Phalanx Mountain is a summit located in

Garibaldi Provincial Park Garibaldi Provincial Park, also called Garibaldi Park, is a wilderness park located on the coastal mainland of British Columbia, Canada, 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) north of Vancouver. It was established in 1920 and named a Class A Provincial ...

of southwest

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.

Description

Phalanx Mountain is the northernmost peak in the

Spearhead Range The Spearhead Range is a short subrange of the Garibaldi Ranges of southwestern British Columbia, Canada, adjacent to the resort town of Whistler, British Columbia and ending at its northwestern apex in Blackcomb Mountain, one of two mountains f ...

, which is a subset of the Garibaldi Ranges 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 peak is situated east-southeast of Whistler and north-northeast of The Spearhead, which is the nearest higher neighbor. Precipitation runoff and glacial meltwater from the east side of the peak drains to Wedge Creek, whereas the west slope drains to Blackcomb Creek, with both then eventually finding the Green River. Phalanx is more notable for its steep rise above local terrain than for its absolute elevation as

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 with the summit rising 1,240 meters (4,068 ft) above Wedge Creek in approximately .

Etymology

The descriptive name for the mountain refers to the mountain resembling a Greek

flying wedge A flying wedge (also called flying V or wedge formation, or simply wedge) is a configuration created from a body moving forward in a triangular formation. This V-shaped arrangement began as a successful military strategy in ancient times when in ...

of soldiers when viewed from the southwest or southeast, and this wedge formation is termed a

phalanx The phalanx (: phalanxes or phalanges) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used t ...

. The mountain's toponym was officially adopted August 27, 1965, 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 ...

, Phalanx 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 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. Winter temperatures can drop below −20 °C with wind chill factors below −30 °C. This climate supports the Blackcomb Glacier below the west slope, Spearhead Glacier on the southeast slope, and the Phalanx Glacier on the north slope. The months July through September offer the most favorable weather for climbing Phalanx Mountain.

Gallery

File:Phalanx Mountain.jpg, Southwest aspect File:Phalanx Mountain and The Spearhead.jpg, Phalanx Mountain (left) and

line parent A peak's line parent is the closest higher peak on the highest ridge leading away from the peak's "key col". A col is the lowest point on the ridge between two summits and is roughly synonymous with pass, gap, saddle and notch. The highest col ...

The Spearhead (right) from the west near Blackcomb ski area File:Phalanx Mountain, The Spearhead.jpg, Phalanx Mountain (left) and The Spearhead (right) from the west at Blackcomb ski area File:Phalanx Mountain sunset.jpg, Winter sunset on Phalanx Mountain seen from Rainbow Mountain File:Phalanx Mountain nw.jpg, Northwest aspect of Phalanx Mountain seen from Rainbow Mountain

References

External links