Mount Friesland is a mountain rising to in the homonymous

Friesland Ridge Friesland Ridge (Hrebet Frisland \'hre-bet 'fris-land\) is a ridge on Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, part of the Tangra Mountains. The summit, Mount Friesland, which rises to , is the northwesternmost of the ridge's six main peaks. ...

, one of the two summits of

Tangra Mountains Tangra Mountains (in Bulgarian ''Тангра планина'', 'Tangra planina' \'tan-gra pla-ni-'na\) () form the principal mountain range of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The range had been nameless until ...

and

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetland Islands, South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands north of the ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

along with neighbouring

St. Boris Peak St. Boris Peak (, ) is an ice-covered mountain rising to 1,700 m in Friesland Ridge, Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is the first or second highest peak of both the mountains and the island ...

. Its north rib is connected to

Pliska Ridge Pliska Ridge (, ) is a three-peaked ridge rising to in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Its central and highest summit, ''Pliska Peak'', is located east-northeast of Willan Nunatak (), southeast of Burd ...

Nesebar Gap Nesebar Gap (Sedlovina Nesebar \se-dlo-vi-'na ne-'se-b&r\) is a 1.3 km wide Gap_(landform), gap in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica bounded to the west by Pliska Ridge and to the east by the northern slope ...

on the west, and to

Bowles Ridge Bowles Ridge (, ) is the central ridge of eastern Livingston Island. The ridge extends 6.5 km in the east-west direction and is 1.5 km wide. The summit of the ridge is Mount Bowles which rises to 822m and is located 9.77 km n ...

Wörner Gap Wörner Gap (Sedlovina Wörner \se-dlo-vi-'na 'vyor-ner\) is a flat saddle extending 3 km in the south-north direction between Friesland Ridge and Bowles Ridge in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Its ele ...

on the north. On the east, Mount Friesland is connected to Presian Ridge and further on to Catalunyan Saddle and

Lyaskovets Peak Lyaskovets Peak (, ) is the easternmost peak of Friesland Ridge in the Tangra Mountains, eastern Livingston Island and has an elevation of 1,473 m. The peak is bounded by Catalunyan Saddle on the west and Shipka Saddle on the east, and is he ...

. On the south-southwest, it is connected by a short saddle to ‘ The Synagogue’, a sharp-peaked rock-cored ice formation abutting St. Boris Peak. The peak is heavily glaciated and crevassed, surmounting

Huntress Glacier Huntress Glacier is a glacier long and wide flowing into the head of False Bay, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is situated east of Johnsons Glacier, southeast of Contell Glacier and Balkan Snowfield, south o ...

to the west,

Perunika Glacier Perunika Glacier (, ) is an 8 km long and 3 km wide (average) roughly crescent-shaped glacier in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica situated east of Pimpirev Glacier, south of Saedinenie Snowfield, ...

to the north-northwest,

Huron Glacier Huron Glacier is a } long and wide glacial flow on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica, situated east of Perunika Glacier, southeast of Kaliakra Glacier, south of Struma Glacier, west-northwest of Iskar Glacier and ...

to the northeast and

Macy Glacier Macy Glacier is a long and crescent-shaped glacier on the southern slopes of the Tangra Mountains, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The glacier is bounded by Friesland Ridge to the northwest, Levski Ridge to th ...

to the southeast. The local weather is notoriously unpleasant and challenging; according to the seasoned Antarctic mountaineer

Damien Gildea Damien Gildea (born 1969) is an Australian mountaineer and Antarctic explorer who has climbed extensively in Antarctica, Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, Bolivia, Alaska, New Zealand and elsewhere. Mountaineering His Antarctic ascents include Mount Vinso ...

who climbed in the area, "just about the worst weather in the world".

History

The feature was known to American and British sealers as early as 1820–21, and variously referred to as "Peak of Frezeland", "Friezland Peak", and "Friesland Peak". In the early 1900s the name "Barnard", applied by

James Weddell James Weddell (24 August 1787 – 9 September 1834) was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in February 1823 sailed to latitude of 74° 15′ S—a record 7.69 degrees or 532 statute miles south of the Antar ...

in 1825 to nearby Needle Peak, was transferred to this mountain. The original name has now been restored with the spelling "Friesland" that appears to have been more frequently used than any of the other versions. In order to preserve the historical memory of the area, the name

Barnard Point Barnard Point is a headland which marks the south-east side of the entrance to False Bay on the south side of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is situated on Rozhen Peninsula, north-north-west of Botev Point an ...

has since been approved for the nearby point on the southeast side of the entrance to

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans: ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarc ...

