Sweat Spire is a 7,580-foot-elevation (2,310 meter)

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

located in the Olympic Mountains, in Jefferson County of Washington state. It is situated within Olympic National Park, and is set within the

Daniel J. Evans Wilderness Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

. It is part of The Needles range, which is a subset of the Olympic range. The nearest higher peak is Mount Johnson, to the southwest, and Gasp Pinnacle (7,520 ft) is to the immediate north. The spire is in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...

of the Olympic Range, resulting in less precipitation than Mount Olympus and the western Olympics receive. Precipitation

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from the mountain drains east into Royal Creek, and west into Gray Wolf River, which are both within the drainage basin of the Dungeness River. Topographic relief is significant as the east aspect rises over 2,400 feet (730 m) above Royal Basin in approximately one mile. The first ascent of the 200-foot-tall spire was made in 1962 by Hilton Keith, Joel Merkel, Joe Munson, and Jim Parolini. This landform's name has not been officially adopted 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 ...

, so the feature is not labeled on USGS maps.

Climate

Sweat Spire is located in the marine west coast climate zone of western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Weather fronts originating in the Pacific Ocean travel northeast toward the Olympic Mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks ( orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snow. As a result, the Olympics experience high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall. Because of maritime influence, snow tends to be wet and heavy, resulting in avalanche danger. During winter months weather is usually cloudy, but due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer. The months July through September offer the most favorable weather for climbing Sweat Spire.

References

External links

* Sweat Spire photo
Flickr
* {{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Sweat Spire , North =

Mount Walkinshaw Mount Walkinshaw is a 7,378-foot (2,249 m) mountain summit located in the Olympic Mountains, in Jefferson County, Washington, Jefferson County of Washington (U.S. state), Washington state. It is situated within Olympic National Park, and is the n ...

, Northeast = Mount Clark , East =

Sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

, Southeast = Royal Basin , South = Martin Peak , Southwest = Mount Johnson , West = Gray Wolf River , Northwest = Gray Wolf River Mountains of Washington (state) Olympic Mountains Mountains of Jefferson County, Washington Landforms of Olympic National Park North American 2000 m summits

Climate

See also

References

External links