Tazlina Tower is an elevation 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., ...

. This remote mountain is situated southeast of Mount Powder Top, and northeast of Pilot Peak, near the head of

Tazlina Glacier Tazlina Glacier is a long glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. It begins 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Mount Cashman and flows north to its terminus one mile (1.6 km) south of Tazlina Lake and 43 miles (69 km) north of Valdez. Tazl ...

, 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 ...

. Tazlina Tower was named in association with the glacier, in 1959, by Lawrence E. Nielsen of the Chugach Mountains Expedition, which was sponsored by the

Arctic Institute of North America The Arctic Institute of North America is a multi-disciplinary research institute and educational organization located in the University of Calgary. It is mandated to study the North American and circumpolar Arctic in the areas of natural science, ...

. In turn, the glacier,

Tazlina Lake Tazlina Lake is a body of water, long, in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is at the head of the Tazlina River, north of the 1952 terminus of Tazlina Glacier and north of Valdez, in the Copper River basin. It is a remnant of ancient Lake Atna. ...

, and

Tazlina River The Tazlina River is a tributary of the Copper River in the U.S. state of Alaska. Draining Tazlina Lake, it flows generally east to meet the larger river southeast of Glennallen. Course Tazlina Lake lies at the base of Tazlina Glacier in the ...

are traced to the

Ahtna language Ahtna or Ahtena (, from'' ''"Copper River") is the Na-Dené language of the Ahtna ethnic group of the Copper River area of Alaska. The language is also known as Copper River or Mednovskiy. The Ahtna language consists of four different dialects ...

, ''"tezlina"'', meaning "swift river."''Dictionary of Alaska Place Names'', Donald J. Orth author, United States Government Printing Office (1967), page 952. The mountain's name was officially adopted in 1965 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 ...

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 ...

, Tazlina Tower 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 Tazlina Glacier and the immense Columbia Glacier surrounding this mountain. The months May through June offer the most favorable weather for climbing or viewing.

References

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External links

* Weather
Tazlina Tower
Mountains of Alaska Landforms of Copper River Census Area, Alaska North American 2000 m summits

Climate

See also

References

External links