Agathla Peak or Agathlan ( nv, Aghaałą́, es, link=no, El Capitan) is a peak south of

Monument Valley Monument Valley ( nv, Tsé Biiʼ Ndzisgaii, , meaning ''valley of the rocks'') is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the Utah-Arizona ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

, which rises over 1500 feet (457 meters) above the surrounding terrain. It is north of

Kayenta Kayenta ( nv, ) is a U.S. town which is part of the Navajo Nation and is in Navajo County, Arizona, United States. Established November 13, 1986, the Kayenta Township is the only "township" existing under the laws of the Navajo Nation, making it ...

and is visible from U.S. Route 163. The English designation ''Agathla'' is derived from the Navajo name ' meaning 'much wool', apparently for the fur of antelope and deer accumulating on the rock. The mountain is considered sacred by the Navajo. Agathla Peak is an

eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcanic object created when magma hardens within a vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if rising volatile-charged m ...

consisting of

volcanic breccia Breccia () is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or rocks cemented together by a fine-grained matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language, in which it means "rubble". A breccia may have a variety of d ...

cut by dikes of an unusual igneous rock called minette. It is one of many such volcanic

diatreme A diatreme, sometimes known as a maar-diatreme volcano, is a volcanic pipe formed by a gaseous explosion. When magma rises up through a crack in Earth's crust and makes contact with a shallow body of groundwater, rapid expansion of heated water ...

s that are found in Navajo country of northeast Arizona and northwest New Mexico. Agathla Peak and

Shiprock Shiprock ( nv, , "rock with wings" or "winged rock") is a monadnock rising nearly above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. Its peak elevation is above sea level. It is about southwest ...

in New Mexico are the most prominent. These rocks are part of the Navajo Volcanic Field, in the southern

Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau, also known as the Colorado Plateau Province, is a physiographic and desert region of the Intermontane Plateaus, roughly centered on the Four Corners region of the southwestern United States. This province covers an area ...

. Ages of these minettes and associated more unusual igneous rocks cluster near 25 million years. Map of the Navajo Volcanic Fields

Climbing history

Rock climbing is not currently allowed on Aghala Peak and surrounding

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation ( nv, Naabeehó Bináhásdzo), also known as Navajoland, is a Native Americans in the United States, Native American Indian reservation, reservation in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwe ...

lands; however in 1949 there were no such restrictions which lead to first known ascent of the peak was done on May 29, 1949, by Ray Garner,

Herb Conn Jan Conn (born 1924 ) and Herb Conn (April 16, 1920 – February 1, 2012www.findagrave.com
...

, and Lee Pedrick. The climbers followed, what is now called "West Face" route (), which is 550 feet long and they brought over 70 pounds of climbing equipment including: 50

piton A piton (; also called ''pin'' or ''peg'') in climbing is a metal spike (usually steel) that is driven into a crack or seam in the climbing surface using a climbing hammer, and which acts as an anchor for protecting the climber against the ...

s, 40 tamp-in bolts (plus two sets of drills, tamp tools and hammers), 15

carabiner A carabiner or karabiner () is a specialized type of shackle, a metal loop with a spring-loaded gate used to quickly and reversibly connect components, most notably in safety-critical systems. The word is a shortened form of ''Karabinerhaken' ...

s, four 120-foot nylon ropes, and twelve quarts of water. The climbing took a whole day and they had to spend the night on the top before descending the next day.(

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

)

References

External links

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Agathla Peak
Peakware, World Mountain Encyclopedia. {{Authority control Colorado Plateau Diatremes of Arizona Landforms of Navajo County, Arizona Religious places of the indigenous peoples of North America Oligocene volcanism Sacred mountains Volcanic plugs of Arizona Geography of the Navajo Nation Mountains of Navajo County, Arizona

Climbing history

See also

References

Further reading

External links