Hyacinth of Caesarea
Hyacinth was a young Christian living at the start of the second century, honored as a martyr and a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. According to tradition, he was a native of Caesarea in Cappadocia, a member of a Christian family; as a boy, he was appointed to serve as an assistant to the chamberlain to the Emperor Trajan. His failure to participate in the ceremonial sacrifices to the official Roman gods soon came to be noticed by other members of the Imperial household; when he was denounced as a Christian, Hyacinth proclaimed his faith. As a result, he underwent numerous scourgings and tortures, he was deliberately served only meat, blessed for sacrifice to the gods, the eating of, banned by both Judaism and Christianity. Thus, he starved to death in 108 AD. Just before his death, legend says, his jailers saw him being comforted by angels, who bestowed a crown on him. Hyacinthus died in the city of Rome; the saint’s relics were transferred to Caesarea. His body is preserved and venerated in the abbey church of the former Cistercian Abbey of Fürstenfeld, of which the church is the only surviving structure.
He is not to be confused with the third-century martyr Hyacinth or the medieval Polish Dominican saint Hyacinth of Poland
Topographic isolation
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, can be calculated for submarine summits; the following sortable table lists the Earth's 40 most topographically isolated summits. The nearest peak to Germany's highest mountain, the 2,962-metre-high Zugspitze, that has a 2962-metre-contour is the Zwölferkogel in Austria's Stubai Alps; the distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is 25.8 km. 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, because there is no agreed definition – as half the earth's circumference. After Mount Everest, the highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains.
There is no higher 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. Kukurtlu, which rises near Mount Elbrus, is the reference peak for Mont Blanc. Musala is the highest peak in Rila mountain, in Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula, standing at 2,925 m it is the 4th most topographically isolated peak in Continental Europe.. Rila is the 6th highest mountain in Europe. With a topographic prominence of 2473 m, Musala is the 6th highest peak by topographic prominence in mainland Europe. Table of the most isolated major summits of North America Table of the most isolated major summits of the United States Most isolated mountain peaks of Canada Most isolated mountain peaks of Mexico geodesy physical geography summit topographic elevation topographic prominence topography bivouac.com Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia peakbagger.com peaklist.org peakware.com World Mountain Encyclopedia summitpost.org^ ^ "Europe Ultra-Prominences".
Peaklist. Retrieved 26 February 2015
Ultra-prominent peak
An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres or more. There are 1,524 such peaks on Earth; some peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore do not achieve enough topographic prominence. The term "Ultra" originated with earth scientist Stephen Fry, from his studies of the prominence of peaks in Washington in the 1980s, his original term was "ultra major mountain", referring to peaks with at least 1,500 metres of prominence. 1,515 Ultras have been identified above sea level: 637 in Asia, 353 in North America, 209 in South America, 119 in Europe, 84 in Africa, 69 in Australasia and 39 in Antarctica. Many of the world's largest mountains are Ultras, including Mount Everest, K2, Mont Blanc, Mount Olympus. On the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not Ultras because they do not have sufficient prominence. Many Ultras lie in visited and inhospitable parts of the world, including 39 in Greenland, the high points of the Arctic islands of Novaya Zemlya, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen, many of the peaks of the Greater ranges of Asia.
