Thatchtop Mountain (12,668') sits east of the Continental Divide in front of Powell Peak (actually a ridge connects them) and serves as a 2,500 foot wall between Glacier Gorge and Loch Vale. Its steep canyon walls above Loch Vale serve as a playground for technical climbers. Its ascent is reached via Jewel Lake up a step slope to Shelf Lake, then on to Solitude Lake, and from there up to the summit.
This large roof-shaped mountain (so visible from the Loch Vale trail) was named by Abner Sprague, hotelier and guide in the pre-Park days, for the way the ground cover matted down and turned brown, resembling a thatched roof. The name was suggested to Sprague by Brinton Woodward, Chancellor of the University of Kansas, a frequent visitor to the Sprague establishment in Glacier Basin.
The Arapaho Indians called this mountain "The Buffalo Climb" in honor of the year many buffalo were stranded on the top by a storm, enabling the Indians to kill them without the normal chase and ambush methods.#
