The Wall of the Qi State

The Qi State established Linzi (present Linzi County of Shandong Province) as its capital. Qi was already a large and powerful prince before the Spring and Autumn Period. It neighbored the Chu, Lu and Song States on the south, the Yan State and the Bohai Sea on the north, the Zhao State and the Qinghe River on the west and the Yellow Sea on the east.
King Qi Xuanwang built a wall in its south part. The wall ran more than 500 kilometers from west to east, joining the embankment of Yuanhe River and the north foot of Taishan Mountain. It was referred to as "Great Defense" in some historical literatures.

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A Sketchy View of the Great Wall

The Great Wall , also known as the Great Wall of 10,000 li , is included in the list of the "Seven Medieval Wonders of the World" (of course not one of the classical Seven Wonders of the World recognized by the ancient Greeks).

* The Wall was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

* The Chinese have a saying,  , roughly meaning "you're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall".
But for what is the Wall great?
It's not, however, an easy question to answer. Let's just start from the Wall's length and building time.
The Earliest Wall, Around 700 B.C.
The first wall was arguably built around seven centuries B.C. by the Chu State, powerful prince enfeoffed by the Zhou Kingdom and flourish during the Spring and Autumn Period (B.C. 770 ~ 476). Most scholars also believe that the Qi State, prince like the Chu State, also built its wall about the same time of the wall of the Chu State. Nevertheless, not until hundreds of years later did many other princes, known as warring states, involved in wars for subjugating each other, begin to build their own walls. This time was known as the Warring States Period (B.C. 475 ~ 221).
Warring States Period was a turbulent period, with alliance and breakaway, and restless battles between states arising from princes that annexed smaller ones and consolidated their rules for domination when the ruling power of the Zhou Kingdom (till 221 B.C.) was declining. In this background, the defense of one state against attack from others became significant. Because walls proved the best screen to chariots, main arms of that time, relatively powerful states, i.e. the Qin, Wei, Zhao, Han, Qi, Chu and Yan States, also known as "the Seven Powers", began to build walls along their borders. These walls are called pre-Qin Walls by historians today. And they are predecessor of the Great Wall.

The First Great Wall, Around 200 B.C., Length, 10,000 Li, i.e. 5,000 Kilometers

After the Qin Dynasty had established and unified the whole China in 221 B.C., the Emperor, i.e. the First Emperor, ordered to combine the walls constructed by the Zhao, Yan and Ex-Qin States, mainly to fend off the intrusion of the flying cavalry that made the Xiongnu in the north, and thus formed the first wall that exceeded 10,000 li or 5,000 kilometers. The Great Wall, short for the Great Wall of 10,000 li, thus had its name.

Three Great Walls

Many people know about the Great Wall. But maybe fewer know that there are actually three such Great Walls, the longest built during the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. ~ A.D. 220), following the Qin Dynasty, exceeding even 20,000 li. The Great Walls of the Han and Qin Dynasties still have remains, but most of them no longer exist. The Wall we see today was largely built during the Ming Dynasty (1368 ~ 1644). It stretches over 12,000 li from Jiumenkou near the Yalujiang River in the east, to Jiayuguan Pass in the west. By the Great Wall, people now usually mean the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty. But in a broad sense, the term indicates one of the three Walls above.
In Chinese history, more than twenty states and dynasties built their own walls. Counted together, they come to a formidable length of 100,000 li.

Great Military Works

Should people decide another list of the Medieval Wonders of Military Works of the World, the Great Wall would be very likely to be listed again. Many people have climbed the Great Wall and experienced being real men. They may have seen enjoyable and peaceful life on and down the Wall. They may have also been amazed at the beautiful scenery from the Wall and felt proud at a peak. But all these might fail to remind people that the Wall was once product of war: it was fortification in ancient times.
As a military works, the Wall was not merely, as seen almost everywhere in logos, site tickets and signs representing the Great Wall, the simple mode of one winding and crenellated wall mounted with some towers or platforms each distance apart. Rather, the Wall was a far more complex system into which builders brought their minds of war art.
The Wall falls into the scope of fortification, a military engineering science now still being researched that mainly deals with how to enhance the attack or defense capacity of a position to its terrain before or during the battle. Depending on whether built before or during the war, the fortification can be classified into two categories: the permanent and the temporary. The Wall belongs to the former. Devised as a permanent giant of defense works, in the process of construction, besides appropriate materials and sound structures adopted to make it solid enough to survive all weathers, the Wall required also thorough consideration of how the enemies might attack and of how to counterattack.
Ancient militarists believed that the best defense lies in both readiness for fight and unbeatable strength against assault. So on one hand, the dynasties built their Walls along the north boundaries to balk the intrusion of nomadic tribes and prepared for any battle along the defense lines. On the other hand, as the weapons of the enemies were being improved, the dynasties kept branching out their Walls and adding new functional parts to them. Take example for the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, during the 16 years of his station in Bianzhen County, present Jixian County in Tianjin, General Qi Jiguang presided over building the part of Wall running more than 1,000 li from Bianzhen County to the Shanhaiguan Pass and along the line set up over 1,000 fight towers. It helped to keep the peace of the border for a long time. Besides filling out the Walls with new component parts, the dynasties also set up near the lines passes, pass cities and outer cities, counties, forts, and so forth. All these combined as a complete regional, rather than a linear, defense system. Here special mention is made that the outer city, which often sat in front of the pass city and whose one or more gates made certain angles, sometimes 90 degrees, to the gate of the pass city, preventing the enemy from flinging in straightforward and sharing burden of the pass city.

