Mount Stimson is the second highest peak in Glacier National Park, located in Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It is part of the Lewis Range

Lewis Range

The Lewis Range is a mountain range located in the Rocky Mountains of northern Montana, U.S. and extreme southern Alberta, Canada. Formed by the Lewis Overthrust beginning 170 million years ago, an enormous slab of Precambrian rocks 3 miles thick, wide and long faulted and slid over newer...

, which spans much of the park. It is located in the remote southwestern portion of the park, approximately 5 miles (8 km) west of the Continental Divide and 12 miles (19.3 km) southeast of Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald

Lake McDonald is the largest lake in Glacier National Park. It is located at in Flathead County in the U.S. state of Montana. Lake McDonald is approximately 10 miles long, and over a mile wide and 472 feet deep, filling a valley formed by a combination of erosion and glacial activity...

. It is drained by Pinchot Creek (on the south) and Nyack Creek (on the other sides), both of which flow into the Middle Fork of the Flathead River

Flathead River

The Flathead River, in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Rocky Mountains near Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of , empties into the Clark Fork. The river is part of the Columbia River drainage basin, as the Clark...

.
The mountain is named for Henry L. Stimson

Henry L. Stimson

Henry Lewis Stimson was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican Party politician and spokesman on foreign policy. He twice served as Secretary of War 1911–1913 under Republican William Howard Taft and 1940–1945, under Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the latter role he was a leading hawk...

 (1867–1950), former U.S. Secretary of State.

Notability

Mount Stimson is notable for its large, steep rise above local terrain. For example, its northwest face rises over 6200 feet (1,889.8 m) from Nyack Creek in only 1.8 miles (2.9 km). This makes it "truly a monster of a mountain." It is also notable for its isolation; it is one of the farthest peaks from a roadhead in the park.

History

The first recorded ascent of Mount Stimson was in 1951, by J. Gordon Edwards and Alice Edwards; however they found clear evidence of a previous ascent. The standard route of ascent is the West or Northwest Face Route, starting from Nyack Creek. A backpacking trail runs along Nyack Creek, providing access; however the National Park Service warns that this is a more brushy and isolated trail than in other areas of the park, with numerous unbridged stream crossings. As in the rest of the park, grizzly bears

Brown Bear

The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...

 are an issue as well. The climbing route begins with "tiresome uphill bushwhacking...for possibly three hours" leading to alternating slopes and cliffs (Grades 3 and 4

Grade (climbing)

In rock climbing, mountaineering and other climbing disciplines, climbers give a climbing grade to a route that concisely describes the difficulty and danger of climbing the route...

). Other routes on the peak include the Southeast Spur from Martha's Basin and the Pinchot Creek Route from the south.