. The first ascent of Mount Friesland was made from Juan Carlos I Base on 30 December 1991 by the Catalan climbers Francesc Sàbat and Jordi Enrique, after whom Sàbat Hill and Enrique Hill, respectively, were named. The peak was climbed and

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

surveyed by the Australian

and John Bath, and the Chilean Rodrigo Fica on 20 December 2003, who produced a new map of the island in 2004, based on Spanish satellite imagery and their GPS data. The third ascent was made by the

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

Lyubomir Ivanov and

Doychin Vasilev Doychin Vasilev (, 12 June 1944 – 7 December 2024) was a Bulgarian mountaineer who climbed five Himalayan 8,000 m peaks: Dhaulagiri (in 1995), Mount Everest (1997), Makalu (1998), and Shishapangma and Cho Oyu (1999). President of Alpine Clu ...

from Camp Academia on 15 December 2004. All these used the Sàbat–Enrique eastern route to the peak, from Camp Academia locality (541 m) via Catalunyan Saddle (1,260 m) and Presian Ridge (1,456 m).

Elevation

The summit elevation was estimated at by a 1995–96 Bulgarian survey; the present figure was produced by a 2003 Australian GPS survey, and closely matched (as ) by the Bulgarian survey

Tangra 2004/05 The Tangra 2004/05 Expedition was commissioned by the Antarctic Place-names Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bulgaria), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria, managed by the Manfred Wörner Foundation, and supported by the ...

. The local ice relief is subject to changes, causing variations in the feature's elevation. According to a Bulgarian GPS survey by D. Boyanov and N. Petkov the elevation of Mt. Friesland was in December 2016, making the peak lower than the adjacent St. Boris Peak (the latter's northernmost ice formation ‘The Synagogue’ rising to ) at that time. According to the American high accuracy Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA), Mount Friesland is higher than the central summit of St. Boris Peak and higher than ‘The Synagogue’.I.M. Howat, C. Porter, B.E. Smith, M.-J. Noh and P. Morin
The Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica.
''The Cryosphere'' 13, 2019. pp. 665–674
Antarctic REMA Exlorer
However, according to the 2022 later edition of REMA Mount Friesland is higher than the central summit of St. Boris Peak and lower than ‘The Synagogue’.A. Kamburov and L. Ivanov. Bowles Ridge and Central Tangra Mountains: Livingston Island, Antarctica. Scale 1:25000 map. Sofia: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2023.

Location

Mount Friesland is situated northeast of

, east-southeast of

St. Kliment Ohridski Base St. Kliment Ohridski Base (, ) is a Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands. The base, originally known as ''Sofia University Refuge'' or ''Hemus Base'', was named in 1993 for medieval Bulgarian scholar St. ...

, southeast of the summit of

, south by east of

Mount Bowles Mount Bowles is an ice-covered mountain high, the summit of Bowles Ridge in the central part of eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is situated south of Vidin Heights and north of Mount Friesland, Tangra Mount ...

, south-southwest of Camp Academia, west of

Great Needle Peak Great Needle Peak (, ; variant name in ) is the summit of the central Levski Ridge in Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island, Antarctica. Rising to 1,679.5 m, it is the third highest peak of both the mountains and the island after Mount Fri ...

, and north by west of Samuel Point. British mapping in 1968, Chilean in 1971, Argentine in 1980, Spanish in 1991, US in 2004, and Bulgarian in 1996, 2005, 2009 and 2023. Bulgarian surveys 1995/96 (estimated elevation 1,684 m), 2004/05 and 2016/17.

Maps

Chart of South Shetland including Coronation Island, &c.
from the exploration of the sloop Dove in the years 1821 and 1822 by George Powell Commander of the same. Scale ca. 1:200000. London: Laurie, 1822
South Shetland Islands.
Scale 1:200000 topographic map. DOS 610 Sheet W 62 60. Tolworth, UK, 1968. * Islas Livingston y Decepción. Mapa topográfico a escala 1:100000. Madrid: Servicio Geográfico del Ejército, 1991. * L.L. Ivanov. Livingston Island: Central-Eastern Region. Scale 1:25000 topographic map. Sofia: Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria, 1996. * S. Soccol, D. Gildea and J. Bath. Livingston Island, Antarctica. Scale 1:100000 satellite map. The Omega Foundation, USA, 2004. * L.L. Ivanov et al., Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands (from English Strait to Morton Strait, with illustrations and ice-cover distribution), 1:100000 scale topographic map,

Antarctic Place-names Commission The Antarctic Place-names Commission was established by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute in 1994, and since 2001 has been a body affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bulgaria), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. The Commis ...

of Bulgaria, Sofia, 2005 * L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands. Scale 1:120000 topographic map. Troyan: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2010. (First edition 2009. )
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).
Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated. * L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Smith Island. Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2017. * A. Kamburov and L. Ivanov. Bowles Ridge and Central Tangra Mountains: Livingston Island, Antarctica. Scale 1:25000 map. Sofia: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2023.

