Clyde Peak is an mountain summit located in Glacier National Park 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 sove ...

Montana Montana () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West List of regions of the United States#Census Bureau-designated regions and divisions, division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North ...

. The mountain straddles the border shared by Flathead County and

Glacier County Glacier County is located in the U.S. state of Montana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,778. The county is located in northwestern Montana between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, known to the Blackfeet as the "Backbone ...

. It is situated on the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, no ...

so precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from the west side of the mountain drains into Thompson Creek which is part of the

Middle Fork Flathead River The Middle Fork Flathead River is a river in western Montana in the United States, forming the southwestern boundary of Glacier National Park. Its drainage basin lies to the east of the South Fork Flathead River and the Hungry Horse Reservoir. ...

watershed, and the east side drains into headwaters of Red Eagle Creek, which flows to Red Eagle Lake, thence

Saint Mary Lake Saint Mary Lake is the second-largest lake in Glacier National Park, in the U.S. state of Montana. Located on the east side of the park, Going-to-the-Sun Road parallels the lake along its north shore. At an elevation of , Saint Mary Lake's wate ...

. It is set in the

Lewis Range The Lewis Range is a mountain range located in the Rocky Mountains of northern Montana, United States and extreme southern Alberta, Canada. It was formed as a result of the Lewis Overthrust, a geologic thrust fault resulted in the overlying of y ...

, and the nearest higher neighbor is

Mount Logan Mount Logan () is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest peak in North America after Denali. The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC). Mou ...

1.44 mile to the northwest.

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin w ...

is significant as the southwest aspect rises approximately in one mile.

Etymology

The mountain's name commemorates

Norman Clyde Norman Clyde (April 8, 1885 – December 23, 1972) was a mountaineer, mountain guide, freelance writer, nature photographer, and self-trained naturalist. He is well known for achieving over 130 first ascents, many in California's Sierra Nevada a ...

(1885–1972), who made the

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they e ...

of this peak on July 23, 1923. Clyde is credited with 130 first ascents, most of which were in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

of California.Norman Clyde - Mountaineer, Owensvalleyhistory.com
/ref> In 1923 he spent 36 days in Glacier National Park, Montana, where he climbed 36 mountains, including 11 first ascents. This geographical feature's name has not yet been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names.

Geology

Like other mountains in Glacier National Park, Clyde Peak is composed of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particle ...

laid down during the

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of th ...

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

periods. Formed in shallow seas, this sedimentary rock was initially uplifted beginning 170 million years ago when the

Lewis Overthrust The Lewis Overthrust is a geologic thrust fault structure of the Rocky Mountains found within the bordering national parks of Glacier in Montana, United States and Waterton Lakes in Alberta, Canada. The structure was created due to the collision of ...

fault pushed an enormous slab of

precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of th ...

rocks thick, wide and long over younger rock of the

cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

period.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system, Clyde Peak is located in an alpine subarctic climate zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Winter temperatures can drop below −10 °F with wind chill factors below −30 °F. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter, and as thunderstorms in summer. This climate supports the Red Eagle Glacier remnant on the north slope of the peak.

Gallery

File:Clyde, Blackfoot, Logan - Glacier National Park - NARA - 23942099.jpg, Clyde Peak (left), Blackfoot Mountain (center), Mt. Logan (right).
Aerial view from northeast, circa 1925. File:Clyde Peak and Logan.jpg, South aspect of Clyde Peak (centered), with Logan upper left. 1914 File:Clyde Peak and glacier.jpg, North aspect of Clyde Peak, with Logan and Red Eagle Glaciers. 1914. File:Clyde Peak and Liberty Bell.jpg, Aerial view of the west aspect of Clyde Peak (left side), circa 1930s

References

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External links