Mount Geist
Mount Geist is a glacier-covered mountain in Alaska’s Hayes Range, about 10,716 feet tall (3,266 m). It sits roughly 5.5 miles west-northwest of Mount Hayes and about 87 miles south-southeast of Fairbanks. Snowmelt drains north into the East Fork Little Delta River and then the Tanana River. The summit rises steeply from Hayes Glacier, gaining about 3,500 feet in less than a mile.
The first ascent happened on May 2, 1974, by Dusan Jagersky and Bill Sumner via the Northeast Face. The peak is named for Otto W. Geist, a University of Alaska researcher in paleontology, archaeology, and glaciology; the name was officially adopted in 1965. Geist’s colleague Ivar Skarland and their friend Bernt Balchen are honored by adjacent peaks Skarland and Balchen.
Mount Geist sits in a tundra climate with long, cold winters and cool summers. The surrounding area is marked by the Hayes and Gillam glaciers. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °F (−29 °C), with wind chill well beneath −30 °F (−34 °C). The best time to climb or view the mountain is May or June.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 03:19 (CET).