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Introduction

Uluguru Mountains, in Tanzania

A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher than a hill, typically rising at least 300 metres (980 ft) above the surrounding land. A few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in mountain ranges.

Mountains are formed through tectonic forces, erosion, or volcanism, which act on time scales of up to tens of millions of years. Once mountain building ceases, mountains are slowly leveled through the action of weathering, through slumping and other forms of mass wasting, as well as through erosion by rivers and glaciers.

High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level at similar latitude. These colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains: different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction, such as mining and logging, along with recreation, such as mountain climbing and skiing.

The highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m (29,035 ft) above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m (69,459 ft). (Full article...)

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A glacier (US: /ˈɡleɪʃər/; UK: /ˈɡlæsiər, ˈɡleɪsiər/) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as crevasses and seracs, as it slowly flows and deforms under stresses induced by its weight. As it moves, it abrades rock and debris from its substrate to create landforms such as cirques, moraines, or fjords. Although a glacier may flow into a body of water, it forms only on land and is distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.

On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets (also known as "continental glaciers") in the polar regions, but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on every continent other than the Australian mainland, including Oceania's high-latitude oceanic island countries such as New Zealand. Between latitudes 35°N and 35°S, glaciers occur only in the Himalayas, Andes, and a few high mountains in East Africa, Mexico, New Guinea and on Zard-Kuh in Iran. With more than 7,000 known glaciers, Pakistan has more glacial ice than any other country outside the polar regions. Glaciers cover about 10% of Earth's land surface. Continental glaciers cover nearly 13 million km² (5 million sq mi) or about 98% of Antarctica's 13.2 million km² (5.1 million sq mi), with an average thickness of ice 2,100 m (7,000 ft). Greenland and Patagonia also have huge expanses of continental glaciers. The volume of glaciers, not including the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland, has been estimated at 170,000 km³. (Full article...)

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Golden Mountains, seen from 900 meters above sea level

The Golden Mountains (Polish: Góry Złote; Czech: Rychlebské hory; German: Reichensteiner Gebirge) are a mountain range in the Sudetes on the border between Poland and the Czech Republic. Various ores were mined here from the 13th to the 20th century, including gold (Polish: złoto), hence the name Golden Mountains. There is a gold mine open to the public in Złoty Stok. It is the wildest, least civilized and least visited mountain range in Poland.

Voivodeship Road nr 390 in winter
Entrance to the gold mine in Złoty Stok

(Full article...)

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Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro. Trap is also used to refer to flood (plateau) basalts, e.g. the Deccan Traps and Siberian Traps. The erosion of trap rock created by the stacking of successive lava flows often created a distinct stairstep landscape from which the term trap was derived from the Swedish word trappa, which means "stairway".

The slow cooling of magma either as a sill or as a thick lava flow sometimes creates systematic vertical fractures within the resulting layer of trap rock. These fractures often form rock columns that are typically hexagonal, but also four- to eight-sided. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

Climbing wall

A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with manufactured grips (or "holds") for the hands and feet. Most walls are located indoors, and climbing on such walls is termed indoor climbing. Some walls are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used is a thick multiplex board with holes drilled into it. Recently, manufactured steel and aluminum have also been used. The wall may have places to attach belay ropes, but may also be used to practice lead climbing or bouldering.

