Freya Castle

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Freya Castle

| photo = Freya Castle and Vishnu Temple.jpg

| photo_caption = North aspect, from Angels Window Overlook
(Vishnu Temple upper right)

| label = Freya Castle

| label_position= bottom

| elevation_ft = 7288

| elevation_ref = {{cite peakbagger|id=77126|name=Freya Castle, Arizona|accessdate=2021-01-11}}

| prominence_ft = 688

| prominence_ref =

| isolation_mi = 1.42

| isolation_ref = {{cite web |url = https://listsofjohn.com/peak/71891 |title = Freya Castle – 7,288' AZ |website = Lists of John |access-date = 2021-01-11 }}

| parent_peak = Wotans Throne (7,740 ft)

| country = United States

| state = Arizona

| region = Coconino

| region_type = County

| part_type = Protected area | part = Grand Canyon National Park

| range = Kaibab Plateau
Colorado Plateau

| map = Arizona#USA

| map_size = 230

| map_caption = none

| coordinates = {{coord|36.1111594|N|111.9364970|W|type:mountain_region:US-AZ_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| coordinates_ref = {{cite gnis |id=4859 |name=Freya Castle |accessdate=2021-01-11}}

| topo = USGS Cape Royal

| rock = Coconino Sandstone

| first_ascent = 1962

| easiest_route = {{YDS|4}} climbing

}}

Freya Castle is a {{convert|7,288|ft|meter|adj=mid|-elevation|abbr=off|sp=us}} summit located in the Grand Canyon, in Coconino County of northern Arizona, US. It is situated one mile southeast of the Cape Royal overlook on the canyon's North Rim, 1.5 mile north of Vishnu Temple, and 1.7 mile northeast of Wotans Throne. Topographic relief is significant as it rises {{convert|3,400|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} above the Unkar Valley in one mile.

Freya Castle is named for Freya, the Norse goddess of love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr. This name was applied by geologist François E. Matthes, in keeping with Clarence Dutton's practice of naming geographical features in the Grand Canyon after mythological deities.Stephen J. Pyne, Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in the Third Great Age of Discovery, 2010, Penguin Group.Randy Moore and Kara Felicia Witt, The Grand Canyon: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture, 2018, ABC-CLIO Publisher, p. 151. This geographical feature's name was officially adopted in 1906 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

The first ascent of the summit was made by Harvey Butchart and Allyn Cureton on June 24, 1962.{{cite web|url=http://cholla.mmto.org/hiking/grandcanyon/butchart/html/v1.html|website=cholla.mmto.org|title=Harvey Butchart's Grand Canyon Hiking Logs|accessdate=2021-01-11}} According to the Köppen climate classification system, Freya Castle is located in a Cold semi-arid climate zone.{{cite journal | author = Peel, M. C. |author2=Finlayson, B. L. |author3=McMahon, T. A. | year = 2007 | title = Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification | journal = Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. | volume = 11 | issn = 1027-5606}}

Geology

The summit of Freya Castle is composed of cream-colored Permian Coconino Sandstone.N.H. Darton, Story of the Grand Canyon of Arizona, 1917, p. 58. The sandstone, which is the third-youngest of the strata in the Grand Canyon, was deposited 265 million years ago as sand dunes. Below the Coconino Sandstone is soft, slope-forming, Permian Hermit Shale, which in turn overlays the Permian-Pennsylvanian- Supai Group. Further down are strata of Mississippian Redwall Limestone, Cambrian Tonto Group, and finally Proterozoic Unkar Group at creek level.William Kenneth Hamblin, Anatomy of the Grand Canyon: Panoramas of the Canyon's Geology, 2008, Grand Canyon Association Publisher, {{ISBN|9781934656013}} Precipitation runoff from Freya Castle drains south into the Colorado River via Vishnu Creek on its west side, and Unkar Creek on the east side.

Gallery

File:Grand Canyon National Park NR Cape Royal 0657 (5498458450).jpg|Freya Castle centered, with Vishnu Temple to right, Apollo Temple distant left

File:Walhalla Overlook, North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.jpg|Freya Castle front and center, with Vishnu Temple behind, as seen from Walhalla Overlook.

File:More Inversion Shots 0792 - Flickr - Grand Canyon NPS.jpg|Freya Castle (left), Vishnu Temple (right)

File:Rama, Vishnu, Freya.jpg|View from northeast at Cape Final.
Left to right: Rama Shrine, Vishnu Temple, Freya Castle

File:Varied landscape within the Grand Canyon (8115191576).jpg|Summit detail

File:Gran Cañón desde Cape Royal 01.jpg|Summit detail