Horn Spire is a mountain summit located in the

Boundary Ranges The Boundary Ranges, also known in the singular and as the Alaska Boundary Range, are the largest and most northerly subrange of the Coast Mountains. They begin at the Nass River, near the southern end of the Alaska Panhandle in the Canadian p ...

of the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. The peak is situated between the Thiel Glacier and Battle Glacier at the northwest extent of the

Juneau Icefield The Juneau Icefield is an ice field located just north of Juneau, Alaska, continuing north through the border with British Columbia, extending through an area of in the Coast Range ranging north to south and east to west. The icefield is the so ...

, north-northwest of

Juneau, Alaska The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau ( ; tli, Dzánti K'ihéeni ), is the capital city of the state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a unified municipality and the se ...

, and east of

Lynn Canal Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska. Lynn Canal runs about from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage. At over in depth, Lynn Canal is the deepest fjord ...

, on land managed by

Tongass National Forest The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at . Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which i ...

. Horn Spire is the highest point of the Icefall Spires, and although modest in elevation,

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

is significant since the north face of the mountain rises over 4,700 feet above the Thiel Glacier in less than one mile. The peak's descriptive name was submitted in 1965 by Maynard Miller, director of the Juneau Icefield Research Project, and officially adopted that same year by the

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal govern ...

. The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) 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 en ...

of the peak was made June 30, 1973, by Dick Benedict, Gerry Buckley, Craig Lingle, and Bruce Tickell.Horn Spire, various attempts; west ridge, second ascent. americanalpineclub.org 2013
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Climate

Based on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

, Horn Spire has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

with cold, snowy winters, and cool summers. Weather systems coming off the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska (Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the east, ...

are forced upwards by the Coast Mountains (

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

), causing heavy precipitation in the form of rainfall and snowfall. Winter temperatures can drop to 0 °F with wind chill factors below −10 °F. The months May and June offer the most favorable weather for viewing this rarely climbed peak.

References

Gallery

File:Gilkey Glacier, hanging glaciers, 1955 (GLACIERS 6135).jpg, Southeast aspect File:Gilkey Glacier, hanging glaciers and aretes, 1955 (GLACIERS 6124).jpg, North aspect File:Gilkey Glacier, horn with hanging glaciers in the foreground, and hanging glaciers with bergschrund in the background, 1955 (GLACIERS 6273).jpg, Horn Spire (left), with Mount Adolph Knopf (right)

External links

* Horn Spire
weather
* Horn Spire
Flickr photo
{{Coast Mountains Mountains of Alaska Mountains of Juneau, Alaska Boundary Ranges North American 2000 m summits

Climate

See also

References

Gallery

External links