Mount Newton is a 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 ...

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

, Canada.

Description

Mount Newton is part of the

Saint Elias Mountains The Saint Elias Mountains () are a subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in southeastern Alaska in the United States, Southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada. The range spans Wrangell-St. Elias ...

Kluane National Park Kluane National Park and Reserve (; ) are two protected areas in the southwest corner of the territory of Yukon. The National Park Reserve was set aside in 1972 to become a national park, pending settlement of First Nations land claims. It cover ...

where it ranks as the 22nd-highest summit in Canada. The remote mountain is highly glaciated and surrounded by the Seward and Newton glaciers. The nearest higher neighbor is

Mount Saint Elias Mount Saint Elias (Was'eitushaa also designated Boundary Peak 186), the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Cana ...

, to the southwest, and

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

is to the northeast.

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 the summit rises approximately 1,700 metres (5,577 ft) above the head of the Newton Glacier in .

Etymology

The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 1917 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 ...

to honor US geologist Henry Newton (1845–1877), grandson of

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment that followed. His book (''Mathe ...

and author of a report on the geology of the

Black Hills The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to , is the range's highest summit. The name of the range ...

that confirmed gold there.''The Black Hills Daily Times''
August 6, 1877, newspapers.com. The mountain was so named by

Israel Russell Israel Cook Russell, LL.D. (December 10, 1852 – May 1, 1906) was an American geologist and geographer known for his seminal work on paleolakes of the Great Basin and exploration of Alaska in the late 19th century. Early life and education Rus ...

in 1890 when this land was claimed by the US. Russell Col is the low point between Mt. Newton and Mt. Saint Elias.

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 Newton 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 long, 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 Saint Elias 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 -10 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C. This climate supports immense glaciers surrounding this mountain. The months May through June offer the most favorable weather for climbing or viewing.

Gallery

File:Mount Saint Elias (3).jpg, Mount Saint Elias (centered) with Mount Newton left of centre

References

External links