Mount Bona

Last updated
Mount Bona
Mt. Bona, Alaska.jpg
Highest point
Elevation 16,550 ft (5,040 m) [1]
NAVD88
Prominence 6,900 ft (2,100 m) [1]
Isolation 49.7 mi (80.0 km) [1]
Listing
Coordinates 61°23′08″N141°44′55″W / 61.38556°N 141.74861°W / 61.38556; -141.74861 [2]
Geography
Relief map of USA Alaska.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Mount Bona
Location in Alaska
Mount Bona
Interactive map of Mount Bona
Location Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska, U.S.
Parent range Saint Elias Mountains
Topo map USGS McCarthy B-2
Geology
Mountain type Stratovolcano
Last eruption 847 AD
Climbing
First ascent July 2, 1930 by Allen Carpé, Terris Moore, Andrew Taylor
Easiest route Glacier climb (Alaska Grade 2) [3]

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. [a] It is either the tenth- or eleventh-highest peak in North America. 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. Its summit is a small stratovolcano on top of a high platform of sedimentary rocks. [4]

Contents

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. [2] 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. [3]

Elevation

Mount Bona's exact elevation is uncertain. USGS 1:250,000 topographical maps show an elevation of 16,421 feet (5,005 m), [5] which was determined in 1913 by International Boundary Commission surveyors. [6] However, USGS 1:63,360 topographical maps do not show a spot height, and their contour lines indicate a summit elevation of 16,550±50 feet (5045±15 meters). [7] Many sources quote the latter figure. [8]

See also

References and notes

Notes

  1. This counts both the North and South Peaks of Denali (Mount McKinley), which is not a universally accepted practice. See Fourteener.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fourteener</span> Mountain peak of at least 14,000 ft.

In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least 14,000 ft (4267 m). The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single state; Alaska is second with 29. Many peak baggers try to climb all fourteeners in the contiguous United States, one particular state, or another region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Saint Elias</span> Mountain in Alaska and the Yukon Territory on the United States–Canada border

Mount Saint Elias, the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about 26 miles (42 km) southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side of Mount Saint Elias forms part of Kluane National Park and Reserve, while the U.S. side of the mountain is located within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Hubbard</span> Mountain on the border of Canada and Alaska

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 U.S. Geological Survey geologist Israel Russell after Gardiner Greene Hubbard, first president of the National Geographic Society, which had co-sponsored Russell's expedition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wrangell Volcanic Field</span> Volcanic field stretching from Alaska in the United States to the Yukon Territory in Canada

The Wrangell Volcanic Field is a volcanic field stretching from eastern Alaska in the United States to the southwestern Yukon Territory in Canada. The field includes the four highest volcanoes in the United States, Mount Bona, Mount Blackburn, Mount Sanford, and Mount Churchill, all of which exceed 15,000 ft in elevation. It formed as a result of subduction of the Pacific Plate beneath the North American Plate at the easternmost end of the Aleutian Trench[3].

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Blackburn</span> Volcano

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 U.S. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Sanford (Alaska)</span> Shield volcano in the state of Alaska

Mount Sanford is a shield volcano in the Wrangell Volcanic Field, in eastern Alaska near the Copper River. It is the sixth highest mountain in the United States and the third highest volcano 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Wrangell</span> Active volcanic mountain in Alaska, United States

Mount Wrangell, is a massive shield volcano located in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in southeastern Alaska, United States. The shield rises over 12,000 feet (3,700 m) above the Copper River to its southwest. Its volume is over 220 cubic miles (920 km3), making it more than twice as massive as Mount Shasta in California, the largest stratovolcano by volume in the Cascades. It is part of the Wrangell Mountains as well as the Wrangell Volcanic Field, which extends for more than 250 kilometers (160 mi) across Southcentral Alaska into the Yukon Territory in Canada, and has an eruptive history spanning the time from Pleistocene to Holocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Peak (Alaska)</span>

University Peak is a high peak in the Saint Elias Mountains of Alaska. It is one of the twenty highest peaks in Alaska, and one of the fifty highest peaks in the United States. It can be considered a southern outlier of the large massif of Mount Bona. However, it is a much steeper peak than Bona, and presents significant climbing challenges of its own.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Bear</span> Mountain in Alaska, United States

