The Tordrillo Mountains are a small mountain range in the Matanuska-Susitna and

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan trib ...

Boroughs in the southcentral region 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., ...

. They lie approximately 75 miles (120 km) west-northwest of

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

. The range extends approximately 60 miles (97 km) north-south and 35 miles (56 km) east-west. The highest point is

Mount Torbert Mount Torbert is the highest point of the Tordrillo Mountains, a small, primarily volcanic range, northwest of Anchorage, Alaska. It is a heavily glaciated peak, and is not itself a volcano, although nearby Mount Spurr and Crater Peak are acti ...

(11,413 feet/3,479 m). On a clear day, they are easily visible from Anchorage. The Tordrillos are bordered on the south by the

Chigmit Mountains The Chigmit Mountains are a subrange of the Aleutian Range in the Kenai Peninsula and Lake and Peninsula Boroughs of the U.S. state of Alaska. Location They are located at the northeastern end of the Aleutian range, on the west side of Cook Inl ...

, the northernmost extension of the

Aleutian Range The Aleutian Range is a major mountain range located in southwest Alaska. It extends from Chakachamna Lake (80 miles/130 km southwest of Anchorage) to Unimak Island, which is at the tip of the Alaska Peninsula. It includes all of the mountain ...

. (The Tordrillos are sometimes counted as part of the Aleutian Range, but this is not official usage.) On the west and north they meet the southern tip of the Revelation Mountains, part of the

Alaska Range The Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 600-mile-long (950 km) mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest endSources differ as to the exact delineation of the Alaska Range. ThBoar ...

, while on the east they fade into the hills and lowlands of southcentral Alaska. The north side of the range feeds the Skwentna River, and the south drains into Chakachamna Lake and the Chakachatna River. The Tordrillos are primarily a volcanic range, like most of the neighboring Aleutian Range; however some of the peaks (for example, Mount Torbert) are not volcanoes.

Mount Spurr Mount Spurr ( Dena'ina: ''K'idazq'eni'') is a stratovolcano in the Aleutian Arc of Alaska, named after United States Geological Survey geologist and explorer Josiah Edward Spurr, who led an expedition to the area in 1898. The Alaska Volcano Obse ...

, the southernmost peak in the range, had its most recent eruption in June 1992. They are heavily glaciated, partly due to their location near

Cook Inlet Cook Inlet ( tfn, Tikahtnu; Sugpiaq: ''Cungaaciq'') stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its sou ...

. Major glaciers include the Capps Glacier, Triumvirate Glacier,

Hayes Glacier Hayes Glacier in Antarctica enters the southeast part of the Weddell Sea about west-southwest of Dawson-Lambton Glacier. It was discovered in the course of a U.S. Navy LC-130 plane flight over the Caird Coast on November 5, 1967, and was plot ...

, and Trimble Glacier. Despite their proximity to Anchorage, the Tordrillos see little recreational or climbing activity. However Mount Spurr and nearby Crater Peak are regularly visited and monitored by the

Alaska Volcano Observatory The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) is a joint program of the United States Geological Survey, the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the State of Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). AVO ...

Named peaks of the Tordrillo Mountains

(11,413 feet/3,479 m) * Mount Gerdine (11,258 feet/3,431 m) *

(11,070 feet/3,374 m) * Mount Nagishlamina (11,068 feet/3,374 m) *

Hayes Volcano Hayes Volcano is a stratovolcano in southwestern Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, 135 km northwest of Anchorage, that was not discovered until 1975. It is responsible for a series of six major tephra layers in the Cook Inlet region of A ...

(9,147 feet/2,788 m)Hayes Volcano is a completely ice-covered volcano, only discovered in 1975, located just to the northeast of Mount Gerdine. It should not be confused with the much more prominent, non-volcanic

Mount Hayes Mount Hayes is the highest mountain in the eastern Alaska Range, in the U.S. state of Alaska. Despite not being a fourteener, it is one of the largest peaks in the United States in terms of rise above local terrain. For example, the Northeast Fa ...

in the

. * Crater Peak (7,575 feet/2,309 m) (A subsidiary peak of Mount Spurr)

Gallery

Notes

External links

Alaska Volcano Observatory

Tordrillo Mountains on Topozone
* Mountain ranges of Alaska Mountains of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Mountains of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska {{MatanuskaSusitnaAK-geo-stub