Mount Saint Elias

Mount Saint Elias is a very tall mountain.

It sits on the border of Alaska and Canada. It is near the Pacific Ocean.

The mountain is very high. It is the second highest in both lands. It is part of two big parks.

The weather is very wild. It has strong winds and big storms. It gets a lot of snow.

Because the weather is so bad, few people climb it. The snow can fall for many weeks. It can even snow in every month.

Some people even try to ski down it. It is a very grand place to see.

Mount Saint Elias is a very tall mountain.

It sits on the border of Alaska and Canada. It is near the Pacific Ocean. The mountain is the second highest in both countries. Part of it is in Kluane National Park. The rest is in Wrangell–St. Elias National Park.

Tlingit people have lived near it for a long time. They call it Was'eitushaa. This name means "mountain behind Icy Bay."

Some people also call it "Big Mountain."

The weather here is very harsh. It has strong winds and many storms. The mountain gets a lot of snow. It can even snow in every month. This makes climbing very hard. Many trips to the top fail.

A group first climbed the peak in 1897. It took many years to climb it in winter. The first winter climb happened in 1996.

This tunic was a gift to a climbing group. The mountain is a grand and wild place.

Mount Saint Elias is a huge mountain in North America.

It sits right on the border between Alaska and the Yukon. The mountain is the second highest peak in both the United States and Canada. One side of the mountain is in Kluane National Park and Reserve. The other side is inside Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve. It stands near the Pacific Ocean and rises very high from the sea.

The weather on this mountain is very extreme. It is near the ocean, so storms come in quickly. The mountain gets a lot of snow every year. These storms can bring hurricane-force winds and very cold temperatures. Sometimes the air is so thick with snow that people cannot see anything. This is called a whiteout. In the winter, it is almost dark all day long because of where the mountain sits. These hard conditions make it a very difficult place to visit.

The Tlingit people have a long history with this mountain. They call it Was'eitushaa, which means "mountain behind Icy Bay." Some people also call it "Big Mountain." The Kwaashkʼiḵwáan clan used the peak as a guide for their travels. Tlingit legends say the mountain once stood next to Mount Fairweather. The two mountains had an argument and moved apart. Their children are the smaller mountains found between the two peaks.

Explorers first saw the mountain in July 1741. This was during a trip led by Vitus Bering. The first group to reach the summit was an Italian team in 1897. They were led by Prince Luigi Amedeo, the Duke of the Abruzzi. A famous photographer named Vittorio Sella was also on that trip.

Later, in 1946, a group from Harvard climbed the Southwest Ridge. They had to use eleven different camps to stay safe. They even needed planes to drop food to them.

Climbing Mount Saint Elias is a big challenge for many people. Many trips to the top do not succeed because the weather is so bad. It was not climbed in the winter until February 13, 1996. Three climbers named David Briggs, Gardner Heaton, and Joe Reichert reached the top then. They had to use a special path to avoid loose rocks. Even today, climbers must be careful because snow falls in every month.

This tunic was a gift to a climbing team from the Tlingit people.

Mount Saint Elias is a massive mountain located in North America. It sits on the border between Alaska and the Yukon. This peak is the second-highest mountain in both the United States and Canada. It is also the second-highest in Alaska and the Yukon. The mountain spans two different protected areas. The Canadian side is part of Kluane National Park and Reserve. The U.S. side is within Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

The mountain is famous for its immense vertical relief. This means it rises very steeply over a short distance. The summit rises vertically from the head of Taan Fjord. This fjord is located off Icy Bay. Although Mount Logan is much higher, Mount Saint Elias has high prominence. This is because the low Columbus-Seward Glacier separates it from Mount Logan. This unique shape makes the mountain a striking landmark near the Pacific Ocean.

The Tlingit people have deep connections to this mountain. In the Tlingit language, the name Was'eitushaa means "mountain behind Icy Bay." Some Yakutat Tlingit people call it "Big Mountain." The Kwaashkʼiḵwáan clan used the peak as a guide. They used it while traveling down the Copper River. Tlingit legends describe the mountain's history. Legend says Mount Saint Elias and Mount Fairweather once stood next to each other. They had an argument and moved apart. The mountains between them are called Tsalx̱aan Yátxʼi, or "Children of Tsalxaan."

Weather on Mount Saint Elias is extremely severe. It experiences some of the harshest conditions in North America. The mountain is near the Pacific Ocean. This proximity puts it in the path of Aleutian Low pressure systems. These systems move northeast from the Gulf of Alaska. The mountain's height causes orographic lift. This process forces moist Pacific air upward. As the air rises, it produces intense snowfall. The region receives between 200 to over 1,000 centimeters of precipitation annually.

Conditions can change in just minutes. A clear day can turn into a whiteout very quickly. A whiteout is when visibility is lost due to snow. The mountain also faces hurricane-force winds. In winter, temperatures drop below -30°C. Wind chills can reach -50°C when winds hit 100 km/h or more. At 60°N latitude, winter climbing happens in near-continuous darkness. These factors lead to a high expedition failure rate.

European explorers first saw the mountain on July 16, 1741. They were part of an expedition led by Vitus Bering. Bering was a Danish-born Russian explorer. Historians debate how the mountain got its name. Some say Bering named it. Others believe mapmakers named it after Cape Saint Elias. The first successful summit occurred on July 31, 1897. An Italian expedition led by Prince Luigi Amedeo reached the top. The famous photographer Vittorio Sella was also part of this team.

Climbing history shows how difficult the mountain is to conquer. In 1946, the Harvard Mountaineering Club climbed the Southwest Ridge. They used eleven camps to manage the weather. They even needed air drops for food. In 1965, another Harvard team climbed the Northwest Ridge. During that trip, a heavy wind-slab avalanche struck the team. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. The first winter ascent did not happen until February 13, 1996. David Briggs, Gardner Heaton, and Joe Reichert reached the summit then. They used a variation called the "Milk Bowl" to avoid loose rock.

Modern explorers still find the mountain challenging. It is known for having no easy routes to the summit. The mountain receives snow in every month of the year. This makes the terrain unpredictable. In 2007, a documentary called "Mount St. Elias" followed a team of skiers. They wanted to make the planet's longest skiing descent. They climbed the mountain and skied down to the Gulf of Alaska. This project shows the extreme scale of the mountain's slopes.