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Appalachian Mountains

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 area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (980 ft) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges.

Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers.

High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction, such as mining and logging, along with recreation, such as mountain climbing and skiing.

The highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m (29,035 ft) above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m (69,459 ft). (Full article...)

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Selected mountain-related landform

The Langkofel Group in the Dolomites of the Italian Alps, with the clearly visible Langkofel Col (*Langkofelscharte*) left of centre

A col in geomorphology is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks. It may also be called a gap. Particularly rugged and forbidding cols in the terrain are usually referred to as notches. They are generally unsuitable as mountain passes, but are occasionally crossed by mule tracks or climbers' routes. Derived from the French col ("collar, neck") from Latin collum, "neck", the term tends to be associated more with mountain than hill ranges. The distinction with other names for breaks in mountain ridges such as saddle, wind gap or notch is not sharply defined and may vary from place to place. Many double summits are separated by prominent cols.

The height of a summit above its highest col (called the key col) is effectively a measure of a mountain's topographic prominence. (Full article...)

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The arc of the Himalayas (also Hindu Kush and Karakorams) showing the eight-thousanders (in red); Indo-Gangetic Plain; Tibetan plateau; rivers Indus, Ganges, and Yarlung Tsangpo-Brahmaputra; and the two anchors of the range (in yellow)

The Himalayas, or Himalaya (/ˌhɪməˈleɪ.ə, hɪˈmɑːləjə/ HIM-ə-LAY-ə, hih-MAH-lə-yə) is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 peaks exceeding elevations of 7,200 m (23,600 ft) above sea level lie in the Himalayas.

The Himalayas abut or cross five countries: Nepal, China, Pakistan, Bhutan and India. The sovereignty of the range in the Kashmir region is disputed among India, Pakistan, and China. The Himalayan range is bordered on the northwest by the Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, on the north by the Tibetan Plateau, and on the south by the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Some of the world's major rivers, the Indus, the Ganges, and the Tsangpo–Brahmaputra, rise in the vicinity of the Himalayas, and their combined drainage basin is home to some 600 million people; 53 million people live in the Himalayas. The Himalayas have profoundly shaped the cultures of South Asia and Tibet. Many Himalayan peaks are sacred in Hinduism and Buddhism. The summits of several—Kangchenjunga (from the Indian side), Gangkhar Puensum, Machapuchare, Nanda Devi, and Kailash in the Tibetan Transhimalaya—are off-limits to climbers. (Full article...)

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A nunatak (from Inuit nunataq) is the summit or ridge of a mountain that protrudes from an ice field or glacier that otherwise covers most of the mountain or ridge. They often form natural pyramidal peaks. Isolated nunataks are also called glacial islands, and smaller nunataks rounded by glacial action may be referred to as rognons.

The word is of Greenlandic origin and has been used in English since the 1870s. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

Climbing technique refers to a broad range of physical movements used in the activity or sport of climbing.

Notable groups include:

Aid climbing technique as used in aid climbing
Big wall climbing technique as used in big wall climbing
Ice climbing technique as used in ice climbing
Mixed climbing technique as used in mixed climbing
Mountaineering technique as used in mountaineering
Multi-pitch climbing technique as used in multi-pitch climbing
Rock-climbing technique as used in bouldering, competition climbing, free solo climbing (including deep-water soloing), sport climbing, traditional climbing and top rope climbing. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various mountain-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation. (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 2Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 3Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 4The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. (from Mountain)
Image 5Mountain climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak (from Mountaineering)
Image 6Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 7Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
Image 8An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 9A climber taking the final few steps to the 6,160 m (20,210 ft) summit of Imja Tse (Island Peak) in Nepal, 2004 (from Mountaineering)
Image 10Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)
Image 11Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 12The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 13Everest is highest from sea level (green), Mauna Kea is highest from its base (orange), Cayambe is farthest from Earth's axis (pink) and Chimborazo is farthest from Earth's centre (blue) (from Mountain)
Image 14Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 15Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 16Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering (from Mountaineering)
Image 17The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)
Image 18Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 19Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 20Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)
Image 21Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 22Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria, part of the fault-block Rila-Rhodope massif (from Mountain)
Image 23Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 24Mountaineers climbing in South Tyrol (from Mountain)
Image 25Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 26Mountain rescue team members and other services attend to a casualty in Freiburg Germany. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 27Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 28A mountain rescue team in Iran moving a casualty. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 29Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 30Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 31The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 32A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 33Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 34Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 35Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 36A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 37The Andes, the longest mountain range on the surface of the Earth, have a dramatic impact on the climate of South America (from Mountain range)
Image 38British mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby became known as the father of Norwegian mountaineering and contributed greatly to its popularization with his classic book Norway, the Northern Playground (from Mountaineering)
Image 39The Catskills in Upstate New York represent an eroded plateau. (from Mountain)
Image 40This 1848 "Sketch showing the actual elevation of the Snow Line in different Latitudes" by Alexander Keith Johnston shows the snow lines of mountains in America, Europe and Asia (from Snow line)

Selected skiing article

The parallel turn in alpine skiing is a method for turning which rolls the ski onto one edge, allowing it to bend into an arc. Thus bent, the ski follows the turn without sliding. It contrasts with earlier techniques such as the stem Christie, which slides the ski outward from the body ("stemming") to generate sideways force. Parallel turns generate much less friction and are more efficient both in maintaining speed and minimizing skier effort.

The parallel turn was invented in the 1930s by Austrian ski racer Anton Seelos from Seefeld in Tirol. (Full article...)

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