Mount Bear is a high, glaciated peak in the Saint Elias Mountains of Alaska. It lies within Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the Yukon border. The Barnard Glacier flows from its southwest slopes, while the Klutlan Glacier lies to the north. Its principal claim to fame is that it is a fourteener, and in fact one of the highest 20 peaks in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Cook (Saint Elias Mountains)</span> Mountain on Canada-United States border

Mount Cook is a high peak on the Yukon Territory-Alaska border, in the Saint Elias Mountains of North America. It is approximately 15 mi (24 km) southwest of Mount Vancouver and 35 mi (56 km) miles east-southeast of Mount Saint Elias. It forms one of the corners of the jagged border, which is defined to run in straight lines between the major peaks. The same border also separates Kluane National Park in the Yukon Territory from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in Alaska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Drum</span> Volcano in Alaska, United States

Mount Drum is a stratovolcano in the Wrangell Mountains of east-central Alaska in the United States. It is located at the extreme western end of the Wrangells, 18 miles (29 km) west-southwest of Mount Sanford and the same distance west-northwest of Mount Wrangell. It lies just inside the western boundary of Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve and is 25 miles (40 km) east of the Copper River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atna Peaks</span> Volcano in Alaska, United States

Atna Peaks is an eroded stratovolcano or shield volcano in the Wrangell Mountains of eastern Alaska. It is located in Wrangell–Saint Elias National Park about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Mount Blackburn, the second-highest volcano in the United States, and just south of the massive Nabesna Glacier. Because the mountain is almost entirely covered in glaciers, no geological studies have been done, but published references state and the geological map shows that the mountain is an old eroded volcanic edifice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regal Mountain</span>

Regal Mountain is an eroded stratovolcano or shield volcano in the Wrangell Mountains of eastern Alaska. It is located in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park about 19 mi (31 km) east of Mount Blackburn, the second highest volcano in the United States, and southeast of the massive Nabesna Glacier. Regal Mountain is the third highest thirteener in Alaska, ranking just behind its neighbor, Atna Peaks. Because the mountain is almost entirely covered in glaciers, no geological studies have been done, but published references state and the geological map shows that the mountain is an old eroded volcanic edifice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Jarvis</span> Mountain in Alaska, United States

Mount Jarvis is an eroded shield volcano and stratovolcano in the Wrangell Mountains of eastern Alaska. It is located in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park about 10 miles (16 km) east of the summit of Mount Wrangell. The mountain sits at the northeastern edge of the massive ice-covered shield of Wrangell, rising nearly 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above it in a spectacular series of cliffs and icefalls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Huxley (Alaska)</span> Mountain in Alaska

Mount Huxley is a 12,216-foot glaciated mountain summit located in the Saint Elias Mountains of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The remote peak is situated 75 mi (121 km) northwest of Yakutat, and 8.7 mi (14 km) west-northwest of Mount Saint Elias. The peak rises above the Columbus Glacier and Bagley Icefield to its north, the Tyndall Glacier to the south, and the Yahtse Glacier to the west. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains into the Gulf of Alaska. The mountain was named in 1886 by English mountaineer Harold Ward Topham for Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), an English biologist. The mountain was officially named Huxley Peak in 1917, but the name was officially changed to Mount Huxley in 1968 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. The first ascent of the peak was made June 9, 1996 by Paul Claus who landed his plane at 11,500 feet elevation on the western flank and climbed the remaining distance to the summit. The second ascent of Mt. Huxley, and first complete ascent from base to summit, was made in June 2018 by Scott Peters, Andrew Peter, and Ben Iwrey starting from the Columbus Glacier.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mount Bona, Alaska". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Mount Bona". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  3. 1 2 Wood, Michael; Coombs, Colby (2001). Alaska: A Climbing Guide. Mountaineers Books. pp. 161–162. ISBN   0-89886-724-X.
  4. "Mount Bona". Alaska Volcano Observatory. U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  5. 1:250,000 Sheet "Mc Carthy, Alaska", US Geological Survey, 1960
  6. International Boundary Commission (1918). Joint Report Upon the Survey and Demarcation of the International Boundary Between the United States and Canada Along the 141st Meridian from the Arctic Ocean to Mount St. Elias. p. 158.
  7. 1:63,360 Sheet "Mc Carthy (B-2), Alaska", US Geological Survey, 1959
  8. "Mount Bona". bivouac.com. Retrieved 2021-11-11.

Further reading