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 moulin (or glacier mill) is a roughly circular, vertical (or nearly vertical) well-like shaft formed where a surface meltstream exploits a weakness in the ice. The term is derived from the French word for mill.

They can be up to 10 meters wide and are typically found on ice sheets and flat areas of a glacier in a region of transverse crevasses. Moulins can reach the bottom of the glacier, hundreds of meters deep, or may only reach the depth of common crevasse formation (about 10–40 m) where the stream flows englacially. They are the most typical cause for the formation of a glacier cave. (Full article...)

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Selected mountain range

Monashee Mountains are indicated. In the left of the image lies Vancouver Island. The boundary here includes the Okanagan Highland and portions of the Shuswap Highland.

The Monashee Mountains are a mountain range lying mostly in British Columbia, Canada, extending into the U.S. state of Washington. They stretch 530 km (329 mi) from north to south and 150 km (93 mi) from east to west. They are a sub-range of the Columbia Mountains. The highest summit is Mount Monashee, which reaches 3,274 m (10,741 ft). The name is from the Scottish Gaelic monadh and sìth, meaning "moor" and "peace". (Full article...)

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A conical hill (also cone or conical mountain) is a landform with a distinctly conical shape. It is usually isolated or rises above other surrounding foothills, and is often of volcanic origin.

Conical hills or mountains occur in different shapes and are not necessarily geometrically-shaped cones; some are more tower-shaped or have an asymmetric curve on one side of the hill. Typically, however, they have a circular base and smooth sides with a gradient of up to 30°. Such conical mountains are found in all volcanically-formed areas of the world such as the Bohemian Central Uplands in the Czech Republic, the Rhön in Germany or the Massif Central in France. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

The International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) is the international governing body for the sport of competition climbing, which consists of the disciplines lead climbing, bouldering, and speed climbing. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Selected skiing article

This is a list of ski jumping hills passing the FIS rules, to be competition hills in Ski Jumping Fis-Cup, Continental Cup and World Cup. It also includes hills passing the rules for a national championship. (Full article...)

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