Mount Steele
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Mount Steele is the fifth-highest
mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
in
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 ...
and either the tenth- or eleventh-highest peak in
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 ...
. Its exact elevation is uncertain. Commonly-quoted figures are and . A lower southeast peak of Mt. Steele stands at . It was named after Sir
Sam Steele Major-general Sir Samuel Benfield Steele (5 January 1848 – 30 January 1919) was a Canadian soldier and policeman. He was an officer of the North-West Mounted Police, head of the Yukon detachment during the Klondike Gold Rush, and commandin ...
, the
North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian paramilitary police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert's Land and North-Western Territory to ...
officer in charge of the force in the
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 ...
during the Klondike Gold Rush.


Elevation

Mount Steele's exact elevation is uncertain. Until the 1960s, Canadian topographical maps showed an elevation of , which was determined in 1913 by
International Boundary Commission The International Boundary Commission () is a bi-national organization responsible for surveying and mapping the Canada–United States border and regulating construction close to the border. The commission was created in 1908 and made permanent ...
surveyors. However, this height was never tied to the sea-level datum established by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey. More recent Canadian topographical maps no longer show a spot height, and their contour lines indicate a summit elevation of 5,02020 metres (about 16,47060 ft). The older figure continues to be quoted by other sources.


First ascent in 1935

Walter A. Wood led a team consisting of Foresta Wood (Walter's wife), Swiss guide Hans Fuhrer, Joseph W. Fobes, Harrison Wood and I. Pearce Hazard. The expedition approached the peak on the eastern side from
Kluane Lake Kluane Lake is located in the southwest area of the Yukon. It is the largest lake contained entirely within Yukon at approximately , and long. Kluane Lake is located approximately northwest of Haines Junction. The Alaska Highway follows mos ...
. Base camp was established at the foot of the Steele Glacier with horses carrying loads to Advance Base Camp (known as Camp 6) further along the glacier. ABC provided good views of the mountain and the team decided on the east ridge as their line of ascent. After waiting for the weather to improve after heavy snowfalls, a four-man team consisting of Walter Wood, Harrison Wood, Fuhrer and Forbes left Camp 8 at the base of the ridge. Their plan to was to make a push to the summit. After steady upwards progress, deteriorating weather forced them to return to Camp 8 where they waited out a five-day storm which dumped over a metre of fresh snow. They started out again on August 15 and the ascent was made easier this time by windblown and hard steep snow slopes rather than steep soft snow on their earlier attempt. At , a plateau of wretched snow forced the team to crawl on all fours. Walter Wood commented: Alternating the lead every 100 paces, they made their way from the plateau to the top, finally reaching the summit at 2:30 pm. The team enjoyed a blissful thirty minutes of windless conditions on top before beginning their descent.


Avalanche and landslides

On 22 July 2007 at approximately 13:25
Pacific Daylight Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00). ...
, a massive
avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...
took place on Mount Steele when a slab of ice with a volume of about broke loose from its north face. The slab broke up as it fell down the side of the mountain, developing into an avalanche that crossed Steele Glacier, overtopped a ridge, and continued onto
Hodgson Glacier Hodgson is a surname. In Britain, the Hodgson surname was the 173rd most common (766 per million) in 1881 and the 206th most common (650 per million) in 1998. In the United States of America, Hodgson was the 3753rd most popular surname (30 per mill ...
, where it finally came to rest after traveling a total horizontal distance of . The avalanche covered about of the surface of Steele Glacier. The avalanche registered as a 2.1-magnitude seismic event. At 17:57 Pacific Daylight Time on 24 July 2007 – only two days after the avalanche — a massive
landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...
occurred on the north face of Mount Steele when a section of ice and rock fell. With a volume estimated at between , it lasted about 100 seconds and reached a maximum speed of at least . Falling down the side of the mountain, the landslide traveled across the Steele Glacier, and reached the top of a ridge on the opposite side of the glacier, where it came to a stop before sliding back down onto Steele Glacier. It traveled a total horizontal distance of . It was immediately recognized as one of the largest landslides in Yukon Territory history, if not the largest, and is one of the largest in the recorded history of western Canada. On 11 October 2015, of rock, snow, and ice with a volume of about slid down the side of Mount Steele and across the surface of Steele Glacier. It was one of the ten largest landslides of the year worldwide.


See also

*
List of mountain peaks of North America This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All ...
**
Mountain peaks of Canada This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaksThis article defines a significant summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence, and a major summit as a summit with at least of topographic prominence. All ...


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steele, Mount Five-thousanders of Yukon Saint Elias Mountains