Tuesday, September 14, 2010

A B Mountain

I must digress for a moment. Friends of mine, travelling on Holland America’s Amsterdam three days behind our cruise, did a climb of A B Mountain in Skagway. This is quite a historic climb and is also associated with the most photographed building in Alaska.
The building, built in 1899 as headquarters for arctic brotherhood Camp Skagway No. 1. The brotherhood was established September 26, 1899 for the purposes of fraternal enjoyment and mutual aid. As you can see we should not be lighting a match around this building. Several years back all of the wood was taken off the building, refinished and then reapplied.
Skagway was the starting point for the White Pass Trail which led, over 500 hazardous miles, to the Yukon Goldfields at Dawson City. But those first miles of the White Pass Trail (it was usually snow-covered) were almost straight up; a real test of endurance and courage. It was a steep, tortuous path most difficult to climb and everyone needed to carry to the summit over one ton of supplies; enough for a year’s survival in the Yukon. Once on the other side of the pass it was a relative easy canoe trip on to Dawson City
It is this mountain our friends would climb. A B Mountain is a mountain summit in Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon County in Alaska. A B Mountain climbs to 4,806 feet above sea level. Anyone attempting to climb A B Mountain and reach the summit should look for detailed information on the A B Mountain area in the topographic map and the Skagway C-1 USGS quad.
I am providing a few pictures from their climb to give you an idea of Alaskan beauty and nature.

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