Mount Spickard (pronounced SPICK' erd) is a mountain peak in the

North Cascades The North Cascades are a section of the Cascade Range of western North America. They span the border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and ...

, a mountain range 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 ...

of Washington. Located south of the Canada–US border, it is part of the Chilliwack Group, a subrange of the Skagit Range which is part of the North Cascades. It is composed mainly of

gneiss Gneiss (pronounced ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. This rock is formed under p ...

and is part of two major

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s: that of the

Skagit River The Skagit River ( ) is a river in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington (state), Washington in the United States, approximately 150 mi (240 km) long. The river and its tributaries drain an area of 1.7&nbs ...

and

Fraser River The Fraser River () is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain (Canada), Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of V ...

. With a topographic prominence of over , Mount Spickard is one of the most prominent peaks in the state, and has two minor summits. It was named for a climber who fell to his death while ascending another nearby mountain peak. The first to ascend it was Walter B. Reaburn, in 1904.

Description

Mount Spickard rises to in the northernmost extreme of

North Cascades National Park North Cascades National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in Washington (state), Washington. At more than , it is the largest of the three National Park Service units that comprise the No ...

, making it the 5th highest peak in the park and the 16th highest in the state. Its

prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

of is the ninth-greatest in the state and makes it the 70th-most prominent peak in the United States. It is located northwest of Jack Mountain, the nearest higher peak. The main summit of Spickard has two sub-peaks. The taller of the two is a summit, with a prominence of , to the northeast of the true summit. The shorter is located southwest of the main peak and rises to , but has of prominence. In his popular climbing guide, Fred Beckey uses the name "Peak 8824" for the northeast sub-peak. High ridges connect Mount Spickard to other peaks. A ridge to the southwest connects Spickard with Twin Spires (also called Mox Peaks) and the Ridge of Gendarmes. The high ridges to the southeast of Mount Spickard are somewhat broken up by glacier-couloirs but connect Spickard with summits known as Tombstone Peak and Peak 7153. Another high ridge extends to the northeast. The ridge to the northwest is broken by a saddle point but otherwise extends several miles, curving north and east, around Silver Lake to Mount Custer Ridge, Mount Rahm, and Devils Tongue.

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topographic maps

Hydrology

There are many glaciers on Mount Spickard's slopes and neighboring ridges. Silver Glacier extends over a mile from Spickard's summit north through a large

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, 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 a ...

to Silver Lake. The high terrain southwest of Mount Spickard is intensely glaciated, with numerous glaciers, some very large, extending over to Mount Redoubt. There are four main drainage basins reaching to the slopes of Mount Spickard. Depot Creek flows west and northwest to join the Chilliwack River and, ultimately, the

, which flows into the Pacific Ocean in

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 ...

. On the south side of Spickard are some headstreams of Perry Creek, which flows east to Little Beaver Creek and, via Ross Lake, the

. To the north Silver Lake Glacier sends meltwater into Silver Lake. Meltwater streams from glaciers on the east side of Mount Spickard join the outflow, Silver Creek, which flows east from Silver Lake to Ross Lake. Access to the mountain is difficult due to the remote and rugged nature of the area. The easiest approach is from

via Chilliwack Lake and Depot Creek. There are two common approaches within Washington, both via

water taxi A water taxi or a water bus is a boat used to provide public transport, public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an Urban area, urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a simil ...

on Ross Lake.

History

The geologist Reginald A. Daly studied the Spickard area in 1902 and 1906. He described Mount Spickard (then called Glacier Peak) and its neighbors as the most inaccessible summits of the entire U.S.–Canada border region west of the Flathead River of the Rocky Mountains. The first ascent was made in 1904 by Walter B. Reaburn. A second ascent was made the following year by Thomas Riggs Jr., George Neuner Jr., and J. Beall. In 1906, Noel J. Ogilvie and a Canadian party climbed Mount Spickard. Mount Spickard was called Glacier Peak until 1963, when it was renamed in memory of Warren Spickard. Spickard was a distinguished mountaineer, who died in 1961 while climbing the nearby Northwest Twin Spires (also called Northwest Mox Peak or Northwest Mox). He had climbed Mount Spickard in 1955.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spickard, Mount Mountains of Whatcom County, Washington Skagit Range

Description

Hydrology

History

See also

References