Building

The building of the Wall was also matter-of-fact. In strategic places, double- or multi-walls were adopted to thicken and enforce the defense. For example, to protect its capital, present Beijing, the Ming Dynasty constructed three walls to the north and west of the city and between the walls disposed brocades to hold up enemy cavalries.
The builders of the Wall also noticed the possibility of enemies' entry from narrow passes of the sides and wanted to give them no chances. So we can often see walls in Beijing hike up to perilous hilltops. Some slopes are so abrupt that building walls along them is unthinkable even for people today. Fight towers were also designed out of that consideration. They were first adopted on the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty. Evenly distributed on the Wall every 300 or 400 meters, they made it quick to round up a force at a certain point. More importantly, their distribution on the Wall referred the effective range of the arrow of the day, also 300 to 400 meters, so that soldiers taking a commanding position on the tower could kill enemies coming from the sides.
Governing
Policies were also made to make the gigantic works work. The governing of the Wall was often allocated to local organs. In the Qin Dynasty, along the Wall were set up 12 prefectures, responsible for keeping the defense of their corresponding parts. In the Ming Dynasty, the Wall was parted into 9 sectors, called "Nine Frontiers", governed by nine military counties, from east to west i.e. Liaodong, Jizhen, Xuanfu, Datong, Yansui, Ningxia, Guyuan and Gansu Counties, some names of which are still used today.
Architecture Wonder
The Great Wall is also an architecture wonder of the ancients. It was so big a project that it was impossible to build it in uniform forms and materials in different places. So we can see parts of different materials and various shapes, which were depended on local resources. If you have chances to walk thought the whole route of the Wall, as done first in 1985, Jan Molen and Dick, the latter of which against cancer, you would see how diverse the Wall is.
The Ming Dynasty was the last dynasty that ever built the wall. Since then, the wall gradually fell out of use as fortification. It no longer fitted new forms of wars and could hardly resist weapons that were being more powerful. Its function gradually faded, and eventually becomes a memory of yesterday.
But the Wall still stands there, as it was. It traverses the north part of China, being a masterpiece of both the architecture and the war art of ancient China. Having also witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties, it tells a glorious history created by its people.

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The Wall of the Zhao State

The Zhao State established Handan as its capital, also the present city Handan of Hebei Province. Zhao neighbored the Wei State on the west, the Yellow River and Zhanghe River on the south, the Qi State on the east separated by the Qinghe River, and the Yan State on the north separated by the Yi'shui River. It also bordered minority nationalities of Hun, Loufan and Linhu on the northwest.
Because troopers of the minorities harassed Zhao frequently, threatening the safety of Zhao so as to have affected its living, Zhao's courageous and insightful King Zhaoyong, also King Zhao Wulin, in the year 366 B.C. led his army personally, and finished the state of Zhongshan. He soon vanquished another two enemies of Hulin and Loufan and forced them to the far north.
By 302 B.C., Zhao's territory had expanded to incorporate the present Tuoketuo and Wulateqianqi of Inner Mongolia, and the Great Bend area of the Yellow River, where immigrants afterward developed the agriculture.
To consolidate its north-border defense, Zhao began building a wall on its north in 300 B.C. The wall started from a point northeast to present Wei County of Hebei Province, ran west and passed through the north of Shanxi, turned off to the northwest and entered Inner Mongolia, hiked along the range of the Yinshan Mountains and went down to the west along the southern foot till present Langshan County of Inner Mongolia.
To defend against the Wei State, Zhao built another wall on the south. As wars between the two states mainly took place on the banks of the Zhangshui River, Zhao extended the north embankment of the River and constructed it into a wall. It is recorded in Shi Ji that "King Zhao Wuling called in State Secretary Louhuan and consulted, 'the previous King saw wars and turns of the sates and thought the best way to resist attacks from the Zhangshui and Fushui Rivers was to develop our south border area. That's why he afterward built a wall along this boundary.'" The "previous King" in the quotation was King Zhao Wuling's father Suhou. Also recorded in Shi Ji is that "Suhou began to build the wall in his 17th year of reign. " So we can infer that this wall was built within Suhou's ruling time. The site of the wall is near now Lizhang and Cixian County of Heibei Province, where the two rivers are still flowing.
Besides the two walls above, Zhao constructed another wall, which started from the point south to present Daixian County of Shanxi, ran southwest to Shanxi, headed on along the north feet of Hengshan and Luya Mountains till meeting the first branch of the Yellow River. This wall was probably the earliest wall Zhao built on its north.

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The Wall of the Yan State

The Yan State was developed from a small prince. When the King Yan Zhaowang succeeded to the throne, he sought able people nationwide, collected them at hand and granted outstanding ones important positions. This gradually made Yan a strong state in the north of China.
The Yan State bordered the Qi State on the south, the Zhao State on the west and the Han State on the northeast. On the north the Yan State neighbored small but aggressive minority nationalities mainly Donghu, Linhu and Loufan. They harassed Yan's borders and threatened the security there. To guard against them, in the year 290 B.C., the Yan State built a wall along the Yanshan Mountain Range. The wall started from present Huailai County of Hebei Province, crossed the the Luanhe River, wound on and turned off to the northeast, extended over the Liaohe River and ended in present Liaoyang of Liaoning Province. The whole route ran as long as 1000 li or 500 kilometers. It is the North Wall of the Yan State. It was the last wall built in the Warring States Period.
Yan once succeeded in attacking the Qi State. For fear that the latter would fight back, Yan renovated the embankment of Yishui River and expanded it into a wall. It is known as the Yishui Wall. The Wall consisted of two parts. The first started from present Yixian County of Hebei Province, ran along the Yishui River, passed through Dingxing County and headed to the southeast. The second started from Xushui County of Hebei Province, ran towards the northeast till meeting the first part, then turned off to the southeast and finally arrived at the point about 10 kilometers southeast to Renqiu of Hebei Province.