Each hole contains a specially formed t-nut to allow modular climbing holds to be screwed onto the wall. With manufactured steel or aluminum walls, an engineered industrial fastener is used to secure climbing holds. The face of the multiplex board climbing surface is covered with textured products including concrete and paint or polyurethane loaded with sand. In addition to the textured surface and hand holds the wall may contain surface structures such as indentions (in cuts) and protrusions (bulges), or take the form of an overhang, underhang or crack. Some grips are formed to mimic the conditions of outdoor rock, including some that are oversized and can have other grips bolted onto them. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various mountain-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The Ocean Ridge, the world's longest mountain range (chain) (from Mountain range)
Image 2Mountaineers, c. 1900 (from Mountaineering)
Image 3A subalpine lake in the Cascade Range, Washington, United States (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 4Chimborazo, Ecuador, whose summit is the point farthest away from the Earth's center (from Mountain)
Image 5The Namcha Barwa Himal, east part of the Himalayas as seen from space by Apollo 9 (from Mountain range)
Image 6Edelweiss, a plant associated with mountain sports (from Mountaineering)
Image 7The city of La Paz reaches up to 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) in elevation. (from Mountain)
Image 8Antique climbing tools (from Mountaineering)
Image 9The Andes, the longest mountain range on the surface of the Earth, have a dramatic impact on the climate of South America (from Mountain range)
Image 10Car of Horská služba (Czech Republic) (from Mountain rescue)
Image 11Mount Everest, Earth's highest mountain (from Mountain)
Image 12Pirin Mountain, Bulgaria, part of the fault-block Rila-Rhodope massif (from Mountain)
Image 13An alpine mire in the Swiss Alps (from Mountain)
Image 14Alpine landscape below Malyovitsa Peak, Rila Mountain, Bulgaria (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 15A mountain rescue team in Iran moving a casualty. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 16A stand of mountain birch at around 750 m in Trollheimen, typical of Scandinavian subalpine forests (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 17Choppering out the injured – with Mt. Forbes in the background (from Mountain rescue)
Image 18British mountaineer William Cecil Slingsby became known as the father of Norwegian mountaineering and contributed greatly to its popularization with his classic book Norway, the Northern Playground (from Mountaineering)
Image 19Alpine flora near Cascade Pass (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 20Everest is highest from sea level (green), Mauna Kea is highest from its base (orange), Cayambe is farthest from Earth's axis (pink) and Chimborazo is farthest from Earth's centre (blue) (from Mountain)
Image 21The northern Urals at high latitude and elevation have an alpine climate and barren ground. (from Mountain)
Image 22Stretcher box in Cumbria, England, prepositioned equipment saves mountain rescue teams having to trudge up mountains with it. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 23Climbers ascending Mount Rainier looking at Little Tahoma Peak (from Mountaineering)
Image 24Winter campers bivouaced in the snow (from Mountaineering)
Image 25This 1848 "Sketch showing the actual elevation of the Snow Line in different Latitudes" by Alexander Keith Johnston shows the snow lines of mountains in America, Europe and Asia (from Snow line)
Image 26Mountaineers proceed across snow fields on South Tyrol; other climbers are visible further up the slopes. (from Mountaineering)
Image 27Waimea Canyon, Hawaii, is known for its montane vegetation. (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 28Cabane du Trient, a mountain hut in the Swiss Alps (from Mountaineering)
Image 29Fuji volcano (from Mountain)
Image 30The Catskills in Upstate New York represent an eroded plateau. (from Mountain)
Image 31Tropical montane forest at around 2,000 m in Malaysia (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 32Mountain rescue team members and other services attend to a casualty in Freiburg Germany. (from Mountain rescue)
Image 33Edward Whymper (1840–1911), painting by Lance Calkin (from Mountaineering)
Image 34Illustration of mountains that developed on a fold that has been thrust (from Mountain)
Image 35Climber approaching the summit of Manaslu at 8,163 metres (from Mountaineering)
Image 36Temperate montane forest in Bavaria, Germany (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 37Mountaineers climbing in South Tyrol (from Mountain)
Image 38Iranian oak scrub in the Zagros Mountains (from Montane ecosystems)
Image 39Montes Apenninus on the Moon was formed by an impact event. (from Mountain range)
Image 40Fixed lines and ladders are distinguishing characteristics of expedition style mountaineering (from Mountaineering)

Selected skiing article

A funitel is a type of cableway, generally used to transport skiers, although at least one is used to transport finished cars between different areas of a factory. It differs from a standard gondola lift through the use of two arms attached to two parallel overhead cables, providing more stability in high winds. The name funitel is a portmanteau of the French words funiculaire and telepherique.

When used to transport skiers, funitels are a fast way to get to a higher altitude. Skis or snowboard have to be taken off and held during the trip. Depending on the configuration, cabins may or may not contain seats. Without seats, funitels can sometimes be uncomfortable for long trips, in the same way other large cable cars can be. Funitels combine a short time between successive cabins with a capacity of around 20 to 30 people per cabin. (Full article...)

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