Tiehacker Mountain 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 ...

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

Tiehacker Mountain is located northeast of Seward in the

Kenai Mountains The Kenai Mountains ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghanen Dghili'') are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Alaska. They extend northeast from the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula to the Chugach Mountains, and have an average elevation of 3,000 to 5,00 ...

, on land managed by

Chugach National Forest The Chugach National Forest is a United States National Forest in south central Alaska. Covering portions of Prince William Sound, the Kenai Peninsula and the Copper River (Alaska), Copper River Delta, it was formed in 1907 from part of a larger ...

. Precipitation runoff and glacial meltwater from the mountain's south and west slopes drains to

Resurrection Bay Resurrection Bay, also known as Blying Sound, and Harding Gateway in its outer reaches, is a fjord on the Kenai Peninsula of Alaska, United States. Its main settlement is Seward, Alaska, Seward, located at the head of the bay. The bay received ...

via Salmon Creek, whereas the north and east slopes drain to

Kenai Lake Kenai Lake (Denaʼina language, Dena'ina: ''Sqilan Bena'') is a large, "zig-zag" shaped lake on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. The lake forms the headwaters of the Kenai River, and is itself a destination for fishing and other outdoor activity. The ...

via the South Fork

Snow River The Snow River is a tributary of Kenai Lake in the U.S. state of Alaska. Beginning in the Kenai Mountains of the Kenai Peninsula, it flows southwest through Chugach National Forest where its main and south forks join to near Primrose at the s ...

. Although modest in elevation,

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 over 3,600 feet (1,097 m) above the South Fork in . The mountain's toponym was officially adopted in 2002, 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 ...

. The mountain's toponym "tiehacker" is a nickname for lumberjacks who fashioned

railroad ties A railroad tie, crosstie (American English), railway tie (Canadian English) or railway sleeper (Australian and British English) is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks. Generally laid perpendicular to the rails, ties transfe ...

from trees as a source of winter income during the construction of the

Alaska Railroad The Alaska Railroad is a Class II railroad that operates freight and passenger trains in the state of Alaska. The railroad's mainline runs between Seward, Alaska, Seward on the southern coast and Fairbanks, Alaska, Fairbanks, near the center of ...

in the early 1900s. The rail line passes three miles to the west of the peak, being separated by Bear Lake, and the trees were harvested from Tiehacker Mountain.''Bear Lake Trail, Chugach National Forest''
fs.usda.gov, Retrieved 2024-01-04. The

Iditarod National Historic Trail The Iditarod Trail, also known historically as the Seward-to-Nome Trail, is a thousand-plus mile (1,600 km) historic and contemporary trail system in the US state of Alaska. The trail began as a composite of trails established by Alaskan ...

traverses the western base of the mountain and the mountain is visible from the

Seward Highway The Seward Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska that extends from Seward, Alaska, Seward to Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage. It was completed in 1951 and runs through the scenic Kenai Peninsula, Chugach National Forest, Turnagain Arm ...

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 ...

, Tiehacker Mountain 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 mild 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 Kenai 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 0 °F with wind chill factors below −10 °F. This climate supports the Bear Lake Glacier on the south slope and a small unnamed glacier on the northwest slope.

Gallery

File:Anchorage to Seward (16166798736).jpg, North aspect File:Tiehacker Mountain, west.jpg, West aspect

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Tiehacker Mountain
* Tiehacker Mountain
YouTube (video)
{{Portal bar, Mountains, Geography, Alaska Mountains of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area One-thousanders of the United States

Description

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links