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The Wall of the Wei State

Wei was also a powerful State. After King Wei Wenhou succeeded to the throne, he put Likui, Leyang and great militarist Wuqi into important positions, which gradually made the state flourish. Wei later moved its capital Anyi, i.e. present Anyi County of Shanxi Province, to Daliang, now Kaifeng of Hennan.
Wei neighbored the Chu State on the southeast, taking present the Bianshui River as the boundary, the Song and Qi States on the east bounded by the Huaishui and Yingshui Rivers, the Han State on the south, the Qin State on the west bounded by North Luohe River and the Zhao State on the north.
Wei for years won wars upon the Qi, Chu, Song and Zhao States, but kept being defeated by the Qin State. While Qin took Wei as its serious trouble, Wei feared Qin. So Wei expanded the embankment of the Luoshui River near the west boundary and built it into a fortified wall. It ran more than 500 kilometers from south to north, starting from present Huxian County of Shannxi Province, going up the Luoshui River, passing through Fuxian, Suide, Mizhi County, crossing the Yellow River and finally arriving at present Guyang of Inner Mongolia. It was the West Wall of Wei. It is believed that King Wei Huiwang built this wall.
In a latest investigation over ancient walls, archeologists discovered some sites of the West Wall along a 300-kilometer route. The route started from Huanxian County of Shannxi Province, headed north and crossed the Weihe River, went on along the Luohe River, moved northeast and arrived at the west bank of the Yellow River of Hancheng County. The findings proved historical literatures of the West Wall route that set out from Huaxian County and headed north along the Luoshui River. Besides, a branch wall without mention in any material was discovered halfway on the exploitation. It branched out to the northeast and headed in the direction of Hancheng County.
In the late years of King Wei Huiwang, Wei was declining and kept losing wars to Qin, Chu, Qi and other states. To resist Qi and Qin, Wei built another wall near its capital Daliang. It was the South Wall of Wei. It can be inferred from literatures that this wall started from the place northwest to Old Yuanwu County of Henan Province, ran north and entered present Yuanyang County and then turned off the the southeast, went around to east Kaifeng, and headed westward till Mixian County. The length was about 200 kilometers.

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The Wall of the Qin State

Qin reformed its political system in the year 356 B.C. It is known as Shangyang's Reform. It enacted a new collection of decrees and encouraged the masses to grow plants and join the army. Owning vast fertile lands in present the central Shanxi plain and Sichuan Province, Qin soon surpassed other states in military power. But north nomads Donghu and Loufan frequently crossed the desert and harassed the north part of Qin. To resist their raids, Qin built a wall along its north border. This wall started from Mingxian County of Gansu Province, went northeast to present Longde and Kuyuan County of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, headed north along the Liupanshan Mountain, went on east to Huanxian County of Gansu Province and finally arrived at the bank of the Yellow River of Suide County of Shannxi Province.

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The Wall of the Chu State

The Chu State was relatively slow in agriculture. But it kept a strong army and with it expanded its territory to the banks of the Changjiang River. Chu lay in the central plains of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. It bordered the Qi, Song, Wei and Han States on the north, the Qin and Ba States on the west, Bai'e on the south and a vast sea on the east. Its land was the largest among the Seven Powers.
Chu began to fall in the late Warring States Period. It failed several wars to Qin, Han, Wei and other states after King Chu Huiwang had became the new ruler. Chu later expanded the embankments of Mianshui and Bishui Rivers and linked them to mountain ranges and high lands by building walls. The whole line was the Wall of Chu. It is known from literatures that the wall ran more than 400 kilometers from east to west. It started at present Biyang County of He'nan Province, moved north to Ye'xian County, turned to the west and hiked over Lushan Mountain, went on southwest and passed through northeast Neixiang County and finally arrived at present zhushan County of Hebei Province.
Recent years' archeological activities have uncovered a 100-kilometer wall that intersects from east to west Xunyang County of Shannxi Province. Layers of stones make the wall and in some place passageways are still perceptible. Further investigations have proved that it is the Wall of Chu. It could be built for resisting the powerful Qin State.

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Origin of the Great Wall

From 770 B.C. through 476 B.C. was the Spring and Autumn Period of China. During the Period, princes that held land from the Zhou Kingdom made themselves states. Among all the 149 states, the most powerful were the Qi, Jin, Chu, Qin, Lu and Zheng States.
For the wide use of iron tools and farm cattle, the social production of this period progressed greatly. The higher-rank people started to gain private croplands. The land was privatized, and the basic social system of the day, i.e. the Well Field System, began to collapse, which cracked Zhou Kingdom's leadership over its princes and caused among them wars for domination.
To conquer other states, stronger ones made frequent wars upon others. Only a few out of the more than a hundred had finally survived, and were anxious for a new round of war. These states included Qin, Wei, Yan, Zhao, Han, Qi, Chu, also referred to as "the Seven Powers", and others less strong. And the history came to the Warring States Period (B.C. 475 ~ 221).
The social production of this Period continued to grow. The advancing in agriculture and handicraft gave rise to thriving cities acting as marketplaces. The architecture of this time also improved remarkably and made it possible to build solider constructions of better structures in more flexible steps. On the other hand, wars went on unabatedly between the states, some of which at the same time were harassed by minority nationalities from the north. Hence the states built walls around important cities, especially their capitals.
A latest excavation has revealed that the wall-surrounded capital Linzi of the Qi State in the Warring States Period was four kilometers from east to west, and five kilometers from north to south. Palaces to rulers lay inside. Distributed in the city were workshops selling instruments made by way of smelting iron ores, casting bronze, abrading and carving bones and the like. It is recorded in Shi Ji, a great historical literature, that Linzi had over 700,000 families (the unit ancient Chinese used to count population) and was "so crowed with people and vehicles that they could hardly go without brushing each other".
The city Xiadu of the Yan State was eight kilometers from east to west, and four kilometers from north to south. The capital Handan of Zhao was three and four kilometers from east to west and from north to south.Because walls around cities proved excellent defense, the states wanted to utilize this advantage widely. Hence they built walls on the borders and joined them up with natural barriers like large embankments and steep mountain ridges.The building of walls expensed countless labors. But they were undoubtedly grand constructions even seen today.

