The Cathedral Group is the group of the tallest mountains of the

Teton Range The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park, ...

, all of which are located in

Grand Teton National Park Grand Teton National Park is a national park of the United States in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately , the park includes the major peaks of the Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. G ...

in 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 so ...

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. The Cathedral Group are classic alpine peaks, with

pyramidal A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as triangu ...

shapes caused by

glacial motion Glacial motion is the motion of glaciers, which can be likened to rivers of ice. It has played an important role in sculpting many landscapes. Most lakes in the world occupy basins scoured out by glaciers. Glacial motion can be fast (up to , ob ...

. The highest peak in the group is

Grand Teton Grand Teton is the highest mountain of the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park at in Northwest Wyoming. Below its north face is Teton Glacier. The mountain is a classic destination in American mountaineering via the Owen-Spalding rout ...

, which rises more than above

Jackson Hole Jackson Hole (originally called Jackson's Hole by mountain men) is a valley between the Gros Ventre Range, Gros Ventre and Teton Range, Teton mountain ranges in the U.S. state of Wyoming, near the border with Idaho, in Teton County, Wyoming, T ...

valley, and is the second tallest mountain in Wyoming, after

Gannett Peak Gannett Peak is the highest mountain peak in the U.S. state of Wyoming at . It lies in the Wind River Range within the Bridger Wilderness of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Straddling the Continental Divide along the boundary between F ...

. The Cathedral Group is separated from other tall peaks of the range by the Cascade Canyon to the north and Avalanche Canyon to the south. Half the remaining dozen

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s in the Teton Range are located in this cluster of high peaks, including the Teton Glacier which is the largest one in the range. Other glaciers such as the Middle Teton Glacier, Teepe Glacier, and Schoolroom Glacier are also located here. The Cathedral Group has several high

cirques A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform arising from fluvi ...

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

s as well as

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

and

U-shaped valley U-shaped valleys, also called trough valleys or glacial troughs, are formed by the process of Glacial period, glaciation. They are characteristic of mountain glaciation in particular. They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with s ...

s which are all the work of glacial activity. At the base of the Cathedral Group, several

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

s can be found, including Jenny, Bradley and Taggart Lakes, all of which were formed when the glaciers of the last ice age retreated, leaving behind terminal moraines which acted as natural dams. A few high altitude lakes can also be found scattered among the peaks.

Mountains

In addition to Grand Teton, near the northern end of the group, other major peaks found here include Mount Owen, Middle Teton, South Teton, Teewinot Mountain, Teepe Pillar, Cloudveil Dome, Nez Perce Peak and Buck Mountain, most of which are over above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

and represent eight of the ten highest summits in the Teton Range. Some geographers only include Grand Teton, Mount Owen and Teewinot Mountain as part of the Cathedral Group proper. Similarity of shape and isolation from other high peaks of the range by the deep Cascade and Death Canyons convince others to place all the major peaks between the canyons within the group.

References

External links

* {{coord, 43.7236, N, 110.806, W, source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Mountains of Grand Teton National Park Mountains of Wyoming Mountains of Teton County, Wyoming de:Cathedral Group