Peak Bagging on Knight Island in Prince William Sound
- 2006 -

I remember the first time I saw Knight Island.  My jaw dropped at the distant sight of the craggy peaks on this remote island.  I knew right then and there that Knight Island was a place I had to visit.  Since that first time I saw Knight Island I've made 5 trips to the island with my wife, dogs and friends to explore.  My latest "project" on the island was to climb what is, in my opinion, the most striking peak (and the 2nd highest summit) on Knight Island.  On July 1st I went to Drier Bay to scout out a route up this 2950' mountain.  I found a good access and figured that the steep snow gully that lead to the ridge top would work for getting one to the summit.  As the snow gully would be melted out before long, I gave Greg Jacobson, a friend and climber from Seattle, a call to see if he could team up with me for a run at this peak.  Greg was coming to Anchorage for business, so it worked out well that he could join me on July 12th to chase after this cool peak on Knight Island.
This shot was taken from on top of Herring Peak in June 2005.  I was peak bagging on the north end of Knight Island with Colin Quinn-Hurst (pictured) and Rob Whitney.  You can see the big peaks of Knight Island in this picture, Peak 2950 is on the left. Taken from the site of an old cannery at Port Audrey at the north end of Drier Bay, this shot shows the "Three Giants".  This is likely the name that copper miners used for to refer to these peaks back in the beginning of last century. Click here to see the reference. Heading out for a go at the peak, seen in the distance, on July 1st.
Getting to the base of the peak was typical Prince Willam Sound brush bashing. I climbed as high as I felt comfortable going.  I didn't make the top, but figured that I had found the route.  It was sure nice in the high country of Knight Island. I was surprised to find that the high peaks of Knight Island were bird rookeries.  Gulls were nesting on many of the ledges on the rock walls up here.  It's sure a long way down to the water, and back, for the birds to get "groceries" for their young.
 
On the way down I hoofed up a couple lower peaks nearby.   Here's a shot of Peak 2950, a beautiful mountain indeed.  In Jim Lethcoe's book on the geology of Prince William Sound he points out that during the last ice age (18,000 years ago) this peak was a nunatak sticking out of the ice sheet.  Peaks to the north on Knight Island were all covered and ground down by glaciers.
     
July 12th trip with Greg Jacobson to climb Peak 2950
 
On July 11th, Greg Jacobson and I boated out to Drier Bay, camped out in the boat, and started climbing the next morning. Here we just busted out of tree-line to the fine alpine zone of the approach valley. Greg gets gear set for the technical sections of the climb.
 Time to harness up.  [Picture by Greg] The snow gully to the ridge had a slope of 55 degrees.  We roped up, Greg led, and we used a running belay with snow pickets for protection to climb this chute. Running belay up the snow gulley.  [Picture taken by Greg]
On the ridge line Greg led up a crack, where we used a Camalot for pro, and then we had to "horsie-ride" a flake with lots of exposure, then scramble to the south summit. We were psyched to make it to the top.  But it didn't take long to realize ... we were NOT on top!  The north summit was higher. Here is a view of the higher north summit.  The smooth "mossy choss" section made us a bit nervous.  But we down-climbed back to the col to give the north summit a go.
 
Though this is a shot of Greg rapping off the north summit - it shows the slime we had to climb up.  It actually turned out to be pretty easy (but you sure would NOT want to be on this stuff if it was WET!)  I led up to a little crack that I cleaned out with an ice axe and got a tiny cam into it.  Then I found a big crack above that which made the going easy.   Relaxing on the top of the north summit of Peak 2950.  My foot is in an abandoned bird's nest.  Montague Island is in the background.
Here is a 360 degree panoramic shot from the summit.
Here is a panoramic with more zoom - so you can see in more detail the character of the high peaks of Knight Island.  Two words: "green slime!"
From the summit we could look down and see the boat ... the white speck down in the Northeast Cove of Drier Bay. This is a shot of the ascent gully - awaiting our return.  Yep - it was steep. Back at the base of the gully, and now rope and tool free.
This map shows were Knight Island is in Prince William Sound. Greg and I have been occasional climbing partners for almost 20 years now.  Thanks to Greg for teaming up with me to climb this cool peak! Our route from the northeast cove of Drier Bay to the summit of Peak 2950 is in red.  The blue line shows the other two smaller peaks I did on July 1st.
     
     
More Knight Island Pictures: On July 2nd I took a quick trip to check out an old copper mine on Knight Island.

 
You can see the mine's tailings pile 1000 feet up the mountainside.  And a black bear waiting for me to hike up to it. There were narrow gauge railroad tracks coming out of the mine to the tailings pile. The mine shaft entrance.
Inside the mine shaft - an old hand pump and an ore car from likely the 1910's or 1920's.  Due to the damp environment, the ore car was tenaciously holding together.  One push and parts of it would likely crumble off. Fred Trimble, a Talkeetna Mountains gold miner, directed me to a 1946 Bureau of Mines inventory of the 16 copper prospects on Knight Island.  The write-up on this mine said there are tunnels totaling 700 feet.  And apparently it had a winze - a vertical shaft that workers would be raised down and out of.  So if you go there ... watch out for the winze!
  Photos and web page by Tim Kelley