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The Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty

In 221 B.C., King Qin Shihuang defeated the other States, unified the whole China, and established the Qin Dynasty, also knowns as the First Empire, the first centralized empire in China. A long-time division by feudal lords ended.
The territory of the Qin Dynasty enlarged greatly, with its north border extending to present east Liaoning Province, Yinshan Mountains and the Great Bend of the Yellow River, the east border to the sea, the west to now Qinhai Province and the Gansu Plateau, and South to now Guangdong and Guangxi Province. The Qin Dynasty abolished other characters, laws and metrologies. To eradicate the influence of division left by the warring states, it replaced the enfeoffment with prefectures and counties and torn down the walls and embankments that blocked connections.
Hun, one old minority nationality from the north of China, began to thrive in the late Warring States War Period. When the Yan and Zhao States were falling off, Hun invaded them and bit by bit occupied large patches of land in the Great Bend area of the Yellow River. Hun migrated with seasons and based their agriculture mainly on collecting plants and hunting. This tradition made their troopers fast, depending on which the Huns looted labors and wealth on Qin's border. Hun damaged farming work and setting the north border of the Qin Dynasty unrest.
To solve the border trouble, Qin Shihuang appointed General Meng Tian for garrisoning troops on the north. In 215 B.C., Meng Tian led an army numbered 3,000,000 and assaulted Hun successfully. The battle returned present the south area of the Great Bend of the Yellow River of Southwest of Mongolia Province. Moreover, he swept crossed the Yellow River and took up present Linhe County, the Yinshan Mountains and the area north to the Wujiahe River, and set in these places 44 counties. The war forced Hun out of the Wall of Zhao and eliminated its threat over the Qin Dynasty.
Qin Shihuang later found that the walls of the Yan, Zhao and ex-Qin States were disconnected from each other and could hardly stop enemies from breaking in again. So in the year 215 B.C., he ordered to link up these three walls. The weather-beaten parts were also reconstructed and new parts were added in some places. The labors for this construction numbered 2,000,000, made up of the army under the command of Meng Tian, confiscated labors, captives of war and the guilty people against laws of that time. The whole construction lasted for 10 years.
The finished wall extended further at the north end as the territory of the Qin Dynasty in the north had expanded. The wall started at Lintao, i.e. Minxian County now, went eastward to now Guyuan of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, met the Wall of the Zhao State that ran eastward from Gaoque of the Great Bend of the Yellow River, went on and crossed the Yellow River, entered now north Shanxi and Hebei Province, ran the rest part of the Wall of the Zhao State and headed on along the north branch of Yanshan Mountain, passed by way of the five counties of Shangu, Yuyang, Right Beiping, West Liao and East Liao, and finally arrived at Jieshishan Mountain near the Datongjiang River of Pyongyang, Korea. This wall was longer than and lay slightly north to the Great Wall we see today, which was built by the Ming Dynasty about 1,500 years after.
Since the Liberation of China, the Chinese government has launched several investigations on the Great Wall of the Qin Dynasty along the route that passed by Minxian County of Gansu Province, Langyashan Couty, Yanshan Mountain, Chifeng of Hebei Province till entering into Jilin Province. The relics of the wall can still be seen scattered along the route. Some parts relatively well preserved are about five or six meters high, made of blocks of mud or stone of the local resources.

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Mount Vancouver

Mount Vancouver is the eighth highest mountain in Canada and is located in Kluane National Park and Reserve on the Canada-US border. Mt. Vancouver has three summits: north, middle and south with middle being the lowest. The south summit borders Canada and the United States and is known as Good Neighbor Peak. While conventional wisdom indicates that the north summit is the highest, discrepancies in topographic maps of the area muddle the question. Older Canadian maps indicate that north is the highest but newer US maps based on GPS, show the south summit higher. However, the US maps do not show the north summit
The mountain was named by W. H. Dall in 1874 after George Vancouver, who explored the southeast coast of Alaska from 1792 to 1794.
1949 North Buttress (northwest ridge): FA of mountain by William Hainsworth, Alan Bruce-Robertson, Bob McCarter, Noel Odell; with Walter Wood in support.
1975 Northeast Ridge (to north peak), FA by Cliff Cantor, Bab Dangel, Paul Ledoux, Rob Milne, Hal Murray, Bob Walker, John Yates and Barton DeWolf.
1977 West Face, FA by John Lauchlan, John Calvert, Trevor Jones and Mike Sawyer.

