Kyle Knight reached the summit after a lifetime of watching the mountain, dreaming of the climb.
Devils Thumb rises to 9,000 feet above sea level, part of the Boundary Mountains of the Stikine Icefield. Mountaineer Dieter Klose has spent more time exploring the Thumb than anyone else. He came to Petersburg to climb it in 1980, and eventually made Petersburg his home.
The mountain’s remote location and extreme conditions make it notorious among rock and ice climbers. It’s been summited fewer than 50 times since Fred Beckey first climbed it in 1946. The “classic” Eastern Ridge is sometimes referred to as the “easy route.” But that’s only in comparison to the icy Northwest Face, which remains unclimbed. Three people have died in the attempt.
His interest started in middle school when he found an old climbing magazine from the ‘70s in his parent’s library. It had an account of Bob Plumb and Dave Stutzman’s first ascent of the Northeast rib of the North Face of Devils Thumb in 1977.But when Knight was young, and even after he started climbing in his teens, summiting Devils Thumb seemed more like a dream than a realistic goal.
It would take another 15 years to achieve the goal. That’s partly because the best time to climb the mountain is May through August, when there’s less chance of avalanches and rockfall. Knight is a fisherman and spends summers in Bristol Bay. But this year a close friend with lots of experience on the mountain was visiting Petersburg. They decided they would attempt the climb in August after Knight returned from fishing.Even in summer, storms can make an ascent of Devils Thumb impossible.
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