Portal:Mountains

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Introduction

Silvretta panorama from the Ochsenkopf

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). (Full article...)

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Selected mountain-related landform

Satellite image of kettle lakes in Yamal Peninsula (Northern Siberia), adjacent to the Gulf of Ob (right). The lake colors indicate amounts of sediment or depth.

A kettle (also known as a kettle hole, kettlehole, or pothole) is a depression or hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating glaciers, which become surrounded by sediment deposited by meltwater streams as there is increased friction. The ice becomes buried in the sediment and when the ice melts, a depression is left called a kettle hole, creating a dimpled appearance on the outwash plain. Lakes often fill these kettles; these are called kettle hole lakes. Another source is the sudden drainage of an ice-dammed lake and when the block melts, the hole it leaves behind is a kettle. As the ice melts, ramparts can form around the edge of the kettle hole. The lakes that fill these holes are seldom more than 10 m (33 ft) deep and eventually fill with sediment. In acid conditions, a kettle bog may form but in alkaline conditions, it will be kettle peatland. (Full article...)

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Selected mountain range

The San Rafael Hills are a mountain range in Los Angeles County, California. They are one of the lower Transverse Ranges, and are parallel to and below the San Gabriel Mountains, adjacent to the San Gabriel Valley overlooking the Los Angeles Basin. (Full article...)

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A tumulus (pl.: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or (in Siberia and Central Asia) kurgans, and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built for various purposes, may also originally have been a tumulus.

Tumuli are often categorised according to their external apparent shape. In this respect, a long barrow is a long tumulus, usually constructed on top of several burials, such as passage graves. A round barrow is a round tumulus, also commonly constructed on top of burials. The internal structure and architecture of both long and round barrows have a broad range; the categorization only refers to the external apparent shape. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

In mountaineering and hiking, the rest step is a human walking gait used in ascending steep slopes. Its essential characteristic is a pause of motion with the rear leg vertical and fully extended, while the front leg is relaxed except as needed to adjust the balancing of the climber's body and burden on the rear leg.

The goal includes "locking" the knee, in order to rest the weight on the skeleton (and relieve the leg muscles of exertion as much as possible). (Full article...)

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General images

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

Image 1Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 2Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation. (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 3Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 4The 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 5Climber approaching the summit of Manaslu at 8,163 metres (from Mountaineering)
Image 6The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 7Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 8Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 9Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 10Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 11Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 12Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 13Mountaineers climbing in South Tyrol (from Mountain)
Image 14A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 15Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 16Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 17Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 18Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 19The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)
Image 20The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. (from Mountain)
Image 21The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 22Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering (from Mountaineering)
Image 23Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 24Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 25Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 26An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 27Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria, part of the fault-block Rila-Rhodope massif (from Mountain)
Image 28A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 29A mountain rescue team in Iran moving a casualty. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 30Mountain rescue team members and other services attend to a casualty in Freiburg Germany. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 31Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 32Everest 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 33Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)
Image 34Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 35Climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak (from Mountaineering)
Image 36Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
Image 37This 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 38The Catskills in Upstate New York represent an eroded plateau. (from Mountain)
Image 39British 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 40Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)

Selected skiing article

Snowkiting or kite skiing is an outdoor winter sport where people use kite power to glide on snow or ice. The skier uses a kite to give them power over large jumps. The sport is similar to water-based kiteboarding, but with the footwear used in snowboarding or skiing. The principles of using the kite are the same, but in different terrain. In the early days of snowkiting, foil kites were the most common type; nowadays many kiteboarders use inflatable kites. However, since 2013, newly developed racing foil kites seem to dominate speed races and expedition races, like Red Bull Ragnarok (held on the Norwegian Hardangervidda plateau) and the Vake mini-expedition race (held at Norway's most northern Varanger peninsula). Snowkiting differs from other alpine sports in that it is possible for the snowkiter to travel uphill and downhill with any wind direction. Like kiteboarding, snowkiting can be very hazardous and should be learned and practiced with care. Snowkiting has become more popular in places often associated with skiing and snowboarding, such as Russia, Canada, Iceland, France, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Northern and Central United States. The sport has become more diverse as adventurers use kites to travel great distances and sports enthusiasts push the boundaries of freestyle, big air, speed and back country exploration. (Full article...)