Portal:Mountains

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Introduction

Uluguru Mountains, in Tanzania

A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (980 ft) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges.

Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers.

High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction, such as mining and logging, along with recreation, such as mountain climbing and skiing.

The highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m (29,035 ft) above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m (69,459 ft). The tallest mountain including submarine terrain is Mauna Kea in Hawaii from its underwater base at 9,330 m (30,610 ft) and some scientists consider it to be the tallest on earth. (Full article...)

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A trim line marks the previous height of Tana Glacier in Alaska

A trim line, also written as trimline, is a clear line on the side of a valley formed by a glacier. The line marks the most recent highest extent of the glacier. The line may be visible due to changes in color to the rock or to changes in vegetation on either side of the line.

The term "trim line" is also used for similar looking phenomena caused by floods, volcanic activity, or tsunamis. (Full article...)

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Mangatangi Reservoir in the Hunua Ranges

The Hunua Ranges is a mountain range and regional park to the southeast of Auckland city, in the Auckland and Waikato regions of New Zealand's North Island. The ranges cover some 250 square kilometres (97 sq mi) and rise to 688 metres (2255 ft) at Kohukohunui.

Auckland Council owns and manages 178 square kilometres (69 sq mi) of the ranges, including part located in the Waikato region, as a regional park open to the public. (Full article...)

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A cordillera is a small chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those in the west coast of the Americas. The term is borrowed from Spanish, where the word comes from cordilla, a diminutive of cuerda ('rope').

The term is most commonly used in physical geography and is particularly applied to the various large mountain systems of the American Cordillera, such as the Andes of South America, and less frequently to other mountain ranges in the "ridge" that rims the Pacific Ocean. In Colombia and Venezuela, cordilleras are named according to their position: Cordillera Occidental, Central, and Oriental. Various local names are used for the cordilleras in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

A pair of Tricams: on the right, a nylon size 2.0, and on the left, a Dyneema size 1.5.

A tricam is a type of climbing protection equipment. A versatile nut/cam hybrid, the Tricam was invented by Greg Lowe in 1973, and came to market in 1981. They are currently manufactured by C.A.M.P. of Premana Italy. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various mountain-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 2Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering (from Mountaineering)
Image 3Edmund Hillary (left) and Tenzing Norgay after successfully completing the first ascent of Mount Everest, 29 May 1953
Image 4British mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby became known as the father of Norwegian mountaineering and contributed greatly to its popularization with his classic book Norway, the Northern Playground (from Mountaineering)
Image 5Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 6The Catskills in Upstate New York represent an eroded plateau. (from Mountain)
Image 7Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)
Image 8Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
Image 9A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 10Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 11Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 12Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 13Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 14The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 15Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 16Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 17A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 18The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)
Image 19Distribution of mountains by location and elevation (from Mountain)
Image 20Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 21An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 22Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 23The Dolomite Mountains, Italy, in summer. The climate of the Dolomites is characterized by short but warm and mild summers, while winters are long and very cold. (from Mountain)
Image 24Everest is highest from sea level (green), Mauna Kea is highest from its base (orange), Cayambe is farthest from Earth's axis (pink) and Chimborazo is farthest from Earth's centre (blue) (from Mountain)
Image 25Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 26Mont Blanc in Aosta Valley, Italy, the highest point in the European Union (from Mountain)
Image 27Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation. (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 28Climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak (from Mountaineering)
Image 29Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria, part of the fault-block Rila-Rhodope massif (from Mountain)
Image 30This 1848 "Sketch showing the actual elevation of the Snow Line in different Latitudes" by Alexander Keith Johnston shows the snow lines of mountains in America, Europe and Asia (from Snow line)
Image 31Mountaineers climbing in South Tyrol (from Mountain)
Image 32Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 33The Andes, the longest mountain range on the surface of the Earth, have a dramatic impact on the climate of South America (from Mountain range)
Image 34Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)
Image 35Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 36Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 37Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 38Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 39The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. (from Mountain)
Image 40The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 41Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 42Climber approaching the summit of Manaslu at 8,163 metres (from Mountaineering)

Selected skiing article

Vintage ski waxes, once used by U.S. Army ski troops. Left to right are: grip waxes in canisters (blue for "dry snow" and yellow for "wet and corn snow") and a paraffin glide wax.

Ski wax is a material applied to the bottom of snow runners, including skis, snowboards, and toboggans, to improve their coefficient of friction performance under varying snow conditions. The two main types of wax used on skis are glide waxes and grip waxes. They address kinetic friction—to be minimized with a glide wax—and static friction—to be achieved with a grip wax. Both types of wax are designed to be matched with the varying properties of snow, including crystal type and size, and moisture content of the snow surface, which vary with temperature and the temperature history of the snow. Glide wax is selected to minimize sliding friction for both alpine and cross-country skiing. Grip wax (also called "kick wax") provides on-snow traction for cross-country skiers, as they stride forward using classic technique.

Modern plastic materials (e.g. high-modulus polyethylene and Teflon), used on ski bases, have excellent gliding properties on snow, which in many circumstances diminish the added value of a glide wax. Likewise, uni-directional textures (e.g. fish scale or micro-scale hairs) underfoot on cross-country skis can offer a practical substitute for grip wax for those skiers, using the classic technique. (Full article...)

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