Gallery

Livingston-Island-Map-2010-15.png, Topographic map of Livingston Island and Smith Island Tangra-Mountains-location-map.png, Location of Tangra Mountains on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands Central-Eastern-Livingston-Map.png, Topographic map of central-eastern Livingston Island featuring Mount Friesland Tangra-2004-5-Survey-Route.png, The survey route of

including Mount Friesland Mount-Friesland-2016.png, Panoramic northeast view from

centred on Mount Friesland Ohridski-Livingston.jpg, The main building of

, with

Balkan Snowfield Balkan Snowfield (Plato Balkan \'pla-to bal-'kan\) is an ice-covered plateau of elevation ranging from in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, situated south of lower Perunika Glacier, northwest of Huntress Glacier ...

in the middle, and (left to right) Mount Friesland,

and

Simeon Peak Simeon Peak (, ) rises to 1,580 mD. Boyanov and N. PetkovThe Peaks of Tangra Mountains: Project Report Part Two 2016/17.Sofia, February 2017 (in Bulgarian) in Friesland Ridge, Tangra Mountains, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Island ...

in the background Friesland-Ridge.jpg,

from

Bransfield Strait Bransfield Strait or Fleet Sea () is a body of water about wide extending for in a general northeast – southwest direction between the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. History The strait was named in about 1825 by James W ...

, with St. Methodius Peak, St. Cyril Peak,

, Mount Friesland and

in the background, and Needle Peak,

and Peshev Ridge in the foreground Mount-Friesland-NW.JPG, Mount Friesland from upper

near Orpheus Gate, with

on the right Mount-Friesland-Summit.JPG, The summit of Mount Friesland, with the open extension of a partially hidden crevasse Friesland-St-Boris.jpg,

from Mount Friesland, with ‘ The Synagogue’ ice form in the foreground Hurd-Peninsula.jpg, Southern Hurd Peninsula from Mount Friesland, with

on the left and South Bay on the right, and Smith Island seen on the horizon Johnsons-Glacier.jpg, The Spanish base area from Mount Friesland, with

Napier Peak Napier Peak is the partly ice-free peak rising to 380 m on Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is linked to Charrúa Gap to the north by a 1.5 km ice-covered col, and by an ice-covered saddle t ...

and

Johnsons Glacier Johnsons Glacier is the 1.8 km long and 2.3 km wide glacier on Hurd Peninsula, Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica bounded by Charrúa Ridge and Charrúa Gap to the north, Napier Peak to the east, Mirador H ...

in the foreground, Charrúa Ridge on the right and Mount Reina Sofia in the background, and South Bay, Hannah Point and western

farther away Bulgarian-Beach-Mount-Friesland.JPG, Bulgarian Beach from Mount Friesland, with Castillo Nunatak and

Willan Nunatak Willan Nunatak is an ice-free tipped peak rising to 449 m on the glacier, glacial divide between Huntress Glacier and Balkan Snowfield on Hurd Peninsula in eastern Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. It is linked to B ...

in the foreground,

in the middle, and left to right in the background Atlantic Club Ridge, Hesperides Hill, Pesyakov Hill and Sinemorets Hill with the Bulgarian base in between, and Spanish Knoll Bowles_Ridge_and_Tangra_Mountains.png, Topographic map of

and Central

featuring Mount Friesland

Notes

References

*
Mount Friesland.

SCAR A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrosis, fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other Organ (anatomy), organs, and biological tissue, t ...

Composite Antarctic Gazetteer The Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica (CGA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is the authoritative international gazetteer containing all Antarctic toponyms published in national gazetteers, plus basic information about th ...

.
Mount Friesland, Antarctica.
Peakbagger.com. * D. Gildea

* L. Ivanov
General Geography and History of Livingston Island.
In: ''Bulgarian Antarctic Research: A Synthesis''. Eds. C. Pimpirev and N. Chipev. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2015. pp. 17–28.

External links

Mount Friesland.
Copernix satellite image {{DEFAULTSORT:Friesland, Mount Mountains of Livingston Island Tangra Mountains