Mount Verstovia is a colloquially referred to 2,550 foot (777 meter) mountain southwest of downtown Sitka

Sitka City and Borough, Alaska

The City and Borough of Sitka, originally called New Archangel under Russian Rule, is a unified city-borough located on Baranof Island and the southern half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean , in the U.S...

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 on Baranof Island

Baranof Island

Baranof Island, also sometimes called Baranov Island, Shee or Sitka Island, is an island in the northern Alexander Archipelago in the Alaska Panhandle, in Alaska. The name Baranof was given in 1805 by Imperial Russian Navy captain U. F. Lisianski to honor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov...

 which, according USGS

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

 maps, is really an unnamed peak.

History on name

Mount Verstovia was named Gora Verstovaya in 1809 by navigator Ivan Vasilyev

Ivan Vasilyev

Ivan Vasilyev was a Russian explorer and navigator of the Imperial Russian Navy. He accompanied Leonty Andrianovich Gagemeister on ship Neva to explore the coasts of Alaska and the North Pacific in 1806....

 (the first); with the etymology coming from verst

Verst

A verst or werst is an obsolete Russian unit of length. It is defined as being 500 sazhen long, which makes a verst equal to 1.0668 kilometres ....

 — a Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

 unit of distance equivalent .6629 miles.

Mount Verstovia on USGS

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

 maps is actually unnamed, with the real Mount Verstovia colloquially known as Arrowhead

Mount Arrowhead

Mount Arrowhead or, as it is more commonly referred to, simply Arrowhead, is a mountain just east of Sitka, Alaska on Baranof Island that is, according to USGS maps, actually named Mount Verstovia.-Name background:...

Access and recreation

Mount Verstovia is accessible by a well-maintained public trail that, through a number of switchbacks, arrives at the top. An unmaintained trail continues on from the peak to the real Mount Verstovia or the colloquial Mount Arrowhead.

Snowboarding, skiing, and other winter sports are very popular in the bowl east of the mountain and the trail to the summit is marked with reflective signs on tree trunks to help snow aficionados find their way up in snowy conditions.