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Appalachian Mountains

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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Side valleys and tributary valleys are valleys whose brooks or rivers flow into greater ones.

Upstream, the valleys can be classified in an increasing order which is equivalent to the usual orographic order: the tributaries are ordered from those nearest to the source of the river to those nearest to the mouth of the river. A confluence is where two or more tributaries or rivers flow together. (Full article...)

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Selected mountain range

Cristal Mountains (Portuguese: Serra do Cristal), also known as Santo Antônio Mountains, are located in Brazil, in the state of Minas Gerais.

One of the tourist points of interests of the mountain range are Cristal Falls, they have 20 metres (66 ft) of height. (Full article...)

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Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form intrusions, such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.

Intrusion is one of the two ways igneous rock can form. The other is extrusion, such as a volcanic eruption or similar event. An intrusion is any body of intrusive igneous rock, formed from magma that cools and solidifies within the crust of the planet. In contrast, an extrusion consists of extrusive rock, formed above the surface of the crust. (Full article...)

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Selected climbing article

A climbing harness is a device which allows a climber access to the safety of a rope. It is used in rock and ice climbing, abseiling, and lowering; this is in contrast to other activities requiring ropes for access or safety such as industrial rope work (such as window cleaning), construction, and rescue and recovery, which use safety harnesses instead. (Full article...)

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General images

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

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

Selected skiing article

Telemark skiing is a skiing technique that combines elements of Alpine and Nordic skiing, using the rear foot to keep balance while pushing on the front foot to create a carving turn on downhill skis with toe-only bindings. Telemark skiing is named after the Telemark region of Norway, where the discipline originated. Sondre Norheim is often credited for first demonstrating the turn in ski races, which included cross country, slalom, and jumping, in Norway around 1868. Sondre Norheim also experimented with ski and binding design, introducing side cuts to skis and heel bindings (like a cable). (Full article...)

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