In British Columbia, some of the mountains listed do not have recognized names. Thirteen of the fourteen 8,000m summits are Ultras, there are a further 64 Ultras over 7,000 metres in height. There are 90 Ultras with a prominence of over 3,000 metres, but only 22 with more than 4,000 metres prominence. A number of Ultras have yet to be climbed, with Sauyr Zhotasy, Mount Siple, Gangkar Puensum being the most candidates for the most prominent unclimbed mountain in the world. All of the Seven Summits are Ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the high points of large landmasses; each has its key col at or near sea level, resulting in a prominence value equal to its elevation. List of peaks by prominence gives the 125 most prominent peaks worldwide. List of islands by highest point gives the 75 highest island highpoints, all of which are Ultras List of Alpine peaks by prominence List of non-Alpine European Ultras, including Atlantic islands and the Caucasus List of Ultras in West Asia List of Ultras in Central Asia List of Ultras of the Karakoram and Hindu Kush List of Ultras of the Himalayas, including Sino-Nepal Provinces List of Ultras of Tibet, East Asia and neighbouring areas, including India List of Ultras in Northeast Asia List of Ultras in Japan List of Ultras in Southeast Asia List of Ultras in the Philippines List of Ultras of Malay Archipelago List of African Ultras List of Ultras in Oceania, including the Southern Indian Ocean List of ultra-prominent summits of Australia List of ultra-prominent summits of Indonesian New Guinea List of ultra-prominent summits of New Zealand List of ultra-prominent summits of Papua New Guinea List of ultra-prominent summits of the Hawaiian Islands List of ultra-prominent summits of the Pacific Islands List of ultra-prominent summits of the Southern Indian Ocean List of Ultras in Antarctica, including South Atlantic islands List of Ultras in North America List of Ultras in Canada List of Ultras in the United States List of Ultras in Alaska List of Ultras in Greenland List of Ultras in Mexico List of Ultras in Central America List of Ultras in the Caribbean List of Ultras in South America List of mountain lists List of peaks by prominence Prominence
First ascent
In mountaineering, a first ascent is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain, or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they entail genuine exploration, with greater risks and recognition than climbing a route pioneered by others; the person who performs the first ascent is called the first ascensionist. In free climbing, a first ascent of a climbing route is the first successful, documented climb of a route without using equipment such as anchors or ropes for aiding progression or resting; the details of the first ascents of many prominent mountains are scanty or unknown. Today, first ascents are carefully recorded and mentioned in guidebooks. Overwhelmingly, the idea of a "first ascent" is a modern one in places such as Africa and the Americas with a history of colonialism. There may be little or no physical evidence or documentation about the climbing activities of indigenous peoples living near the mountain.
For example, the volcano Llullaillaco on the border of Argentina and Chile is known to have been climbed in the prehistoric period due to the presence of Incan artifacts at the summit, yet credit for the first recorded ascent is given to Chilean climbers Bión González and Juan Harseim, who summited in 1952. The term is used when referring to ascents made using a specific technique or taking a specific route, such as via the North Face, without ropes or without oxygen. In rock climbing, some of the earlier first ascents for difficult routes, involved a mix of free and aid climbing; as a result, purist free climbers have developed the designation first free ascent to acknowledge ascents intentionally made more challenging by using equipment for protection only. Second ascents are noteworthy in climbing circles involving improving on a pioneering route through lessons learned from it, experience which may span from technical improvements to having a better understanding of how much gear and provisions to take.
Some other "first ascents" could be recorded for particular routes. One is the First Winter Ascent, which is, as the name suggests, the first ascent made during winter season; this is most important where the climate of winter is a factor in increasing the difficulty grade of the route. In the Northern Hemisphere conventional winter ascents are made between December 21 and March 21 and are not related to the conditions. In the Himalayan area, although Nepal and China's winter season permits start on December 1, the conventional winter ascents begin on December 21. Another is the First Solo Ascent, the first ascent made by a single climber; this is most important on high-level rock climbing, when the climber has to provide his own security or when climbing without any protection at all. Another type of ascent known as FFA is the first female ascent. While not considered as important, this designation remains significant on some difficult, limit-pushing climbs, where the first female ascent may not happen until well after the FA, due to possible difficulties encountered by female physicality.
The term last ascent has been used to refer to an ascent of a mountain or face that has subsequently changed to such an extent – because of rockfall – that the route no longer exists. It can be used facetiously to refer to a climb, so unpleasant or unaesthetic that no one would willingly repeat the first ascent party's ordeal. List of first ascents Notable first free ascents List of first ascents in the Alps List of first ascents in the Himalaya Glossary of climbing terms Alpinist Magazine – Peter Mortimer's First Ascent, Issue 17
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous 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 and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument
The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument is a National Monument in southern California. It includes portions of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto mountain ranges, the northernmost ones of the Peninsular Ranges system; the national monument covers portions of Riverside County, west of the Coachella Valley 100 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument was established in October 2000, through Congressional legislation, it covers an area of 280,071 acres. It is administered jointly by the US Bureau of Land Management and U. S. Forest Service–San Bernardino National Forest. Many flora and fauna species within the national monument are state and federal listed threatened or endangered species, including the Peninsular Bighorn Sheep, a subspecies endemic to the Peninsular Ranges; the Cahuilla peoples own substantial acreage within the monument, are one of the managing agencies, have historic cultural sites and interests throughout the mountains.
