1.
Summit
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A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
2.
Topographic isolation
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The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum great-circle distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and islands as well as for major mountain peaks, the following sortable table lists the Earths 40 most topographically isolated summits. The nearest peak to Germanys highest mountain, the 2, 962-metre-high Zugspitze, the distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is 25.8 km, the Zugspitze is thus the highest peak for a radius of 25.8 km around. Its isolation is thus 25.8 km, because there are no higher mountains than Mount Everest, it has no definitive isolation. Many sources list its isolation as the circumference of the earth over the poles or – questionably, after Mount Everest the Aconcagua, highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no land for 16,534 kilometres when its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the Alps, the geographically nearest higher mountains are all in the Caucasus. The Kukurtlu, which rises near the Elbrus, is the peak for Mont Blanc. com Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia peakbagger. com peaklist. org peakware. com World Mountain Encyclopedia summitpost. org
3.
Colorado
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Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
4.
Gunnison County, Colorado
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Gunnison County is the fifth-most extensive of the 64 counties in the U. S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,324, the county was named for John W. Gunnison, a United States Army officer and captain in the Army Topographical Engineers, who surveyed for the transcontinental railroad in 1853. Thornton, the Republican governor of Colorado from 1951 to 1955, the city of Thornton, Colorado, north of Denver, is named in his honor. Archeological studies have dated the Ute peoples appearance in the Uncompahgre region of Colorado as early as 1150 A. D, possibilities exist that they are descendants of an earlier people living in the area as far back as 1500 B. C. They were a race of dark skin moving about the Western Slope of Colorado in the various parts of the year. The first recorded expedition of Western Colorado wilderness was led by Don Juan Rivera in 1765, in 1776, two Spanish priests, Fathers Escalante and Dominguez, led a party into the area around Montrose and Paonia. The 1830s brought the mountainmen into the area to trap beaver, John W. Gunnison surveyed the area for the transcontinental railroad route. In 1858 gold was discovered near Denver bringing the man across the divide into the western slope in search of the precious metal. In 1859 a party settled on Texas Gulch in Union Park, placer gold was found at Washington Gulch in 1861 as part of the Colorado Gold Rush. In 1861 the Territory of Colorado was organized, the territorial governor was made ex officio Superintentant of Indian Affairs. A conference on October 1,1863 established a line for a reservation. This treaty averted a possible dangerous situation by giving the Utes some cattle and sheep, the government failed to fulfill any these obligations straining the relations further. The treaty of 1868 recognized Chief Ouray as the spokesman for seven tribes of the Ute People. He held this power over his people through diplomacy and understanding, the Los Pinos Agency was developed through the Treaties of 1868 and 1873. The first agent was 2nd Lieutenant Calvin T. Speer, in 1871 a cow camp was started near the present site of Gunnison with James P. Kelley in charge. In this year, Jabez Nelson Trask, a Harvard grad, in 1872 Trask was replaced by Charles Adams. In 1875 orders from Washington to move the agency to the Uncomphgre Valley were completed in November, in 1876 Colorado entered the Union and Gunnison County was formed. 1879 was a year of expansion due to the miners, speculators and adventurers seeking wealth, the cattle industry was established by 1880
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Mountain range
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A mountain range is a geographic area containing numerous geologically related mountains. A mountain system or system of ranges, sometimes is used to combine several geological features that are geographically related. Mountain ranges are usually segmented by highlands or mountain passes and valleys, individual mountains within the same mountain range do not necessarily have the same geologic structure or petrology. They may be a mix of different orogenic expressions and terranes, for example thrust sheets, uplifted blocks, fold mountains, most geologically young mountain ranges on the Earths land surface are associated with either the Pacific Ring of Fire or the Alpide Belt. The Andes is 7,000 kilometres long and is considered the worlds longest mountain system. The Alpide belt includes Indonesia and southeast Asia, through the Himalaya, the belt also includes other European and Asian mountain ranges. The Himalayas contain the highest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest, mountain ranges outside of these two systems include the Arctic Cordillera, the Urals, the Appalachians, the Scandinavian Mountains, the Altai Mountains and the Hijaz Mountains. If the definition of a range is stretched to include underwater mountains. The mountain systems of the earth are characterized by a tree structure, the sub-range relationship is often expressed as a parent-child relationship. For example, the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Blue Ridge Mountains are sub-ranges of the Appalachian Mountains, equivalently, the Appalachians are the parent of the White Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains, and the White Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains are children of the Appalachians. The position of mountains influences climate, such as rain or snow, when air masses move up and over mountains, the air cools producing orographic precipitation. As the air descends on the side, it warms again and is drier. Often, a shadow will affect the leeward side of a range. Mountain ranges are constantly subjected to forces which work to tear them down. Erosion is at work while the mountains are being uplifted and long after until the mountains are reduced to low hills, rivers are traditionally believed to be the principle erosive factor on mountain ranges, with their ability of bedrock incision and sediment transport. The rugged topography of a range is the product of erosion. The basins adjacent to a mountain range are filled with sediments which are buried and turned into sedimentary rock. The early Cenozoic uplift of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado provides an example and this mass of rock was removed as the range was actively undergoing uplift
7.
