Mount Blackburn, Shield volcano in Wrangell Mountains, Alaska, United States

Mount Blackburn is an eroded shield volcano in the Wrangell Mountains, reaching 16,391 feet (4,996 m). Its icefields and glaciers feed the Kennicott Glacier, which flows southeast over 20 miles (32 km) to just above McCarthy, as well as the Nabesna and Kuskulana glaciers. The west face drops over 11,000 feet (3,350 m) to the Kuskulana Glacier in less than 4 horizontal miles (6.4 km).

Lieutenant Henry T. Allen of the U.S. Army named the mountain in 1885 after Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, a U.S. senator from Kentucky. Until more precise surveys in the 1960s, the eastern summit, Kennedy Peak, was taken as the highest point; Dora Keen and George Handy reached it in 1912 via the Kennicott Glacier and East Face, and the true west summit was only climbed on 30 May 1958 by Gilbert, Wahlstrom, Gmoser, Bitterlich and Blumer.

The Ahtna name for the mountain is K’ats’i Tl’aadi, which the French Wikipedia renders as meaning "the one with cold waters." The peak lies in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park, established in 1980 and the largest national park in the United States. The first ascent of the eastern summit in 1912 by Dora Keen and George Handy was made with help from miners of the Kennecott copper camp.

Climbers access the standard route via the north side through Nabesna Glacier, a path that requires serious mountaineering experience and gear designed for harsh cold. Weather conditions shift dramatically with seasons, so timing your visit carefully is crucial for safety.

The first ascent of the true summit, the west peak, was made on 30 May 1958 by Bruce Gilbert, Dick Wahlstrom, Hans Gmoser, Adolf Bitterlich and Leon Blumer via the North Ridge. They did not know it: the east summit was still mapped as the highest point, so Blumer titled his 1959 American Alpine Journal article "Mount Blackburn – Second Ascent."