Senator Lisa Murkowski is pushing legislation to require the US Board of Geographic Names to name Peak 13,895 (the south summit of Mt. Hunter) "Stevens Peak," after the late Senator Ted Stevens. 13,895 is the highest unnamed peak in Alaska with over 1000 feet of prominence. My question is whether it's the highest unnamed peak in the US as a whole with that much prominence--I'm thinking it is. Does anyone know for sure?

The peak is "S" in this AAJ photo:


Details of the naming here:
http://www.newsminer.com/view/full_story/9578657/article-Murkowski-names-Alaska-mountain--ice-field-after-Sen--Stevens?instance=home_news_window_left_bullets

Hmmm... So they have a peak officially named McKinley that everyone refers to as Denali.

I guess now they will have a Stevens Peak that folks can call Mount Corrupt Douchebag.

seems like we ought to start an SP petition . . . gotta be someone out there that's not a politician or associated with murkowski . . . or wait, Palin Peak . . . that's got a nice ring to it.

"South Hunter" is the highest 13er in AK:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/AK/Select.php?R=13

The unnamed peaks over 14000 ft with at least 280 ft of prominence in AK show up on this list:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/AK/Select.php?R=14
None of the unnamed ones, or unofficially named ones (names in quotes), have that much prominence.

The highest unnamed peak in the Contiguous US with at least 300 ft of prominence is 13962, near North Palisade in the Sierras and erroneously marked Polemonium on older maps, but it doesn't have that much prominence:

http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/US1000Select.php

http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=32249

HI doesn't have anything that high. So I think you're correct, although I'm not sure where the 13895 elevation comes from. Without being familiar with AK, the south summit of Hunter looks like it's 13966:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=32780
Click on the map to get more detail.

Teresa Gergen wrote:" So I think you're correct, although I'm not sure where the 13895 elevation comes from. Without being familiar with AK, the south summit of Hunter looks like it's 13966:
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=32780
Click on the map to get more detail.

Thanks. Yes, I've seen the 13966 figure too. I think 13895 probably comes from the Murkowski press release (and thus got into the papers). To be charitable, maybe Murkowski's staff were relying on some more recent measurement.

The names of peaks come from all kinds of interesting and dubious places. I guess Hunter itself is named for Frederick Cook's aunt ...

Ooo, how about Maverick Peak, or Peak Mama Grizzly, or Mount We're All Rugged Individualists Up Here Who Don't Need the Feds As Long As We Get Our Oil Subsidies and Earmarks...? To be honest, I'm relieved Mount Reagan isn't on the short list.

Beautiful looking peak though.

Fletch wrote:

fatdad wrote:To be honest, I'm relieved Mount Reagan isn't on the short list.

I miss Ron.

Whenever I think I'm going to miss him, I just have a carrot.

Fletch wrote:

fatdad wrote:To be honest, I'm relieved Mount Reagan isn't on the short list.

I miss Ron.

I certainly miss all those Paul Conrad cartoons written at his expense.

Sorry, I don't want to turn this site into a political forum.

fatdad wrote:Ooo, how about Maverick Peak, or Peak Mama Grizzly, or Mount We're All Rugged Individualists Up Here Who Don't Need the Feds As Long As We Get Our Oil Subsidies and Earmarks...? To be honest, I'm relieved Mount Reagan isn't on the short list.

Beautiful looking peak though.

Everybody knows Reagan, who the hell is Stevens?

A major league douche from a political party that dislikes the federal government, but wanted the feds to build a
$398 million bridge from the mainland to an island with 50 people on it... to replace the ferry that runs every 15-30 minutes.

Never got built. But Sarah Palin still used federal money ($25 million) to build a road to where the bridge would have been, even after the project was cancelled.

Don't forget that part!

Ha! But actually not so much anti-conservative as anti-hypocrite. I voted for Arnold twice!

Fletch wrote:Supposedly he was co-mingling re-election campaign funds to get some work done on his house - some people view it as corruption, others an accounting error (US law is very fuzzy on what politicians can and cannot do with campaign funds).

Not exacly ... I believe the charge was that he allowed an oil field services company (VECO) to do a quarter million dollars worth of work on his house, did not pay for all of it, and didn't report it as a gift as required by federal law. I don't think anyone claims the law was vague on this point--the defense was that Stevens wasn't paying attention and thought he had paid for everything.

Fletch wrote:By the way, as an Alaskan, what are your personal thoughts on the guy? (definitely not trying to start a political thread here... sorry if it comes out that way )

Heh heh--I'm in a position where I better not take you up on that invitation, one way or the other. But I enjoy reading everybody else's comments, so don't hold back on my account!

chugach mtn boy wrote:

Fletch wrote:Supposedly he was co-mingling re-election campaign funds to get some work done on his house - some people view it as corruption, others an accounting error (US law is very fuzzy on what politicians can and cannot do with campaign funds).

Not exacly ... I believe the charge was that he allowed an oil field services company (VECO) to do a quarter million dollars worth of work on his house, did not pay for all of it, and didn't report it as a gift as required by federal law. I don't think anyone claims the law was vague on this point--the defense was that Stevens wasn't paying attention and thought he had paid for everything.

Sounds kind of like the woman who shot her husband six times and then claimed she didn't know the gun was loaded!