Devils Thumb

Devils Thumb, or Taalkhunaxhkʼu Shaa in Tlingit, is a mountain in the Stikine Icecap region of the Alaska–British Columbia border, near Petersburg. It is named for its projected thumb-like appearance. Its name in the Tlingit language has the meaning "the Mountain That Never Flooded" and is said to have been a refuge for people during Aangalakhu ("the Great Flood"). It is one of the peaks that marks the border, and is also listed on maps as Boundary Peak 71.

Devils Thumb is a very challenging climb even for advanced mountain climbers. A description of the mountain can be found in Eiger Dreams, a collection of articles by Jon Krakauer, who climbed the mountain early in his career. Krakauer also chronicles his solo ascent of Devils Thumb in chapters 14 and 15 of his book Into the Wild.

Location

Devils Thumb is part of a group of striking, difficult rock peaks on the western edge of the Stikine Icecap. The Stikine Icecap occupies the crest of the Boundary Ranges, a subrange of the Coast Mountains spanning the United States–Canada border, north of the mouth of the Stikine River. Other peaks in the area include the Cat Ear Spire, Cat's Dingleberries and Witches Tits (part of the western ridge of the Devils Thumb massif itself), and Mount Burkett and Burkett Needle, a pair of spires about 8 mi (13 km) to the northeast.