Mount Silverthrone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mount Silverthrone | |
|---|---|
 Northeast face of Mount Silverthrone |
|
| Elevation | approx. 2,865 m (9,400 ft) |
| Location | British Columbia, Canada |
| Range | Pacific Ranges |
| Prominence | approx. 975 m (3,199 ft) |
| Coordinates | |
| Topo map | NTS 92M/09 |
| Type | Lava dome |
| Volcanic arc/belt | Cascade Volcanic Arc Pemberton Volcanic Belt |
| Age of rock | Holocene |
| Last eruption | Unknown; possibly younger than 1000 |
| First ascent | 1936 Don Munday, Phyllis Munday, H. Hall, Hans Fuhrer |
| Listing | List of volcanoes in Canada List of Cascade volcanoes |
Mount Silverthrone, officially gazetted as Silverthrone Mountain, is a mountain in Regional District of Mount Waddington, British Columbia, located over 320 km (199 mi) northwest of the city of Vancouver and about 50 km (31 mi) west of Mount Waddington, British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest peak in the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield, which is the largest icefield in the Coast Mountains south of the Alaska Panhandle.
The first mountaineering visit at Mount Silverthrone was by the famous pioneering climbing group of Don and Phyllis Munday in 1936 by walking up the Klinakini Glacier from the head of Knight Inlet.
Because Silverthrone is heavily glaciated, Don Munday called the mountain "home of the snows".[1] It has notoriously wet weather. This is why the Klinaklini Glacier descends to only about 300 m (984 ft) above sea level. The extensive icefields around Mount Silverthrone are receding and are small compared to their former extent, but they are an impressive indication of how much of British Columbia looked 10,000 years or more ago. Silverthrone contains one of the few calderas buried beneath the ice caps of western Canada, another example is Mount Edziza in far northwestern British Columbia, which is almost 2 km (1 mi) wide.
Contents |
[edit] Geology
Mount Silverthrone is an eroded lava dome on the northeast edge of a large caldera complex called the Silverthrone Caldera. It lies within the Coast Plutonic Complex, which is the single largest contiguous granite outcropping in the world. The plutonic and metamorphic rocks extend approximately 1,800 kilometers on the coast of British Columbia, southwestern Yukon and southeastern Alaska. In addition, Garibaldi, Meager, Cayley and Silverthrone areas are of recent volcanic origin. The volcanic terrain in the Silverthrone area is very similar to the Mount Meager volcanic complex further south. However, there is much more ice.
The mountain and the surrounding area may be the northernmost section of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, but scientific study has been very limited due to its extremely remote location. Some geological references suggest that it represents the northernmost of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, because the Pemberton Volcanic Belt is usually merged with the Garibaldi Volcanic Belt,[2][3][4] but its relationship to volcanism caused by the Cascadia subduction zone (i.e. the Cascade Volcanic Arc) has not been firmly established. Silverthrone may also be the highest volcano in Canada, but even its elevation is not definitely known. Some references state an elevation as high as 3,160 m (10,367 ft), but the current topographic map shows contours only as high as 2,865 m (9,400 ft), and no spot elevation is given. In addition, it is unclear whether the highest point is of volcanic origin or not, since the summit is covered with permanent snow and ice, and the composition of the underlying rock is unknown.
Mount Silverthrone is perhaps the most heavily glaciated volcanic complex in southwestern British Columbia. It has a topographic prominence of approximately 975 m (3,199 ft), greater than any other volcano in southwestern British Columbia.
[edit] Skiing and recreation
Skiing on Mount Silverthrone includes skiing on the largest ice field in the southern Coast Mountains, the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield. It is skiable over 1,500 m (4,921 ft), possibly over 2,700 m (8,858 ft) down to the Pacific Ocean.[5] The easiest access to Mount Silverthrone is by air travel, starting from the rural community of Tatla Lake, landing on the major part of the Ha-Iltzuk Icefield. Air travels can also be made into logging camps at Owikeno Lake to the west or at the start of Knight Inlet to the southwest, followed by long hiking and skiing methods.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Ha-Iltzuk Icefield in the Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-11-13
- ^ Canada Volcanoes and Volcanics Retrieved on 2007-11-28
- ^ Preliminary petrography and chemistry of the Mount Cayley volcanic field Retrieved on 2007-11-15
- ^ Volcanoes of Canada Retrieved on 2007-11-15
- ^ Skiing the Pacific Ring of Fire and Beyond: Silverthrone Mountain Retrieved on 2007-11-12
[edit] External links
- Volcanoes of Canada Garibaldi Volcanic Belt (Silverthrone area)
- Catalogue of Canadian volcanoes - Silverthrone Caldera
- Mount Silverthrone in the Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia
- Mount Silverthrone is at coordinates Coordinates:
|
||||||||||||||||
