Mount Witherspoon is a 12,012-foot-elevation (3,661 meter) glaciated summit located northwest of Valdez in the

Chugach Mountains The Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about long and wide, and extends from the Knik and Turnagain ...

of 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., ...

. It's set on land managed by

Chugach National Forest The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger forest reserve. The Ch ...

. This remote mountain, fifth-highest in the Chugach range, is situated northwest of

Mount Einstein Mount Einstein is an elevation glaciated summit located northwest of Valdez in the Chugach Mountains of the U.S. state of Alaska. This remote mountain, sixth-highest in the Chugach range, is situated at the head of Yale Glacier on land manage ...

, with the heads of

Yale Glacier Yale Glacier is a long glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. It begins at the saddle between Mount Witherspoon and Mount Einstein, and trends southwest to Yale Arm of College Fjord, 47 miles (76 km) west of Valdez. It was named for Yale Un ...

and Columbia Glacier between the summits.Chugach Mountains, Peakbagger.com
/ref> It is the second-highest peak in the Dora Keen Range, which is the 25-miles-long divide separating

Harvard Glacier The Harvard Glacier is a large tidewater glacier in the Alaska's Prince William Sound. The glacier has a 1.5-mile (2 km) wide face where it calves into the College Fjord. It is 300 ft thick and covers 120,000 acres of Chugach National Fo ...

from Yale Glacier. The mountain's name was officially adopted in 1928 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 governm ...

to honor David C. Witherspoon, a

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scie ...

for 30 years, "who at the time of his retirement in 1921 had mapped a greater area of Alaska than any other man." 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 Mount Witherspoon was made June 25, 1957, by David Bohn, Arthur Maki, Jr., Martin Mushkin, and Lawrence E. Nielsen.

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 ...

, Mount Witherspoon is located in 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 ...

zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and mild 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 Chugach 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. Temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C. This climate supports the Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Glaciers surrounding this mountain. The months May through June offer the most favorable weather for climbing or viewing. Mount Einstein centered

References

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External links

* Weather
Mount Witherspoon

National Weather Service Forecast
* Mt. Witherspoo
photo
Witherspoon Witherspoon Witherspoon

Climate

See also

References

External links