Mount Sanford (Alaska)

Mount Sanford
Mount Sanford (left) and Mount Wrangell in 1981
Highest point
Elevation 16,237 ft (4,949 m) [1] NAVD88
Prominence 7,687 ft (2,343 m) [1]
Isolation 40.3 mi (64.8 km) [1]
Listing
Coordinates 62°12′50″N 144°07′44″W / 62.2138889°N 144.1288889°W / 62.2138889; -144.1288889Coordinates: 62°12′50″N 144°07′44″W / 62.2138889°N 144.1288889°W / 62.2138889; -144.1288889 [2]
Geography
Mount Sanford
Alaska
Location Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska, U.S.
Parent range Wrangell Mountains
Topo map USGS Gulkana A-1
Geology
Mountain type Shield volcano[3]
Last eruption 320,000 years ago
Climbing
First ascent July 21, 1938 by Terris Moore and Bradford Washburn[4]
Easiest route Sheep Glacier (North Ramp) Route, Alaska Grade 2[4]
Mount Sanford from Tok Cutoff Highway
Mount Sanford from Tok Cutoff Highway
Mount Sanford

Mount Sanford is a shield volcano[3] in the Wrangell Volcanic Field, in eastern Alaska near the Copper River. It is the sixth highest mountain in the United States and the third highest volcano behind Mount Bona and Mount Blackburn. The south face of the volcano, at the head of the Sanford Glacier, rises 8,000 feet (2,400 m) in 1 mile (1,600 m) resulting in one of the steepest gradients in North America.

Geology

Mount Sanford is mainly composed of andesite, and is an ancient peak, being mostly Pleistocene, although some of the upper parts of the mountain may be Holocene. The mountain first began developing 900,000 years ago, when it began growing on top of three smaller shield volcanoes that had coalesced. Two notable events in the mountain's history include a large lava flow which traveled some 11 miles (18 km) to the north east of the peak, and another flow which erupted from a rift zone on the flank of the volcano some 320,000 years ago. The second flow was basaltic in nature and marks the most recent activity of the volcano. The flow was dated using radiometric methods.[3]

History

The mountain was named in 1885 by Lieutenant Henry T. Allen of the U.S. Army after the Sanford family (Allen was a descendant of Reuben Sanford).[2]

Mount Sanford was first climbed on July 21, 1938 by noted mountaineers Terris Moore and Bradford Washburn, via the still standard North Ramp route up the Sheep Glacier. This route "offers little technical difficulty" and "is a glacier hike all the way to the summit"[4] but is still a serious mountaineering challenge (Alaska Grade 2) due to the altitude and latitude of the peak. The base of the route is usually accessed by air, but landing near the mountain is not straightforward.

On March 12, 1948, Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 crashed into Mount Sanford. All 24 passengers and 6 crew members were killed. The wreckage was quickly covered by snow and was not found again until 1999.[5]

The first solo ascent of Sanford was achieved on September 19, 1968, by Japanese mountaineer Naomi Uemura, who later died just after making the first solo winter ascent of Denali.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Mount Sanford, Alaska". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  2. 1 2 "Mount Sanford". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  3. 1 2 3 "Sanford". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  4. 1 2 3 Wood, Michael; Coombs, Colby (2001). Alaska: A climbing guide. The Mountaineers. pp. 146–148. ISBN 0-89886-724-X.
  5. ↑ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  6. ↑ Vickery, Jim Dale (1998). Winter Sign. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 0-8166-2969-2.

Sources

  • Richter, Donald H.; Rosenkrans, Danny S.; Steigerwald, Margaret J. (1995). Guide to the Volcanoes of the Western Wrangell Mountains, Alaska. USGS Bulletin 2072.
  • Richter, Donald H.; Preller, Cindi C.; Labay, Keith A.; Shew, Nora B. (2006). Geologic Map of the Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. USGS Scientific Investigations Map 2877.
  • Winkler, Gary R. (2000). A Geologic Guide to Wrangell—Saint Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska: A Tectonic Collage of Northbound Terranes. USGS Professional Paper 1616. ISBN 0-607-92676-7.
  • Wood, Charles A.; Kienle, Jürgen, eds. (1990). Volcanoes of North America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43811-X.
  • "Sanford". Alaska Volcano Observatory. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  • "Sanford Trip Report". Mt. Sanford Expedition via the Sheep Glacier, 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
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