Mount Sonder, or ''Rwetyepme'', its Aboriginal name, is the fourth highest

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at .

Mount Zeil Mount Zeil () is a mountain in the Northern Territory of Australia located in the locality of Mount Zeil in the western MacDonnell Ranges. It is the highest peak in the Northern Territory, and the highest peak on the Australian mainland west o ...

is the highest at , to the west.

Location and features

Mt Sonder is west of

Alice Springs Alice Springs ( aer, Mparntwe) is the third-largest town in the Northern Territory of Australia. Known as Stuart until 31 August 1933, the name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (''née'' Al ...

along the

MacDonnell Ranges The MacDonnell Ranges, or Tjoritja in Arrernte, is a mountain range located in southern Northern Territory. MacDonnell Ranges is also the name given to an interim Australian bioregion broadly encompassing the mountain range, with an area of .< ...

in the

West MacDonnell National Park Tjoritja / West MacDonnell is a national park in the Northern Territory (Australia) due west of Alice Springs and 1234 km south of Darwin. It extends along the MacDonnell Ranges west of Alice Springs. The popular extended walk, the Larapi ...

. It marks one end of the celebrated Larapinta trail, which extends to Alice Springs. The shape of the mountain is a double peak, the relative heights of which are somewhat ambiguous from the summit, although easy to identify from the surrounding plains. The mountain can be seen from the western half of the Larapinta trail, up to

Ormiston Pound Ormiston Pound is a ring of mountains in the Northern Territory of Australia punctuating the MacDonnell Ranges, in the West MacDonnell National Park, approximately west of Alice Springs.West MacDonnell National Park Fact Sheet, Parks and Wildlif ...

, which obscures it from then on. Explorer

Ernest Giles William Ernest Powell Giles (20 July 1835 – 13 November 1897), best known as Ernest Giles, was an Australian explorer who led five major expeditions to parts of South Australia and Western Australia. Early life Ernest Giles was born in Bris ...

named the mountain in honour of German botanist Dr.

Otto Wilhelm Sonder Otto Wilhelm Sonder (18 June 1812, Bad Oldesloe – 21 November 1881) was a German botanist and pharmacist. Life A native of Holstein, Sonder studied at Kiel University, where he sat pharmaceutical examinations in 1835, before becoming the prop ...

. A clearly defined walking track exists up the western side, which is about long. Water is available from a tank beyond the carpark, and there is a direction plate at the summit. This however is not the true summit, which is a further away, but has been chosen for safety reasons. The view from the top boasts the taller

to the west, the West MacDonnell Range to the east, Glen Helen, a nearby resort, to the east and Gosses Bluff to the south-west.

References

{{Reflist

Sonder Sonder may refer to: Geography *Mount Sonder, mountain in Australia *Sonder, village in Minahasa Regency, Indonesia People *Otto Wilhelm Sonder (1812–1881), German botanist and pharmacist Other uses * Sonder (Dermot Kennedy album), ''Sonder'' ( ...

Location and features

See also

References