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). (Full article...)

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Side valleys and tributary valleys are valleys whose brooks or rivers flow into greater ones.

Upstream, the valleys can be classified in an increasing order which is equivalent to the usual orographic order: the tributaries are ordered from those nearest to the source of the river to those nearest to the mouth of the river. A confluence is where two or more tributaries or rivers flow together. (Full article...)

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The Cordillera Darwin is an extensive mountain range mantled by an ice field that is located in Chile. (Full article...)

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Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff. In contrast, intrusive rock refers to rocks formed by magma which cools below the surface.

The main effect of extrusion is that the magma can cool much more quickly in the open air or under seawater, and there is little time for the growth of crystals. Sometimes, a residual portion of the matrix fails to crystallize at all, instead becoming a natural glass or obsidian. (Full article...)

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Solo climbing on Mount Logan

Solo climbing, or soloing, is a style of climbing in which the climber climbs a route alone, without the assistance of a belayer (or "second"). By its very nature, it presents a higher degree of risk to the climber, and in some cases, is considered extremely high risk (e.g. solo ice climbing, or solo big wall climbing). Note that the use of the term "solo climbing" is generally separate from the action of bouldering, which is itself a form of solo climbing, but with less serious consequences in the case of a fall. The most dangerous form of solo climbing is free solo climbing, which means both climbing alone and without any form of climbing protection. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

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The stem christie or wedge christie, is a type of skiing turn that originated in the mid-1800s in Norway and lasted until the late 1960s. It comprises three steps: 1) forming a wedge by rotating the tail of one ski outwards at an angle to the direction of movement, initiating a change in direction opposite to the stemmed ski, 2) bringing the other ski parallel to the wedged ski, and 3) completing the turn with both skis parallel as they carve an arc, sliding sideways together. (Full article...)

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