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Mount Sanford

Mount Sanford is a shield volcano in the Wrangell Volcanic Field, in eastern Alaska near the Copper River. It is the third highest volcano in the United States behind Mount Bona and Mount Blackburn. The south face of the volcano, at the head of the Sanford Glacier, rises 8,000 feet (2,400 m) in 1 mile (1,600 m) resulting in one of the steepest gradients in North America
Geology
Mount Sanford is mainly composed of andesite, and is an ancient peak, being mostly Pleistocene, although some of the upper parts of the mountain may be Holocene. The mountain first began developing 900,000 years ago, when it began growing on top of three smaller shield volcanoes that had coalesced. Two notable events in the mountain's history include a large lava flow which traveled some 11 miles (18 km) to the north east of the peak, and another flow which erupted from a rift zone on the flank of the volcano some 320,000 years ago. The second flow was basaltic in nature and marks the most recent activity of the volcano. The flow was dated using radiometric methods.
History
The mountain was named in 1885 by Lieutenant Henry T. Allen of the U.S. Army after the Sanford family (Allen was a descendant of Reuben Sanford).
Mount Sanford was first climbed on July 21, 1938 by noted mountaineers Terris Moore and Bradford Washburn, via the still standard North Ramp route up the Sheep Glacier. This route "offers little technical difficulty" and "is a glacier hike all the way to the summit" but is still a serious mountaineering challenge (Alaska Grade 2) due to the altitude and latitude of the peak. The base of the route is usually accessed by air, but landing near the mountain is not straightforward.
On March 12, 1948, Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 crashed into Mount Sanford. All 24 passengers and 6 crew members were killed. The wreckage was quickly covered by snow and was not found again until 1999.
The first solo ascent of Sanford was achieved on September 19, 1968, by Japanese mountaineer Naomi Uemura, who later died just after making the first solo winter ascent of Mount McKinley.

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Mount Saint Elias

Mount Saint Elias, also designated Boundary Peak 186, is the second highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, being situated on the Yukon and Alaska border. It lies about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side is part of Kluane National Park, while the U.S. side of the mountain is located within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.
Its name in Tlingit is Yaas'éit'aa Shaa, meaning "mountain behind Icy Bay", and is occasionally called Shaa Tléin "Big Mountain" by the Yakutat Tlingit. It is one of the most important crests of the Kwaashk'khwáan clan since they used it as a guide during their journey down the Copper River. Mount Fairweather at the apex of the British Columbia and Alaska borders at the head of the Alaska Panhandle is known as Tsalxhaan, it is said this mountain and Yaas'éit'aa Shaa (Mt. St. Elias) were originally next to each other but had an argument and separated. Their children, the mountains in between the two peaks, are called Tsalxhaan Yatx'i ("Children of Tsalxaan").
The mountain was first sighted by European explorers on July 16, 1741 by Vitus Bering of Russia. While some historians contend that the mountain was named by Bering, others believe that eighteenth century mapmakers named it after Cape Saint Elias, when it was left unnamed by Bering.
Mount Saint Elias is notable for being the highest peak in the world that is so close to tidewater; its summit rises only 10 miles (16 km) from the head of Taan Fjord, off of Icy Bay. This gives the peak immense vertical relief, comparable to that of Mount McKinley (Denali) or peaks in the Himalayas.
In 2007, a documentary movie called "Mount. St. Elias" was made about a team of skiier/mountaineers determined to make "the planet's longest skiing descent" - ascending the mountain and then skiing nearly all 18,000 feet down to the Gulf of Alaska; the movie finished editing and underwent limited release in 2009. The climbers ended up summiting on the second attempt and skiing down to 13,000 feet.

Climbing history

Mt. St. Elias was first climbed on July 31, 1897 by an expedition led by famed explorer Prince Luigi Amadeo di Savoia, (who also reconnoitered the current standard route on K2) and including noted mountain photographer Vittorio Sella.
The second ascent was not until 1946, when a group from the Harvard Mountaineering Club including noted mountain historian Dee Molenaar climbed the Southwest Ridge route. The summit party comprised Molenaar, his brother Cornelius, Andrew and Betty Kauffman, Maynard Miller, William Latady, and Benjamin Ferris. (This expedition was somewhat unusual for the era in including a female member.) William Putnam was a member of the expedition but did not make the summit. They used eleven camps, eight of which were on the approach from Icy Bay, and three of which were on the mountain. They were supported by multiple air drops of food
Mount Saint Elias is infrequently climbed today, despite its height, due to the typically terrible weather conditions engendered by its proximity to the ocean.

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mountain mackinely

mountain mackinely Koyukon Athabaskan for "The High One") in Alaska USA is the highest mountain peak in North America and the United States, with a summit elevation of 20,320 feet (6,194 m) above sea level. The CIA World Factbook lists its summit elevation as 6,198 metres (20,335 ft). It is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.

Geology and features

Mount McKinley is a granitic pluton. It has been uplifted by tectonic pressure while at the same time, erosion has stripped away the (somewhat softer) sedimentary rock above and around the mountain.

The forces that lifted Mount McKinley—the subduction of the Pacific plate beneath the North American plate—also raised great ranges across southern Alaska. As that huge sheet of ocean-floor rock plunges downward into the mantle, it shoves and crumples the continent into soaring mountains which include some of the most active volcanoes on the continent. Mount McKinley in particular is uplifted relative to the rocks around it because it is at the intersection of major active strike-slip faults (faults that move rocks laterally across the Earth's surface) which allow the deep buried rocks to be unroofed more rapidly compared to those around them.

Layout of the mountain

Mount McKinley has two significant summits: the South Summit is the higher one, while the North Summit has an elevation of 19,470 feet (5,934 m) and a prominence of approximately 1,320 feet (402 m). The North Summit is sometimes counted as a separate peak (see e.g., the List of United States fourteeners) and sometimes not; it is rarely climbed, except by those doing routes on the north side of the massif.

