Revelation Mountains

Last updated

The Revelation Mountains are a small, rugged subrange of the Alaska Range in Alaska, United States. They mark the furthest western extent of the Alaska Range. The range is rarely visited because of the flying time necessary to get there and also because of the notoriously poor weather conditions that are prevalent in the range. The highest peak in the range is Mount Hesperus (9,828 feet/2,996 m).

Contents

Description

The Revelation Mountains are located approximately 140 miles (225 km) west-northwest of Anchorage, and approximately 130 miles (210 km) southwest of Denali. They are accessed by small plane; the closest airports to the range are near Anchorage and in Talkeetna, which is also approximately 130 miles (210 km) away. This makes access to the range very expensive; the weather also creates the potential for delays in reaching the range (both to drop off climbers and to pick them up).

The principal peaks of the Revelation Mountains are granite spires, rising out of relatively low-elevation glacial valleys. The high vertical relief in the Revelations makes the range a very dramatic place and also creates challenging climbing conditions, despite the low absolute elevation of the peaks.

The Revelations are drained on the northwest by the Big River, one branch of which flows from the Revelation Glacier, which is the main glacier of the core of the range. On the southwest they are drained by the Swift River, while the valleys of the southeast side feed the Stony River. The east and northeast slopes lead to the Hartman and South Fork Kuskokwim Rivers.

History

The first recorded visit to the range occurred in July, 1967 by David Roberts and his party from the Harvard Mountaineering Club. The group achieved a few first ascents, and subsequently named the range and many of its notable peaks. In his American Alpine Journal article, Roberts writes of extremely bad weather, including very high winds that frequented the range, and also of challenging climbing conditions. The Roberts party spent 52 straight days in the range. Roberts named the range the "Revelation Mountains," and gave many of the peaks Biblical names because he had been reading aloud from the Bible as part of his English literature studies at the University of Denver and thought the apocalyptic descriptions in the Book of Revelation matched the landscape of the mountain range. [1] [2]

Selected peaks in the Revelation Mountains

Related Research Articles

Mount Waddington

Mount Waddington, once known as Mystery Mountain, is the highest peak in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. Although it is lower than Mount Fairweather and Mount Quincy Adams, which straddle the United States border between Alaska and British Columbia, Mount Waddington is the highest peak that lies entirely within British Columbia. It and the subrange which surround it, known as the Waddington Range, stand at the heart of the Pacific Ranges, a remote and extremely rugged set of mountains and river valleys.

Denali Highest mountain in North America

Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level. With a topographic prominence of 20,194 feet (6,155 m) and a topographic isolation of 4,621.1 miles (7,436.9 km), Denali is the third most prominent and third most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of the U.S. state of Alaska, Denali is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.

Shishapangma

Shishapangma, also called Gosainthān, is the 14th highest mountain in the world at 8,027 metres (26,335 ft) above sea level. It was the last 8,000 metre peak to be climbed, due to its location entirely within Tibet and the restrictions on visits by foreign travelers to the region imposed by authorities of the Government of China and of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Grossglockner The highest mountain in Austria

The Grossglockner is, at 3,798 metres above the Adriatic (12,461 ft), the highest mountain in Austria and the highest mountain in the Alps east of the Brenner Pass. It is part of the larger Glockner Group of the Hohe Tauern range, situated along the main ridge of the Central Eastern Alps and the Alpine divide. The Pasterze, Austria's most extended glacier, lies on the Grossglockner's eastern slope.

Alex Lowe American mountaineer (1958-1999)

Stewart Alexander Lowe was an American mountaineer. He has been described as inspiring "...a whole generation of climbers and explorers with his uncontainable enthusiasm, legendary training routines, and significant ascents of rock climbs, ice climbs, and mountains all over the world...". He died in an avalanche in Tibet. The Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation honors his legacy.

Mount Hesperus (Alaska)

Mount Hesperus is the highest peak of the Revelation Mountains, the westernmost subrange of the Alaska Range. The Revelations are a small, rarely visited range, but they contain dramatic rock peaks, rising from low bases. Mount Hesperus is particularly impressive in terms of local relief: for example, it drops over 7,500 feet (2,286m) in less than 2 miles (3,219m) on two sides. Such steepness for this amount of relief makes Hesperus comparable to the best peaks in North America.

Mount Huntington (Alaska)

Mount Huntington is a striking rock and ice pyramid in the central Alaska Range, about 8 miles (13 km) south-southeast of Denali. It is also about 6 miles (10 km) east of Mount Hunter, and two miles west of The Rooster Comb. While overshadowed in absolute elevation by Denali, Huntington is a steeper peak: in almost every direction, faces drop over 5,000 feet (1,520 m) in about a mile (1.6 km). Even its easiest route presents significantly more technical challenge than the standard route on Denali, and it is a favorite peak for high-standard technical climbers.

North Palisade

North Palisade is the third highest mountain in the Sierra Nevada range of California. It is the highest peak of the Palisades group of peaks in the central part of the range. It sports a small glacier and several highly prized rock climbing routes on its northeast side.