More than 200 cultural resources have been recorded on federally managed lands within the monument, including the Martinez Canyon Rockhouse, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since the late 19th century, the area has been protected as public lands, beginning as forest reserves and as part of the San Bernardino National Forest in 1925. In 1928, Mount San Jacinto State Park was established and has 8,614 acres within the national monument boundary. In 1917 and 1927, state game refuges were established on both the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains. In the 1960s, the state agency California Department of Fish and Game began to set aside special areas called ecological reserves to protect certain species and habitats, there are now three reserves with 28,900 acres of state reserve lands in the monument. Other state agencies involved in conservation of the area include the Philip L. Boyd Deep Canyon Desert Research Center and the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy. In addition, the 1964 Wilderness Act established the San Jacinto Wilderness, in 1984, the California Desert Protection Act added the Santa Rosa Wilderness in the Colorado Desert section of the Sonoran Desert.
Other agencies include local and tribal governments that have habitat conservation plans, including the Habitat Conservation Plan addition to the Cahuilla Tribal Conservation Program. Private conservation organizations, such as The Nature Conservancy, American Land Conservancy, Friends of the Desert Mountains, have contributed to the protection of the mountains through land purchases and acquisitions; the monument is oriented northwest to southeast along the edge of the broad Coachella Valley, the terrain rises from below sea level to nearly 11,000 feet. These mountains are a part of the Peninsular Range Province, which extends from the Baja Peninsula in Mexico to the San Jacinto Mountains in California. San Jacinto Peak is the highest point in the Peninsular Range Province and has one of the steepest fault-block escarpments in North America; the differences in elevation and moisture give rise to diverse vegetation. Being the western boundary of the Sonoran Desert, the eastern mountainslopes are hotter and drier, while the western side is affected by the Pacific Ocean and receives more precipitation with cooler temperatures.
There are several major vegetation areas ranging from sand dunes/sand fields and mesquite to riparian zones of willow and cottonwood, desert fan palm oasis woodland, pinyon pine woodland, with the highest elevations supporting lodgepole pine timberline forest. Another factor influencing plant and animal species is the "island" aspect of the San Jacinto Mountains and the Peninsular Range, the unique isolation of the landform on three sides-the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Salton Trough/desert environment to the east, the San Gorgonio Pass to the north. Biologists believe that this isolation has contributed to evolution of subspecies such as the San Diego mountain kingsnake. California fan palm groves, part of the natural community of oasis riparian woodland, are located at permanent water sites of both Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains; the fan palm is a relict species. Associated plants in the oasis woodland include honey mesquite, arrow weed, deer grass; the largest plant category in the national monument is collectively known as desert scrub and includes Sonoran Cresosote Scrub and Sonoran Mixed Woody and Succulent Scrub vegetation communities.
Desert scrub occupies more than 160,000 acres and consists of creosote bush, burrobrush and other stem succulents. Desert scrub is found on the alluvial fans and intermountain bajadas, growing on coarse, well-drained soils. Wildlife of the desert scrub plant community includes the federally protected Peninsular Ranges bighorn sheep and the desert tortoise. On both sides of the mountains, montane coniferous forest occurs from around 5,500 to 9,000 ft in elevation. Vegetation in this area includes Jeffrey pine, ponderosa pine, incense cedar, sugar pine. Rare plants in the national monument include Hidden Lake bluecurls, a plant federally listed as threatened in 1998 and found at a single vernal pool site. Others include Nuttall's scrub oak, desert sand verbena, vanishing wild buckwheat. There are nineteen species endemic to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains N
Mount San Antonio
Mount San Antonio, colloquially referred to as Mount Baldy, is the highest peak of the San Gabriel Mountains, the highest point in Los Angeles County, California. The peak is within Angeles National Forest, it is the tallest mountain in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Mount San Antonio's sometimes snow-capped peaks are visible on clear days and dominate the view of the Los Angeles Basin skyline; the peak is pyramid shaped, with a shallower north face. The summit is accessible via a number of connecting ridges along hiking trails from the north, east and southwest; the mountain is always referred to as "Mount Baldy" by locals, to the point where many may not recognize the name "Mount San Antonio." The mountain was named by a local rancher after Saint Anthony of Padua. When American settlers arrived and surveyed the land, "Baldy," a reference to the bare fell-field of Baldy Bowl that dominates the south face visible from Los Angeles, became the predominant name, it has stuck. Nonetheless, "Mount San Antonio" is the official name according to the GNIS, is still used by a number of institutions.
