Mount Thor
| Mount Thor | |
|---|---|
 Mount Thor in 1997 |
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| Elevation | 1,675 m (5,495 ft)[1] |
| Location | |
| Location | Nunavut, Canada |
| Range | Baffin Mountains |
| Coordinates | 66°32′N 065°19′W / 66.533°N 65.317°WCoordinates: 66°32′N 065°19′W / 66.533°N 65.317°W[1] |
| Topo map | NTS 026.I.11 |
Mount Thor, officially gazetted as Thor Peak, is a mountain with an elevation of 1,675 m (5,495 ft) located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. The mountain is located 46 km (29 mi) northeast of Pangnirtung and features the Earth's greatest purely vertical drop at 1,250 m (4,101 ft), with an average angle of 105 degrees.[2] This feature makes the site popular with climbers, despite its remoteness. Camping is allowed, with the only official site being at the entrance to the Akshayuk Valley near Overlord Peak.
Mount Thor is part of the Baffin Mountains which in turn form part of the Arctic Cordillera mountain range. The mountain is made of granite and is the most famous of Canada's mountains named "Thor".[1]
Donald Morton and Lyman Spitzer[3]:347 made the first ascent of Mount Thor in 1965 during the Alpine Club of Canada expedition led by Pat Baird.[4] Pat Baird also led the 1953 geophysical expedition during which Hans Weber, J. Rothlisberger and F. Schwarzenbach climbed the North Tower of Mount Asgard for the first time.
The world record for longest rappel was set on Mount Thor, July 23, 2006, by an American team consisting of: Chuck Constable, Dirk Siron, Ben Holley, Kenneth Waite, Gordon Rosser, Donny Opperman, Deldon Barfuss, and Tim Hudson. A 26-year-old Canadian national park warden, Philip Robinson, also rappelled, but had a problem with his equipment and died when he dropped to the base of the mountain. There had been a previous attempt in 2004, but they returned without rappelling due to dangerous weather conditions.[5]
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Notable ascents [edit]
- 1985 Direct West Face FA by Earl Redfern, John Bagley, Eric Brand, Tom Bepler.[6]
- 2012 The Great Escape First Free Climb of the West Face [7] by Bill Borger Jr and John Furneaux.[8]
See also [edit]
- Trango Towers, the tallest near-vertical drop on earth.
- Cerro Torre
- Half Dome
References [edit]
- ^ a b c "Thor Peak". Bivouac.com. http://www.bivouac.com/MtnPg.asp?MtnId=4155. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ^ Mount Thor -The Greatest Vertical Drop on Earth!
- ^ Ostriker, J. P. (2007). "Lyman Spitzer. 26 June 1914 -- 31 March 1997: Elected ForMemRS 1990". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 53: 339–348. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2007.0020.
- ^ Canadian Alpine Journal 49: 28–42. 1966.
- ^ "Friends, family mourn death of parks officer". Nunatsiaq News. August 11, 2006. Archived from the original on June 12, 2008.
- ^ Redfern, Earl (December 1995), "-Mount Thor - 33 Days on the West Face", Climbing Magazine (93): 34–36, ISSN 0045-7159
- ^ "Climber Bill Borger", Radio Canada, July 24, 2012, retrieved 2012-08-28
- ^ Hummel, Will (August 2012), "New route on Baffin Island's Mount Thor", Rock and Ice, retrieved 2012-08-28
External links [edit]
- A Dallas Morning News article about Mt. Thor and other Akshayuk Pass features by writer Dave Levinthal
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