Mountains Flashcards
The border between Nepal and China straddles the summit of this Himalayan peak which at a height of over 29,000 feet, is the tallest mountain in the world. The Khumbu Icefall and the clifflike Three Steps are hazards faced by potential climbers. First summited by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953. Local sherpas act as guides for mountaineers in the area, though they walk off the job in dangerous situations like in 2014 when 16 people were killed.
Mount Everest
Qogir, Ketu, and Mount Godwin-Austen are other names for this mountain, whereas its common name comes from it being the 2nd tallest mountain in the world. The “K” in its name stands for Karakoram, the mountain range in Pakistan and China in which the peak was found. The House’s Chimney and the Black Pyramid are features of this mountain, which also possesses a different second place record behind Annapurna Massif: it boasts the second-highest fatality rate among attempted climbers of any mountain above 8,000 feet
K2
Formerly and often called Mount McKinley, this mountain is the highest North American mountain. It is in south-central Alaska, in its namesake national park. The West Buttress route is considered the best path to ascend this mountain. Frederick Cook, a man notorious for having faked his discovery of the North Pole, is now believed to have also faked his ascent of the mountain in 1906 as well, leaving a climbing party seven years later with his honor
Denali
The Black Mountain subrange of the Appalachians is the location of this mountain, the tallest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi. This mountain, in North Carolina, was the subject of a debate over its altitude between its namesake and Thomas Clingman, leading Elisha Mitchell to attempt another ascent in which he fell to his death
Mount Mitchell
Edward Compton and John Ruskin are among the artists inspired by this mountain, which is renowned for its almost perfectly pyramidal shape. The mountain is on the border between Switzerland and Italy, near the Swiss town of Zermatt. It was first climbed in 1865 by Edward Whymper; four people died in that accident
The Matterhorn
Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira are the three summits of this mountain, the tallest mountain in Africa. It is notable for also being the tallest mountain that is not part of a mountain range, having been formed by a now-extinct volcano. The corpse of a leopard is found on top of the mountain in “The Snows of this mountain,” a short story by Ernest Hemingway that uses the mountain as the backdrop for the memories, and ultimately the death, of a writer suffering from gangrene
Mount Kilimanjaro
The second tallest mountain in Africa is this mountain, which shares its name with the country in which it is located. British geographer and political theorist Halford Mackinder led the first group to ascend the peak, which bypassed the Darwin Glacier and proceeded up the Diamond Glacier. Like Kilimanjaro, it was formed from a now dormant volcano, and, like Kilimanjaro, part of its notoriety rests on a book, Facing This Mountain, an anthropological study of the Kikuyu People by Jomo Kenyatta, was one of the first such texts by an African ethnographer to gain fame
Mount Kenya
The namesake Polish commander who fought in the American Revolutionary War, was appended to the tallest mountain in Australia by European explorers in the 19th century. When it was discovered that Mount Townsend was taller, the names were switched so that this mountain would remain the highest peak on the continent. The peak’s name in Aboriginal languages, such as Jagungal or Tackingal, translates to “table-top mountain.”
Mount Kosciuszko
Yamanaka and Kawaguchi are two lakes found along the slopes of this mountain, the tallest mountain in Japan. It is only about an hour’s drive from Tokyo, and has significance in the Shinto religion, being sacred to the goddess Sengen-Sama. The mountain was also depicted in the series of prints Thirty-Six Views of this mountain, drawn by Hokusai.
Mount Fuji
The subduction of the Nazca Plate formed this mountain, the highest point in the Southern Hemisphere. It is near the city of Mendoza in Argentina and straddles the Polish Glacier, which provides a popular route for climbers looking to summit it.
Mount Aconcagua
This mountain is the highest in Russia and Europe. It is situated in the western part of the North Caucasus and is the highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains. The dormant volcano rises 18,510 ft above sea level; it is the highest stratovolcano in Eurasia and the 10th-most prominent peak in the world.
Mount Elbrus