The summit has two peaks: the main peak, elevation 10,064 feet, a sub-peak, West Baldy, at 9,988 feet. The main peak marks the boundary between Los Angeles County; the mountain is in the Angeles National Forest. The mountain's southern watershed drains into San Antonio Creek, the north side into Lytle Creek and the Fish Fork of the San Gabriel River. San Antonio and Lytle Creeks are part of the Santa Ana River watershed. San Antonio Creek descends through a deep canyon which has several waterfalls, the last about 75 feet high. East of the summit is Mount Harwood, in turn connected by a narrow ridge, "The Devil's Backbone," to a pass known as the Baldy Notch. At the Notch there is the closest one to Los Angeles. South of the resort, connected to its ski lift by an asphalt road, lies Mt Baldy Village. There are no roads or maintained trails connecting the mountain to the less populated region to its north, but a use trail leads over Dawson and Pine Mountains to Wright Mountain and the Pacific Crest Trail, overlooking the town of Wrightwood.
Mount San Antonio lies in the front range of the San Gabriel Mountains, one of the Transverse Ranges of Southern California, formed around the San Andreas Fault system. The Transverse Ranges were formed because of a dog-leg bend in the San Andreas, a transform fault; the bend makes it difficult for the two plates to move smoothly past one another, mountains were raised as a result. The prehistoric Hog Back landslide lies in the canyon of San Antonio Creek at 4000' elevation; when the slide occurred, it dammed the river, whose depth built up until the water was released catastrophically, forming a slot canyon which now holds some of the area's few good rock climbing routes. In modern times, notable floods have occurred in 1938 and 1969; the San Antonio Dam was completed in 1956, after a pause due to World War II, in an effort to prevent future floods as severe as the one in 1938, which damaged the low-elevation populated areas below. The dam succeeded in reducing the damage done by the 1969 flood.
Hydroelectric plants along San Antonio Creek are tied to the electric grid. The lower land area of the mountain consists of an ecological community known as yellow pine forest. Tree species include lodgepole pine, Jeffrey pine, white fir, some sugar pine. Limber pine occurs at the higher elevations; these forests are sparse, are intermixed with chaparral and oak savannah. Higher up, the yellow pine forest community gives way to a pure lodgepole forest. Mountain mahogany trees grow on the slopes above San Antonio Creek. Near 9000 ft these become krummholzed, beyond about 9500 ft lies an unforested subalpine zone; the dominant shrubs at the higher elevations are bush chinquapin. As the elevation increases, there is a higher ratio of chinquapin to manzanita. Other shrubs on the mountain include mountain whitethorn and mountain gooseberry. Wildflower species include Galium parishii, San Gabriel alumroot, gray monardella, pumice alpinegold, Parry's pussypaws, Nuttall's sandwort, caulanthus. There are Ross's sedge and rockcress.
Oreonana vestita, a type of mountainparsley, is adapted to talus. Desert bighorn sheep are found in the area above 7000', they lamb in the area, their population is less threatened than those of other subspecies in California. Unlike animals of this subspecies in the Mojave Desert, those in the San Gabriel Mountains cannot be hunted and need not compete with aggressive feral burros for food or water. Grizzly bears, featured on the state flag, were once common in the Transverse Ranges, but were driven to extinction in California in the late 19th century, with one of the last animals in the San Gabriels being shot in 1894 by Walter L. Richardson. Black bears did not exist in the San Gabriel Mountains, but in 1933 eleven black bears from Yosemite Valley that had shown problematic behavior were moved to Southern California and released near Crystal Lake. All black bears in the San Gabriels are believed to be descended from this group. Black bears are shy and are never known to harm humans. Rabbits and coyotes are found near San Antonio Creek at low elevations below 2000'.
The most common species of rabbits are the black-tailed jackrabbit and the desert cottontail, the jackrabbit being distinguished by its huge ears. Western gray s
