Portal:Mountains

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Introduction

Silvretta panorama from the Ochsenkopf

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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Selected mountain-related landform

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. (Full article...)

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Selected mountain range

Nulato in the 1940s

Nulato (/nuːˈlætoʊ/; Noolaaghe Doh /nuːlaːɣə tɔːχ/ "chum salmon fish camp" in Koyukon; Russian: Нулато) is a city in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 239. (Full article...)

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The Dammersfeldkuppe, a *kuppe* or domed hill in the Rhön

A Kuppe is the term used in German-speaking central Europe for a mountain or hill with a rounded summit that has no rock formation, such as a tor, on it. A range of such hills is called a Kuppengebirge. In geology the term also refers to corresponding stratigraphic forms. The term is similar to the English topographical and geological terms, knoll and dome. It is also analogous to the French word ballon which means a mountain with a rounded summit.

In cartography in German-speaking countries, the term is used more widely to refer to all eminences (biaxially convex landforms) i.e. including those with a more pointed appearance. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

Climbing is a major US-based rock climbing magazine first published in 1970. In 2007, it was bought by Skram Media, the publisher of Urban Climber Magazine. The headquarters of the magazine is in Boulder, Colorado. It is published nine times a year. Climbing was purchased by Outside in 2021. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Selected skiing article

Freestyle skiing is one of the six skiing disciplines contested at the Winter Olympic Games, and one of the youngest. In 1924, the first Winter Olympics featured Nordic skiing disciplines (cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and Nordic combined), while alpine skiing was first contested in 1936. Only at the 1992 Winter Olympics, in Albertville, France, were freestyle skiing events first held as official medal events. Before that, freestyle skiing was contested at the 1988 Winter Olympics as a demonstration sport, consisting of events for both men and women in three variants: moguls, aerials and ski ballet. In Albertville, moguls was the first-ever official freestyle skiing medal event; aerials and ski ballet were also held but still as demonstration events. The growing popularity of aerials convinced the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to add this freestyle discipline to the 1994 Winter Olympics official program. Moguls and aerials have thus been contested at every Winter Games since. Ski cross inclusion in the Winter Olympics program was approved at an IOC Executive Board meeting in November 2006, and the first events were held at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

At the 2002 Winter Olympics, two days after Steve Bradbury gave Australia its first-ever Winter Olympic gold medal, Alisa Camplin won the freestyle aerials event, becoming the first Australian woman to win gold at the Winter Games; four years later, she collected a second consecutive medal, a bronze. In 2010, the third Olympics hosted by Canada finally consecrated a Canadian athlete as Olympic champion: Alexandre Bilodeau took the gold medal in the men's moguls, overcoming defending champion Dale Begg-Smith of Australia. Kari Traa of Norway has won three medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze) in three successive Games, more than any other freestyle skier at the Winter Olympics. Alexandre Bilodeau and David Wise are the most successful male freestyle skiers, with two gold medals. Alexandre Bilodeau was also the first freestyle skier to win back to back gold medals when he won gold in the 2010 and 2014 moguls. The youngest freestyle skier to win an Olympic medal is Swiss Mathilde Gremaud, who secured a silver in 2018 with 18 years old, while Tatjana Mittermayer of Germany is the oldest medalist, following her silver in the 1998 moguls event, aged 33. (Full article...)