Skyscraper Mountain is a

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 ...

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

Skyscraper Mountain is located 14 miles (22.5 km) northwest of

Palmer, Alaska Palmer is a city in and the county seat, borough seat of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, United States, located northeast of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, Matanuska Valley. It is the List of cities in A ...

, in the

Talkeetna Mountains The Talkeetna Mountains (''Dghelaay tahwt’aene'' in Ahtna) () are a mountain range in Alaska. The Matanuska and Susitna River valleys, with towns such as Trapper Creek, Talkeetna, Wasilla, Palmer, Sutton, and Chickaloon, roughly bound th ...

, on land managed as the Hatcher Pass Management Area of the state park system. It is also immediately north of

Hatcher Pass Hatcher Pass (3,886 ft or 1,148 m) is a mountain pass through the southwest part of the Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska. It is named after Robert Hatcher, a prospector and miner. The nearest cities are Palmer and Wasilla approximately to ...

and southwest of the Independence Mine State Historic Park. Precipitation runoff from this mountain's east slope drains to the nearby Little Susitna River via Fishhook Creek, whereas the west side drains to the

Susitna River The Susitna River (; ; ) is a long river in the Southcentral Alaska. It is the 15th largest river in the United States, ranked by average discharge volume at its mouth. The river stretches from the Susitna Glacier to Cook Inlet's Knik Arm. Ety ...

via Willow Creek.

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 above Fishhook Creek in . Access is via the Palmer-Fishhook Road (also called Hatcher Pass Road), and a 2.2-mile trail (round-trip) gains 1,170 feet of elevation to reach the summit.Lisa Maloney, ''Day Hiking Southcentral Alaska'', Mountaineers Books, 2019, . The Martin Mine located on the mountain's northeast slope was the site of the first gold quartz discovery in the Willow Creek mining district made in 1906 by Robert Lee Hatcher (1867–1950), and it produced 27,150 ounces of gold from 1906 to 1931. This mountain's descriptive toponym has been officially adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

as reported in 1942 by U.S. Geological Survey,Donald J. Orth, ''Dictionary of Alaska Place Names'', U.S. Government Printing Office, 1967, p. 886. however the name has been in publications since at least 1914.

Geology

The Willow Creek mining district at

is historically the third-largest lode-gold producing district in Alaska, having produced 624,000 ounces of gold. Mining of placer gold deposits began in 1906. Hardrock gold mining began a few years later from high-grade vein lode deposits. The Willow Creek mining district lies at the southwestern edge of a great mass of granitic intrusions that form much of the Talkeetna Mountains and is within the Wrangellia composite terrane. At Hatcher Pass a pervasively altered zoned 74 million years old quartz diorite to

tonalite Tonalite is an igneous rock, igneous, plutonic (Intrusive rock, intrusive) rock (geology), rock, of felsic composition, with phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture. Feldspar is present as plagioclase (typically oligoclase or andesine) with alkali fe ...

pluton underlies the headwaters of Willow Creek and Fishhook Creek, with most of the gold deposits occurring in these rocks. A 67 Ma

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

monzonite Monzonite is an igneous intrusive rock, formed by slow cooling of underground magma that has a moderate silica content and is enriched in alkali metal oxides. Monzonite is composed mostly of plagioclase and alkali feldspar. Syenodiorite is an ...

pluton lies west and north of the older quartz diorite; a Cretaceous quartz diorite pluton lies to the east. South of Bullion Mountain, a high angle east–west fault passing through

separates plutonic rocks on the north side of the fault from

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...

south of the fault.

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 ...

, Skyscraper Mountain is located in a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and short cool summers. Winter temperatures can drop below 0 °F with wind chill factors below −10 °F. The months of May through June offer the most favorable weather for climbing or viewing.''Denali FAQ'', American Alpine Institute
alpineinstitute.com, Retrieved 2024-01-08.

Gallery

File:Hatcher Pass Talkeetna Mountains Alaska.jpg, East ridge in winter File:On Top of the World, Matanuska-Susitna Valley.jpg, Summit of Skyscraper Mountain, camera pointed south File:Foraker Denali Bullion.jpg, View from Skyscraper Mountain. On the horizon are Mount Foraker and Denali. The reddish ridge with switchbacks is part of Bullion Mountain.

Description

Geology

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links