The Mooses Tooth

The Moose's Tooth is a rock peak on the east side of the Ruth Gorge in the Central Alaska Range, 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Denali. Despite its relatively low elevation, it is a difficult climb. It is notable for its many large rock faces and its long ice couloirs, which are famous in mountaineering circles, and have seen a number of highly technical ascents.

Mount Neacola

Mount Neacola is the unofficial name for the high point of the Neacola Mountains, the northernmost section of the Aleutian Range of Alaska. Despite its low elevation compared to many of the major Alaskan peaks, Mount Neacola is an impressive peak, due to its steep, pointed shape and its low base.

Tordrillo Mountains

The Tordrillo Mountains are a small mountain range in the Matanuska-Susitna and Kenai Peninsula Boroughs in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska. They lie approximately 75 miles (120 km) west-northwest of Anchorage. The range extends approximately 60 miles (97 km) north-south and 35 miles (56 km) east-west. The highest point is Mount Torbert. On a clear day, they are easily visible from Anchorage.

Middle Teton

Middle Teton is the third highest peak in the Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. The peak is immediately southwest of Grand Teton and the two are separated from one another by the lower saddle, a broad high ridge at 11,600 feet (3,540 m). The Middle Teton Glacier is located on the eastern slopes of the peak. Middle Teton is a classic pyramidal shaped alpine peak and is sometimes included as part of the Cathedral Group of high Teton peaks. The 40-mile (64 km) long Teton Range is the youngest mountain chain in the Rocky Mountains, and began their uplift 9 million years ago, during the Miocene. Several periods of glaciation have carved Middle Teton and the other peaks of the range into their current shapes. From the lower saddle, a distinctive feature known as the black dike appears as a straight line running from near the top of the mountain down 800 feet (240 m). The black dike is a basaltic intrusion that occurred long after the surrounding rock was formed.

Mount Russell (Alaska)

Mount Russell is one of the major peaks of the central Alaska Range, approximately 35 mi (56 km) southwest of Denali. Though much lower than Denali or its neighbor Mount Foraker, Russell is a steep, dramatic peak and a significant mountaineering challenge in its own right. To give a sense of its size and steepness, note that its summit rises 6,560 ft over the Chedotlothna Glacier to the northwest in only 1.8 mi (3 km), and almost 10,000 ft above the lower Yentna Glacier to the south in only 8 mi (13 km).

David Roberts is a climber, mountaineer, and author of books and articles about climbing. He is particularly noted for his books The Mountain of My Fear and Deborah: A Wilderness Narrative, chronicling major ascents in Alaska in the 1960s, which had a major impact on the form of mountaineering literature.

Les Droites

Les Droites is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif in the French Alps and is the lowest of the 4000-metre peaks in the Alps. The mountain has two summits:

Williams Peak (Custer County, Idaho)

Williams Peak, at 10,636 feet (3,242 m) high is the 6th highest peak in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho and is located within the Sawtooth Wilderness portion of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The peak lies 0.75 mi (1,210 m) north-northwest of Thompson Peak, the highest peak in the range.

Hervè Barmasse

Hervé Barmasse is an Italian alpinist.

Mount Barrille

Mount Barrille is a 7,650 ft (2,330 m) mountain summit located in the Alaska Range, in Denali National Park and Preserve, in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is situated 2,650 feet above the Ruth Glacier at the gateway to the Don Sheldon Amphitheater, or The Great Gorge, depending on direction of travel. Barrille is set 11.43 mi (18 km) southeast of Denali, 3.37 mi (5 km) west of The Mooses Tooth, 3.68 mi (6 km) east of The Rooster Comb, and 1.42 mi (2 km) north of Mount Dickey which is its nearest higher peak. The mountain was named by famed explorer Dr. Frederick Cook for Edward Barrill (1861-1946), a horse packer from Darby, Montana, who was his sole companion during his 1906 claim to be the first to climb Mount McKinley. The claim was later disproved, and in 1909 Barrill signed an affidavit stating that they had not reached the summit. Cook referred to his companion as Barrille in his accounts of the expedition, and Barrille remains as the official spelling used by the United States Geological Survey.

McGinnis Peak (Alaska Range)

McGinnis Peak is an 11,400 ft (3,470 m) elevation glaciated summit located at the head of McGinnis Glacier in the eastern Alaska Range, in Alaska, United States. It is the eighth-highest peak in the Hayes Range, a subset of the Alaska Range. This remote peak is situated 14 mi (23 km) southeast of Mount Hayes, and 95 mi (153 km) southeast of Fairbanks. Mount Moffit, the nearest higher neighbor, is set 3.33 mi (5 km) to the northwest, and Mount Shand is positioned 4.5 mi (7 km) to the west. The Richardson Highway is 15 mi (24 km) to the east, with Hayes, McGinnis, and Moffit dominating the landscape along the drive south.

References

  1. Clint Helander, The Question: The Direct East Face of Golgotha, Posted on: March 16, 2015 http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP49/64-direct-east-face-golgatha
  2. David Roberts, On the Ridge Between Life and Death: A Climbing Life Reexamined (2006)
  3. Green, Stewart M. and Chris Van Leuven, "Emotional Atrophy in the Revelation Range," The Alpinist, 7 April 2016. Retrieved 2 Dec. 2017.