Mount Bagot is a 2,181-metre (7,156-foot) mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

located on, and in part defining, the international border between

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, and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, United States.

Description

Mount Bagot, also known as Boundary Peak 107, is located in the

Boundary Ranges The Boundary Ranges, also known in the singular and as the Alaska Boundary Range, are the largest and most northerly subrange of the Coast Mountains. They begin at the Nass River, near the southern end of the Alaska Panhandle in the Canadian pro ...

of 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 ...

. The true summit is set 200 metres inside Canada and the lower Southwest Peak (7,087+ ft, 2,160+ m) lies directly on the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

, from the main summit. The Southwest Peak is situated southeast of

Skagway The Municipality and Borough of Skagway is a borough in Alaska on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,240, up from 968 in 2010. The population doubles in the summer tourist season in order to deal with the large ...

on the boundary shared by

Haines Borough Haines Borough is a home-rule borough located in the state of Alaska. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,080, down from 2,508 in 2010. Geography The borough has a total area of , of which is land and (14.9%) is water. Adjacent bor ...

and Skagway Borough, and on land managed by

Tongass National Forest The Tongass National Forest () in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at , an expanse larger than 10 U.S. states and 75 U.N. member nations. Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many s ...

. Although modest in elevation,

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

is significant as the west slope rises 1,720 metres (5,650 ft) in two kilometres (1.2 mile). Precipitation runoff and glacial meltwater from the mountain drains to

Lynn Canal Lynn Canal is an inlet (not an artificial canal) into the mainland of southeast Alaska. Lynn Canal runs about from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage. At over in depth, Lynn Canal is the deepest fjor ...

via the Katzehin River. The nearest higher neighbor is the Sawtooth Range, four miles (6.5 km) to the north. 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 the summit was made on August 31, 1967, by Kenneth Carpenter, Ron Miller, Margaret Piggott, and Mike Wiley.North America, United States, Alaska, Boundary Peaks, Denver and Meade Glaciers, Southeast of Skagway
Kenneth C. Carpenter, American Alpine Journal, 1968.

Etymology

The mountain was named jointly by the United States and Canada to honor Sir

Charles Bagot Sir Charles Bagot, (23 September 1781 – 19 May 1843) was a British politician, diplomat and colonial administrator. He served as ambassador to the United States, Russia, and the Netherlands. He served as the second Governor General of Cana ...

(1781–1843), British Ambassador to Russia and

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of a sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word can als ...

at St. Petersburg in 1822 during negotiations regarding the Alaska boundary.Donald J. Orth, ''Dictionary of Alaska Place Names'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967, page 99. He was the British Minister to the United States (1815–1820) and negotiated the

Rush–Bagot Treaty The Rush–Bagot Treaty or Rush–Bagot Disarmament was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, following the War of 1812. It was ratified by the United States Senate o ...

in 1817. He served as

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

from 1841 through 1843. The toponym was officially adopted on May 2, 1923, by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, and on March 31, 1924, 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 ...

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 ...

, Mount Bagot is located in a

tundra climate The tundra climate is a polar climate sub-type located in high latitudes and high mountains. It is classified as ET according to the Köppen climate classification. It is a climate which at least one month has an average temperature high enough ...

zone with cold, snowy winters, and cool summers. Weather systems coming off the

Gulf of Alaska The Gulf of Alaska ( Tlingit: ''Yéil T'ooch’'') is an arm of the Pacific Ocean defined by the curve of the southern coast of Alaska, stretching from the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island in the west to the Alexander Archipelago in the ...

are forced upwards by the Coast Mountains (

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 heavy precipitation in the form of rainfall and snowfall. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C. This climate supports the Denver Glacier and other unnamed glaciers of the

Juneau Icefield The Juneau Icefield is an ice field located just north of Juneau, Alaska, Juneau, Alaska, continuing north through the border with British Columbia, extending through an area of in the Coast Mountains, Coast Range ranging north to south and east ...

surrounding the mountain.

Gallery

File:Mount Bagot, British Columbia.jpg, Mount Bagot (left) viewed looking through the Katzehin River Valley File:Mt. Bagot.jpg, Aerial view of southwest aspect of Mt. Bagot centered on the skyline File:Charles Bagot (1781-1843), by Francis William Wilkin (1791-1842).jpg, Charles Bagot in 1825

References

External links