Moffit (1874–1958) who, as a geologist with the Alaskan Branch of U.S.Geological Survey, worked in Alaska from 1903 through 1943 and authored over fifty publications devoted to Alaskan geology and mining. Mount Moffit is not often climbed due to difficult access. The second ascent of the peak was 33 years after the first, in 1975, by M. Sallee and D. Buchanan. The standard route is the Northwest Ridge (or "Western North Ridge"); this is a serious route (

Alaska Grade In rock climbing, mountaineering, and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a grade to a climbing route or boulder problem, intended to describe concisely the difficulty and danger of climbing it. Different types of climbing (such as sport ...

4) with typical Alaskan features such as highly

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

d ridgelines. The North Face of Mount Moffit was first climbed in 2007 by Jed Brown, and

Colin Haley Colin Haley (born 2 September 1984) is an American alpinist known for fast ascents of technical routes on mountains around the world. Haley is perhaps best known for his traverse of The Torres (Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, Punta Herron, and Aguja ...

Brown, Jed
"The Entropy Wall, A Direct Route up Mt. Moffit's North Face"

American Alpine Journal The ''American Alpine Journal'' is an annual magazine published by the American Alpine Club. Its mission is "to document and communicate mountain exploration." The headquarters is in Golden, Colorado. Subtitled as a compilation of "The World's M ...

, 2007, Retrieved On 22 June 2018.

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 ...

, Mount Moffit is located in a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and mild summers. This climate supports the Trident Glacier surrounding this peak. Temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C. The months May through June offer the most favorable weather for climbing or viewing. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from the mountain drains into tributaries of the

Tanana River The Tanana River (Lower Tanana: Tth'eetoo', Upper Tanana: ''Tth’iitu’ Niign'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to linguist and anthropologist William Bright, the name is from the Koyukon (Athabaskan) ...

drainage basin.

Sources

* Michael Wood and Colby Coombs, ''Alaska: a climbing guide'', The Mountaineers, 2001.

References

External links

Mount Moffit on Topozone

Weather for Mt. Moffit at MountainForecast

Flickr photo of Moffit from northeast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moffit, Mount Alaska Range Landforms of Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, Alaska Mountains of Alaska Mountains of Unorganized Borough, Alaska