United States Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its resources. The organization has four science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology. The USGS is a research organization with no regulatory responsibility. The USGS is a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, the USGS employs approximately 8,670 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. The USGS also has major offices near Lakewood, Colorado, at the Denver Federal Center, the current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is science for a changing world. The agencys previous slogan, adopted on the occasion of its anniversary, was Earth Science in the Public Service. Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences, the USGS was created, by a last-minute amendment and it was charged with the classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain. This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the legislation also provided that the Hayden, Powell, and Wheeler surveys be discontinued as of June 30,1879. Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies, after a short tenure, King was succeeded in the directors chair by John Wesley Powell. Administratively, it is divided into a Headquarters unit and six Regional Units, Other specific programs include, Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location, the USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the United States under the umbrella of the Advanced National Seismic System. The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and it also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research on long-term seismic hazards, USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast. The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time, the USGS operates the streamgaging network for the United States, with over 7400 streamgages. Real-time streamflow data are available online, since 1962, the Astrogeology Research Program has been involved in global, lunar, and planetary exploration and mapping. USGS operates a number of related programs, notably the National Streamflow Information Program. USGS Water data is available from their National Water Information System database
8.
Glossary of climbing terms
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This page describes terms and jargon related to climbing and mountaineering. Abalakov thread A type of abseiling point used especially in winter, ablation zone The area of a glacier where yearly melting meets or exceeds the annual snow fall. Abseil The process by which a climber can descend a fixed rope, ACR An anchor method similar to a cordelette but that is dynamically equalizing. It employs a cord and a rappel ring, adze A thin blade mounted perpendicular to the handle on an ice axe that can be used for chopping footholds. Aid climbing A style of climbing in which standing on or pulling oneself up via devices attached to fixed or placed protection is used to make upward progress, Alpine climbing, Generally climbing in the mountains. Probably includes a mixture of ice climbing and dry-tooling, Alpine style generally means carrying all gear in a backpack even for multi day climbs. Alpine knee To use your knee as a way to ground on a climb. Alpine start To make an efficient start on a climb by packing all your gear the previous evening and starting early in the morning. Altitude sickness A medical condition that is observed at high altitudes. Also known as Acute mountain sickness, or AMS and this creates a triangular shape in the webbing or cord, which places massively multiplied inward forces on the protection, making it a dangerous, ineffective anchor. Anchor An arrangement of one or more pieces of set up to support the weight of a belay or top rope. Approach The path or route to the start of a technical climb, although this is generally a walk or, at most, a scramble it is occasionally as hazardous as the climb itself. Arm bar Jamming an arm into a crack and locking it into place, in this position typically the first set of knuckles are hyperextended and the second have a sharp angle of about 90 degrees. This combines muscular effort with soft tissue tensions in order to apply the load, when used often, this position has been known to over-stress the tendons in fingers and lead to injuries. Ascend To climb a rope using aid device, ascender A device for ascending on a rope. Aspect The direction in which a slope faces, ATC A proprietary belay device manufactured by Black Diamond. Has become common term for any tubular belay devices, ATC originally stood for Air Traffic Controller. Automatic belay A fast method for setting up a two-point anchor in sport climbing, using the rope to attach to the anchor points
9.
