Nature
Mount Balchen is a glaciated 11,205-foot summit in the Hayes Range of Alaska's eastern Alaska Range, in a remote area west of Mount Hayes and south-southeast of Fairbanks. It is distinguished by steep relief, rising about 3,700 feet above Hayes Glacier in only 0.65 mile, amid the Hayes, Gillam, and Susitna glaciers. Its runoff flows north to tributaries of the Tanana River and south toward the Susitna River. In a subarctic climate with severe winter cold, the mountain was first climbed on April 30, 1974, by Dusan Jagersky and William Q. Sumner. Its name honors aviator and Arctic explorer Bernt Balchen.
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Fort Greely, Alaska · United States
