Hunter

A 4,442-metre peak in the Alaska Range, ten kilometres south of Denali. Mount Hunter is significantly lower than Denali and Foraker but is widely considered the most technically demanding of the major Alaska Range peaks. The standard routes on Hunter are sustained alpine climbing of substantially higher difficulty than the standard routes on either of its taller neighbours. The mountain is named for Anna Falconnet Hunter, an American philanthropist who supported early Alaska Range exploration. The local Athabascan name is Begguya — "the child" — completing the Athabascan family of Denali, Sultana, and the child.

The first ascent came in 1954 by Fred Beckey, Heinrich Harrer, and Henry Meybohm. Harrer was the same climber who had completed the first ascent of the Eiger North Face in 1938 and who had spent seven years in Tibet during the war. The Hunter ascent took the West Ridge, a sustained route that involved several days of technical climbing on snow, ice, and mixed terrain. The summit was reached on July 5, 1954.

The route that made Hunter's modern reputation is the Moonflower Buttress, climbed first in 1981 by Mugs Stump and Paul Aubrey. The Moonflower is a 1,800-metre line up the north face — sustained mixed climbing, several pitches of vertical ice, and a corniced summit ridge. The route has been climbed by perhaps a few dozen teams in the four decades since the first ascent, and it remains one of the most respected alpine objectives in North America. Repeating the Moonflower is not a casual undertaking even for experienced alpinists.

Hunter receives substantially fewer summit attempts than Denali or Foraker — perhaps a handful per year on the standard routes, individual or paired attempts on the harder lines. The fatality rate, measured against the small number of attempts, is significant. The mountain is climbed by alpinists pursuing technical objectives at the highest end of North American alpine climbing. The summit itself, when reached, is a small platform with views of Denali to the north and Foraker to the west — both peaks taller, neither peak the climbing problem that Hunter is.