Five large glaciers flow off the slopes of the mountain. The Peters Glacier lies on the northwest side of the massif, while the Muldrow Glacier falls from its northeast slopes. Just to the east of the Muldrow, and abutting the eastern side of the massif, is the Traleika Glacier. The Ruth Glacier lies to the southeast of the mountain, and the Kahiltna Glacier leads up to the southwest side of the mountain.


Layout of the mountain

Mount McKinley has two significant summits: the South Summit is the higher one, while the North Summit has an elevation of 19,470 feet (5,934 m) and a prominence of approximately 1,320 feet (402 m). The North Summit is sometimes counted as a separate peak (see e.g., the List of United States fourteeners) and sometimes not; it is rarely climbed, except by those doing routes on the north side of the massif.

Five large glaciers flow off the slopes of the mountain. The Peters Glacier lies on the northwest side of the massif, while the Muldrow Glacier falls from its northeast slopes. Just to the east of the Muldrow, and abutting the eastern side of the massif, is the Traleika Glacier. The Ruth Glacier lies to the southeast of the mountain, and the Kahiltna Glacier leads up to the southwest side of the mountain.

Notable features

Mount McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest, although the summit of Everest is higher at 29,029 feet (8,848 m). Everest's base sits on the Tibetan Plateau[4][unreliable source] at about 17,000 feet (5,200 m), giving it a real vertical rise of little more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m). The base of Mount McKinley is roughly at 2,000-foot (610 m) elevation, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet (5,500 m). The mountain is also characterized by extremely cold weather. Temperatures as low as -75.5 °F (-59.7 °C) and windchills as low as -118.1 °F (-83.4 °C) have been recorded by an automated weather station located at 18,700 feet (5,700 m). According to the National Park Service, in 1932 the Liek-Lindley expedition recovered a self-recording minimum thermometer left near Browne's Tower, at about 15,000 feet (4,600 m), on Mount McKinley by the Stuck-Karstens party in 1913. The spirit thermometer was calibrated down to 95 °F below zero and the lowest recorded temperature was below that point. Harry J. Liek took the thermometer back to Washington, D.C. where it was tested by the United States Weather Bureau and found to be accurate. The lowest temperature that it had recorded was found to be approximately -100 °F (-73 °C).
The east side of Mount McKinley, from Denali National Park

History

the Koyukon Athabaskans are the first Native Americans with access to the flanks of the mountain (living in the Yukon, Tanana and Kuskokwim basins). The historical first European sighting of Mount McKinley took place on May 6, 1794, when George Vancouver was surveying the Knik Arm of the Cook Inlet and mentioned “distant stupendous mountains” in his journal. The Russian explorer Lavrenty Zagoskin explored the Tanana and Kuskokwim rivers in 1843 and 1844 and was probably the first European to sight the mountain from the other side.

William Dickey, a New Hampshire-born Seattleite who had been digging for gold in the sands of the Susitna River, wrote, after his return to the lower states, an account in the New York Sun that appeared on January 24, 1897.[6][dead link] His report drew attention with the sentence “We have no doubt that this peak is the highest in North America, and estimate that it is over 20,000 feet (6,100 m) high.” Until then 18,000-foot (5,500 m) Mount Saint Elias was believed to be the continent’s highest point (Mount Logan was still unknown and Mount St Elias’ height had been overestimated to beat Pico de Orizaba). Though later praised for his estimate, Dickey admitted that other prospector parties had also guessed the mountain to be over 20,000 feet (6,100 m)


Climbing history


he first recorded attempt to climb Mount McKinley was by Judge James Wickersham in 1903, via the Peters Glacier and the North Face, now known as the Wickersham Wall. This route has tremendous avalanche danger and was not successfully climbed until 1963.
High camp (17,200 ft/5,200 m) of the West Buttress Route pioneered by Bradford Washburn, photographed in 2001

Famed explorer Dr. Frederick Cook claimed the first ascent of the mountain in 1906. His claim was regarded with some suspicion from the start, but was also widely believed. It was later proved false, with some crucial evidence provided by Bradford Washburn when he was sketched on a lower peak.

In 1910, four locals (Tom Lloyd, Peter Anderson, Billy Taylor, and Charles McGonagall), known as the Sourdough expedition, attempted McKinley, despite a complete lack of climbing experience. They spent approximately three months on the mountain. However, their purported summit day was impressive: carrying a bag of doughnuts, each a thermos of hot chocolate, and a 14-foot (4.2 m) spruce pole, two of them reached the North Summit, the lower of the two, and erected the pole near the top. According to them, they took a total of 18 hour–a record that has yet to be breached (as of 2006). No one believed their success (partly due to false claims that they had climbed both summits) until the true first ascent, in 1913.

In 1912, the Parker-Browne expedition nearly reached the summit, turning back within just a few hundred yards of it due to harsh weather. In fact, that probably saved their lives, as a powerful earthquake shattered the glacier they ascended hours after they safely left it.
Mount McKinley West Buttress (lower left to upper right), August 2010

The first ascent of the main summit of McKinley came on June 7, 1913, by a party led by Hudson Stuck. The first man to reach the summit was Walter Harper, an Alaska Native. Harry Karstens and Robert Tatum also made the summit. Tatum later commented, "The view from the top of Mount McKinley is like looking out the windows of Heaven!"They ascended the Muldrow Glacier route pioneered by the earlier expeditions, which is still often climbed today. Stuck confirmed, via binoculars, the presence of a large pole near the North Summit; this report confirmed the Sourdough ascent, and today it is widely believed that the Sourdoughs did succeed on the North Summit. However, the pole was never seen before or since, so there is still some doubt. Stuck also discovered that the Parker-Browne party were only about 200 feet (61 m) of elevation short of the true summit when they turned back.

