Jump to content

Mount Silverthrone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mount Silverthrone
Silverthrone Mountain
Northeast face of Mount Silverthrone
John Scurlock, Jagged Ridge Imaging, 2007
Highest point
Elevation2,864 m (9,396 ft)[1]
Prominence975 m (3,199 ft)
Listing
Coordinates51°31′04″N 126°06′48″W / 51.51778°N 126.11333°W / 51.51778; -126.11333[2]
Geography
Mount Silverthrone is located in British Columbia
Mount Silverthrone
Mount Silverthrone
DistrictRange 2 Coast Land District
Parent rangePacific Ranges
Topo mapNTS 92M9 Machmell River[2]
Geology
Mountain typeLava dome
Volcanic arc/beltCanadian Cascade Arc
Pemberton/Garibaldi Belt
Climbing
First ascent14 August 1936 Don Munday, Phyllis Munday, Henry Hall, Hans Fuhrer[3][4]

Mount Silverthrone, officially named Silverthrone Mountain, is a mountain in the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, located over 320 km (200 mi) northwest of the city of Vancouver and about 50 km (30 mi) west of Mount Waddington, British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest peak in the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield, which is the largest icefield in the Coast Mountains south of the Alaska Panhandle.

Geology

[edit]

Mount Silverthrone is an eroded lava dome on the northeast edge of a large caldera complex called the Silverthrone Caldera. It lies within the Coast Plutonic Complex, which is the single largest contiguous granite outcropping in the world. The plutonic and metamorphic rocks extend approximately 1,800 kilometers on the coast of British Columbia, southwestern Yukon and southeastern Alaska. In addition, Garibaldi, Meager, Cayley and Silverthrone areas are of recent volcanic origin. The volcanic terrain in the Silverthrone area is very similar to the Mount Meager massif further south. However, there is much more ice.

Mount Silverthrone is perhaps one of the most heavily is perhaps one of the most heavily[weasel words] glaciated volcanic peaks in southwestern British Columbia. It has a topographic prominence of approximately 975 m (3,200 ft), greater than any other volcano in southwestern British Columbia. The extensive icefields around Mount Silverthrone are receding and are small compared to their former extent, but they are an impressive indication of how much of British Columbia looked 10,000 years or more ago. Silverthrone contains one of the few calderas buried beneath the ice caps of western Canada, another example being Mount Edziza in far northwestern British Columbia.

Skiing and recreation

[edit]

The first mountaineering visit at Mount Silverthrone was in 1936 by the famous pioneering climbing couple Don and Phyllis Munday, accompanied by Henry Hall, by walking up the Klinaklini Glacier from the head of Knight Inlet. Because Silverthrone is heavily glaciated, Don Munday called the mountain "home of the snows".[5]

Skiing on Mount Silverthrone includes skiing on the largest ice field in the southern Coast Mountains, the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield. It is skiable over 1,500 m (5,000 ft), possibly over 2,700 m (9,000 ft) down to the Pacific Ocean.[6] The easiest access to Mount Silverthrone is by air travel, starting from the rural community of Tatla Lake, landing on the major part of the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield. Air travels can also be made into logging camps at Owikeno Lake to the west or at the start of Knight Inlet to the southwest, followed by long hiking and skiing methods.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Silverthrone Mountain, British Columbia". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2013-08-08.
  2. ^ a b "Silverthrone Mountain". Geographical Names Data Base. Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  3. ^ "Silverthrone Mountain". Bivouac.com. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
  4. ^ Chic Scott (2000), Pushing the Limits: The Story of Canadian Mountaineering, Rocky Mountain Books, ISBN 9780921102595, p. 118.
  5. ^ "Ha-Iltzuk Icefield". Bivouac.com. Retrieved 2007-11-13.
  6. ^ "Skiing the Pacific Ring of Fire and Beyond: Silverthrone Mountain". skimountaineer.com. Retrieved 2007-11-12.
[edit]