Lydia Mountain is a summit located in the

Tantalus Range The Tantalus Range is a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains in southern British Columbia, Canada. The range is easily viewed from the "Sea to Sky Highway" that travels from Vancouver to Squamish, British Columbia, Squamish and W ...

, in Tantalus Provincial Park, in southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is situated northwest of Squamish, and south-southeast of

Mount Tantalus Mount Tantalus is a mountain in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, located southeast of Falk Lake and south of Monmouth Mountain. It is the highest mountain in the Tantalus Range of the Pacific Ranges and is famous for its snow-covered fa ...

, which is the highest peak in the Tantalus Range. The nearest higher neighbor is ''The Red Tusk'', to the west, and

Mount Niobe Mount Niobe is a summit located in the Tantalus Range, in Tantalus Provincial Park, in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is situated northwest of Squamish, and southeast of Mount Tantalus, which is the highest peak in the Tantalus R ...

lies to the east-southeast. Lake Lovely Water lies below the eastern slope of the peak and precipitation runoff from the peak drains east to the

Squamish River The Squamish River is a short but very large river in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its drainage basin is in size. The total length of the Squamish River is approximately . Course The Squamish River drains a complex of basins in the ...

, and west to the

Clowhom River The Clowhom River is a short, river in British Columbia. It flows into the head of the Salmon Inlet about 26.2 km west of Squamish. Course The Clowhom originates at the outlet of a tiny, unnamed lake on the south slopes of Mount Jimmy ...

via Red Tusk Creek.

Topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as Lydia Mountain rises 1,400 meters (4,600 feet) above Red Tusk Creek in approximately three kilometers (two miles). The mountain's name was officially adopted on June 6, 1957, by the

Geographical Names Board of Canada The Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC) is a national committee with a secretariat in Natural Resources Canada, part of the Government of Canada, which authorizes the names used and name changes on official federal government maps of Canad ...

. The mountain was named for mythic

Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...

, of which

Tantalus Tantalus ( ), also called Atys, was a Greek mythological figure, most famous for his punishment in Tartarus: for either revealing many secrets of the gods, for stealing ambrosia from them, or for trying to trick them into eating his son, he ...

was a primordial ruler in

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

. Several peaks in the Tantalus Range are named in association with Tantalus. The

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

of Lydia Mountain was made in 1914 by Basil Darling and Allan Morkill.

Climate

Based on the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Lydia Mountain is located in the

marine west coast An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...

climate zone of western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. Most

weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For ins ...

s originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and travel east toward the

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains () are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the British Columbia Coast, Coast of British Columbia sout ...

where they are forced upward by the range (

Orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall. As a result, the Coast Mountains experience high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall. Temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C. This climate supports the Crescent Glacier on the east and north slopes of Lydia. The months July through September offer the most favorable weather for climbing Lydia Mountain.

Gallery

Mount Niobe and Lake Lovely Water.jpg,

(left) and Lydia Mountain reflected in Lake Lovely Water

References

External links

* * Weather
Lydia Mountain
{{Pacific Ranges Two-thousanders of British Columbia Tantalus Range Sea-to-Sky Corridor New Westminster Land District

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links