See the timeline below for more important events in Mount McKinley's climbing history.

The mountain is regularly climbed today; in 2003, around 58% of climbers reached the top. But by 2003, the mountain had claimed the lives of nearly 100 mountaineers over time.The vast majority of climbers use the West Buttress Route, pioneered in 1951 by Bradford Washburn, after an extensive aerial photographic analysis of the mountain. Climbers typically take two to four weeks to ascend the mountain.

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Mount Hubbard

Mount Hubbard is one of the major mountains of the Saint Elias Range. It is located on the Alaska/Yukon border; the Canadian side is within Kluane National Park and Reserve, and the American side is part of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The mountain was named in 1890 by USGS geologist Israel Russell after Gardiner Greene Hubbard, first president of the National Geographic Society, which had co-sponsored Russell's expedition.

Hubbard is the highest point of a large massif with three named summits; the other two are Mount Alverstone and Mount Kennedy. Alverstone and Hubbard form a corner of the U.S.-Canadian border: the border extends roughly south from these peaks toward the Alaska panhandle, and roughly west toward Mount Saint Elias, approximately 100 km (60 mi) away. The Hubbard Glacier separates Mount Hubbard from Mount Vancouver to the west, while the Lowell Glacier lies to the east of the peak.

Mount Hubbard is the eighth highest peak in the United States, and the twelfth highest peak in Canada. It is also notable for its large rise above local terrain. For example, its west face rises 7,500 feet (2,286 m) above the Alverstone Glacier in less than 2 miles (3.2 km), and the peak rises 11,000 feet (3,353 m) above the Hubbard Glacier to the southwest in only 7 miles (11.2 km). Mount Hubbard is just over 20 miles (32 km) from tidewater at Disenchantment Bay. However, despite its precipitous drops to the west, the eastern side provides a nontechnical (though long) route to the summit.

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Mount Foraker

Mount Foraker, or Sultana as it is known by the Athabascans, stands proudly as Denali's wife. At 17,400 feet it is the sixth highest mountain in North America. Sultana was renamed in honor of Ohio senator Joseph Foraker in 1899 by Joseph Herron. Like Denali, Mount Foraker has a north and south summit at 17,400 ft. (5304m) and 16,810 ft. (5124m) respectively.

The first ascent occured in August of 1934 by Charles S. Houston, Dr. T. Graham Brown, and Chychele Waterston via the Northwest Ridge. Houston developed an interest in Foraker in the early 1930s and by the winter of 1933 was aggressively planning for his 1934 ascent. His team established a series of seven camps and summited on the 17th of August.

In the summer of 1977, George Lowe and Michael Kennedy made the first ascent of Foraker's Infinite Spur - one of the great alpine test pieces that the Alaska Range offers. And a route that remained unrepeated until Nelson's second ascent in 1988 with the late Mark Bebie. The third ascent was made in July of 2000 by Barry Blanchard and Carl Tobin. The pair shaved four days off of the original ascent. The route involves 9,000 feet of difficult climbing to Foraker's lofty 17,000 foot summit. In 2001, while continuing to make single push rapid ascents, Steve House and Rolando Garibotti completed the Infinite Spur in a blistering 25 hours. They bettered Blanchard's efforts by six days.

In mid May of 2006 Sue Nott and Karen McNeill disappeared while attempting the Infinite Spur. During search and rescue efforts footprints were found less than 1000 feet below the summit but ended abruptly. On the 11th of June search efforts were suspended.

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Mount Fair weather

Mount Fairweather (officially gazetted as Fairweather Mountain in Canada but referred to as Mount Fairweather), is one of the world's highest coastal mountains at 4,671 metres (15,325 feet.) It is located 20 km (12 mi) east of the Pacific Ocean on the border of Alaska, United States and western British Columbia, Canada. Most of the mountain lies within Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in the City and Borough of Yakutat, Alaska (USA), though the summit borders Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park, British Columbia (Canada), making it the highest point in that province. It is also designated as Boundary Peak 164 or as US/Canada Boundary Point #164.

The mountain was named on May 3, 1778 by Captain James Cook,] apparently for the unusually good weather encountered at the time. The name has been translated into many languages. It was called "Mt. Beautemps" by La Perouse (1786, atlas), "Mte. Buen-tiempo" by Galiano (1802, map 3), "Gor[a]-Khoroshy-pogody" on Russian Hydrographic Dept. Chart 1378 in 1847, and "G[ora] Fayerveder" by Captain Tebenkov (1852, map 7), Imperial Russian Navy. It was called "Schonwetterberg" by Constantin Grewink in 1850 and "Schonwetter Berg" by Justus Perthes in 1882.

Fairweather was first climbed in 1931 by Allen Carpé and Terris Moore.

Geography

Mount Fairweather is located right above Glacier Bay in the Fairweather Range of the Saint Elias Mountains. Mount Fairweather also marks the northwest extremity of the Alaska Panhandle.
Like many large mountains in the St. Elias Mountains, Mount Fairweather has great vertical relief due to its dramatic rise from Glacier Bay. However, due to poor weather in the area, this effect is usually obscured with the clouds which often hides the summit from view.
Known in the Tlingit language as Tsalxhaan, it is said this mountain and Yaas'éit'aa Shaa (Mt. St. Elias) were originally next to each other but had an argument and separated. Their children, the mountains in between the two peaks, are called Tsalxhaan Yatx'i (Children of Tsalxaan.)[citation needed]

Weather

Despite its name, Mount Fairweather has generally harsh weather conditions. It receives over 100 inches (254 cm) of precipitation each year (mostly snow) and sees temperatures of around -50°F (-46°C).

