Fact Verified Verified — a reviewed claim with a dated source
Lituya Bay opens onto the outer Fairweather coast roughly midway between Yakutat Bay and Cross Sound — southbound Hubbard-to-Juneau cruises pass a few miles offshore overnight.
Place
Lituya Bay
3 published facts
Verified facts
Fact Verified Verified — a reviewed claim with a dated source
Of three fishing boats anchored in Lituya Bay that night, one rode the wave out, one was carried over the entrance spit some 80 feet above the trees, and one was never found; trimline studies later showed at least four earlier giant waves between 1853 and 1936.
Fact Verified Verified — a reviewed claim with a dated source
On July 9, 1958, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake dropped ~40 million cubic yards of rock into Lituya Bay's Gilbert Inlet; the displaced water stripped forest to 1,720 feet on the opposite ridge — the highest wave runup ever documented on Earth.