Scrambling
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Scrambling is a walk up steep terrain involving the use of ones hands. It is a term that lies somewhere between hiking, hillwalking, mountaineering, and easy rock climbing. Alpine scrambling is a term applied to scrambling in high mountains like the Alps and the Rockies of North America, the Mountaineers climbing organization defines alpine scrambling as follows, Alpine Scrambles are off-trail trips, often on snow or rock, with a non-technical summit as a destination. A non-technical summit is one that is reached without the need for certain types of climbing equipment, however, this can mean negotiating lower angle rock, traveling through talus and scree, crossing streams, fighting ones way through dense brush, and walking on snow-covered slopes. Although ropes may be sensible on harder scrambles, sustained use of rope and belay counts as climbing, typically, for this reason mountain walkers are advised to carry a rope on harder scrambles. Scramblers are also advised to know their limits and to turn back before they get into difficulties, some mountain tops may be reached by walking or scrambling up their least-steep side. The essence of a modern via ferrata is a cable which runs along the route and is periodically fixed to the rock. Using a via ferrata kit, climbers can secure themselves to the cable, the cable can also be used as aid to climbing, and additional climbing aids, such as iron rungs, pegs, carved steps and even ladders and bridges are often provided. Thus via ferratas allow otherwise dangerous routes to be undertaken without the associated with unprotected scrambling and climbing or the need for climbing equipment such as ropes. Many of theses routes include a bad step, where the scrambling suddenly becomes more serious. The bad step on Crib Goch for example, involves only 20 feet or so of climbing, the rock face here is well polished by countless boots, but there are many holds which offer firm support. By contrast, the traverse of the Cuillin Ridge on Skye demands use of a rope at one point at least, the ridge routes of Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross are easier to traverse but are extremely exposed. Descent from such ridges is very limited, so once committed, an Teallach to the north offers scrambling, as does Stac Pollaidh further north in Sutherland, which includes a bad step. One resource for scramblers in Britain are the guides by W A Poucher, though these are now dated, a guide to 156 scrambling routes in the Canadian Rockies can be found in Scrambles in the Canadian Rockies by Alan Kane. Backpacker magazine has featured the book as an expedition guide. The Canadian Alpine Journal referred to it as a scree gospel, mount Jefferson is in Coos County, New Hampshire, and is the third highest mountain in the state. Mount Jefferson has a direct ascent along the Caps Ridge Trail, whose base and this route, gaining only 2,700 feet vertically to the summit, makes for the easiest ascent of any Presidential mountain. However, climbing over the caps involves some exposed scrambling and can be steep, many easy scrambles become serious climbs in bad weather
10.
Aspen, Colorado
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Aspen is the Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. Its population was 6,658 at the 2010 United States Census, founded as a mining camp during the Colorado Silver Boom and later named Aspen because of the abundance of aspen trees in the area, the city boomed during the 1880s, its first decade of existence. In the late 20th century, the city became a retreat for celebrities. Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson worked out of a downtown hotel, singer John Denver wrote two songs about Aspen after settling there. Today the musicians and movie stars have been joined by corporate executives, as a result of this influx of wealth, Aspen boasts some of the most expensive real estate prices in the United States and many middle-class residents can no longer afford to live there. It remains a popular tourist destination, with outdoor recreation in the surrounding White River National Forest serving as a complement to the four ski areas in the vicinity. Production expanded due to the passage of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, by 1893, Aspen had banks, a hospital, a police department, two theaters, an opera house and electric lights. Economic collapse came with the Panic of 1893, when President Cleveland called a session of Congress. Within weeks, many of the Aspen mines were closed and thousands of miners were put out of work, eventually, after wage cuts, mining revived somewhat, but production declined and by the 1930 census only 705 residents remained. Remaining, however, were fine stocks of old buildings and residences. Aspens development as a ski resort first flickered in the 1930s when investors conceived of a ski area, friedl Pfeifer, a member of the 10th Mountain Division who had trained in the area, returned to the area and linked up with industrialist Walter Paepcke and his wife Elizabeth. The Aspen Skiing Corporation was founded in 1946 and the city became a well-known resort. Paepcke also played an important role in bringing the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation to Aspen in 1949, Aspen was now on the path to becoming an internationally known ski resort and cultural center, home of the Aspen Music Festival and School. The area would continue to grow with the development of three ski areas, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands, and Snowmass. In 1977, notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, while in the Pitkin County Courthouse in Aspen for a hearing, jumped from a second-story window. He remained free for six days, hiding out on Aspen Mountain, in 1977, Aspen was thoroughly photographed for the Aspen Movie Map project funded by the U. S. Department of Defense. The Movie Map is one of the earliest examples of virtual reality software, Aspen is notable as the smallest radio market tracked by Arbitron, ranked at #302. Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality under Colorado law, an elected council of four members and the mayor supervise the citys operations, managed on a day-to-day basis by the city manager, an appointed official who serves at their pleasure
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