Climbing history

1931 Allen Carpe and Terris Moore summited via the Southeast Ridge on June 8, 1931
1958 Paddy Sherman and 7 other Canadians reached the summit via the SE Ridge on June 26, 1958.
1968 West Ridge, Loren Adkins, Walter Gove, Paul Myhre, John Neal and Kent Stokes - summit reached June 12, 1968
1973 Southwest Ridge, Peter Metcalf, Henry Florschutz, Toby O'Brien and Lincoln Stoller. Summit reached on 10 July 1973.

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Mount Churchill

Mount Churchill is a volcano in the Saint Elias Mountains and the Wrangell Volcanic Field of eastern Alaska. Churchill and its higher neighbor Mount Bona about 2 mi (3 km) to the southwest are both large ice-covered stratovolcanoes, with Churchill being the fourth highest volcano in the United States and the seventh highest in North America.

Volcanic eruptions


Mount Churchill is most noteworthy as the source of the White River Ash, deposited during two of the largest volcanic eruptions in North America during the past two millennia. This twin-lobed tephra deposit covers more than 130,000 mi² (340,000 km²) of eastern Alaska and northwestern Canada, with the northern lobe deposited 1900 years ago and extending over 250 miles (400 km) and the larger eastern lobe about 1250 years ago and stretching over 500 miles (800 km). The total volume of the ash exceeds 12 mi³ (50 km³), or roughly 50 times the volume of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, and ash layers up to 2 ft (60 cm) thick can be seen just below the surface in many roadcuts along the Alaska Highway.
The extensive ash deposits in the lowlands near the White and Yukon Rivers were first recognized in 1883, but their source remained a mystery for the next century. Geologists in the 1960s traced the two lobes of the ash back into the Saint Elias Mountains, and postulated that the ash may have come from a vent now buried under the Klutlan Glacier, which flows east for over 40 mi (64 km) from the Bona-Churchill massif into the Yukon Territory of Canada. More detailed studies in the 1990s by the U.S. Geological Survey finally produced the definitive answer. Aerial photos showed a 2.6 x 1.7 miles (4.2 x 2.7 km) elliptical, gently sloping, ice-filled depression at 14,500 ft (4400 m) just east of the present summit of Mount Churchill. This was identified as a caldera, which had formed by the collapse of the volcano's previous summit during the cataclysmic eruptions. The geological field work revealed thick young pumice deposits along the rim of the caldera which are mineralogically and chemically identical to the White River Ash.

History
Mount Churchill was first climbed in 1951 by R. Gates and J. Lindberg, but the peak was merely an unnamed satellite of Mount Bona at the time. The mountain was named in 1965 by the Alaska State Legislature for English statesman Winston Churchill.
In terms of elevation, it is a major North American peak, at well over 15,000 feet; however, in terms of topographic prominence or isolation, it is less significant, with less than a 1200 foot drop from its summit to the saddle with Bona. Churchill also lies on the northern, gentler side of the Bona massif, making it a less visually spectacular peak than some of the lower outliers of Bona such as University Peak or Aello Peak. The current standard climbing route is the South Ridge, usually as part of a climb of Mount Bona from the east starting from a ski-equipped bush plane landing at around 10,000 ft (3,000 m) on the Klutlan Glacier.

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Mount Blackburn

Mount Blackburn is the highest peak in the Wrangell Mountains of Alaska in the United States. It is the fifth highest peak in the United States and the twelfth highest peak in North America. The mountain is an old, eroded shield volcano, the second highest volcano in the United States behind Mount Bona and the fifth highest in North America. It was named in 1885 by Lt. Henry T. Allen of the U.S. Army after Joseph Clay Stiles Blackburn, a U.S. senator from Kentucky. It is located in the heart of Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, the largest national park in the country.
The mountain's massif is covered almost entirely by icefields and glaciers, and is the principal source of ice for the Kennicott Glacier, which flows southeast over 20 miles (32 km) to just above the town of McCarthy. The mountain also contributes a large volume of ice to the north-flowing Nabesna Glacier and the Kuskulana Glacier system.

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Mount Bona

 Mount Bona is one of the major mountains of the Saint Elias Mountains in eastern Alaska, and is the fifth highest independent peak in the United States. Mount Bona and its adjacent neighbor Mount Churchill are both large ice-covered stratovolcanoes. Bona has the distinction of being the highest volcano in the United States and the fourth highest in North America, outranked only by the three highest Mexican volcanoes, Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl, and Iztaccíhuatl.

The mountain's massif is covered almost entirely by icefields and glaciers, and it is the principal source of ice for the Klutlan Glacier, which flows east for over 40 miles (64 km) into the Yukon Territory of Canada. The mountain also contributes a large volume of ice to the north-flowing Russell Glacier system.

Mount Bona was named by Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi in 1897, who saw the peak while making the first ascent of Mount Saint Elias about 80 miles (130 km) to the southeast. He named it after the Bona, his racing yacht. The mountain was first climbed in 1930 by Allen Carpé, Terris Moore, and Andrew Taylor, from the Russell Glacier on the west of the peak. The current standard route is the East Ridge; a climb of nearby Mount Churchill is a relatively easy addition via this route as well.

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