Mount Thor

{{Infobox mountain

| name = Mount Thor

| other_name = Thor Peak, Qaisualuk, Kigutinnguaq

| native_name = {{native name list |tag1=iu|name1=Qaisualuk |tag2=iu|name2=Kigutinnguaq}}

| native_name_lang = iu

| photo = Mount Thor, Akshayuk Pass, Baffin Island.jpg

| photo_caption = Mount Thor seen from Akshayuk Pass

| elevation_m = 1675

| elevation_ref =

| prominence_m =

| prominence_ref=

| range = Baffin Mountains

| listing = Mountains of Canada

| location = Nunavut, Canada

| map = Canada Nunavut

| map_caption = Location in Nunavut (on Baffin Island)

| mapframe = yes

| mapframe-zoom = 8

| mapframe-caption = Interactive map of Mount Thor

| coordinates = {{coord|66|32|N|65|19|W|type:mountain_region:CA-NU_scale:100000|notes={{Cite cgndb|OAQLW|Thor Peak}}|name=Thor Peak|display=inline,title}}

| coordinates_ref =

| topo = NTS {{Canada NTS Map Sheet|26|I|11}}

| first_ascent = Morton and Spitzer, 1965

}}

Mount Thor, officially gazetted as Thor Peak (Inuktitut syllabics: ᙯᕐᓱᐊᓗᒃ, {{langx|iu|italic=yes|label=Inuktitut|Qaisualuk}} "huge bedrock",{{cite book |last1=Slaymaker |first1=Olav |last2=Catto |first2=Norm |title=Landscapes and Landforms of Eastern Canada |date=2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-030-35137-3 |pages=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3vQDwAAQBAJ |access-date=3 July 2020 |language=en}} or Kigutinnguaq "tooth-like"{{cite web |title=Qairsualuk |url=http://inuktitutilinniaqta.com/2018/05/31/qairsualuk/ |website=ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ ᐃᓕᓐᓂᐊᖅᑕ |publisher=inuktitutilinniaqta.com |access-date=3 July 2020 |date=31 May 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Wykes |first1=Tim |title=ᐸᓐᓂᖅᑑᖅ Pangnirtung |url=http://ihti.ca/eng/place-names/NU26I_Pangnirtung.pdf |website=ihti.ca/ |publisher=Inuit Heritage Trust |access-date=3 July 2020 |quote=ᒥ4.2 ᑭᒍᑎᙳᐊᖅ Kigutinnguaq Mountain Looks like a tooth, Mount Thor}}), in Nunavut, Canada, is a mountain with an elevation of {{cvt|1675|m}} located in Auyuittuq National Park, on Baffin Island. The mountain is located {{cvt|46|km}} northeast of Pangnirtung and features Earth's greatest vertical drop of {{cvt|4100|ft|order=flip}}, with the cliff overhanging at an average angle of 105 degrees (15 degrees from vertical). Despite its remoteness, this feature makes the mountain a popular rock climbing site. Camping is allowed, with several designated campsites located throughout the length of Akshayuk Pass. For climbers looking to scale Mount Thor, there is an established campsite a few kilometres north of its base, complete with windbreaks and emergency shelters.

The English naming of the mountain originates from Thor, the Norse thunder god.{{cite web | url=http://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-06-10/mount-thor-canada-maphead-ken-jennings | title=Meet Canada's Mount Thor: The World's Steepest, Tallest Cliff | work=Conde Nast Traveler | date=10 June 2013 | access-date=18 April 2015 | author=Jennings, Ken}}

Geography

Mount Thor is part of the Baffin Mountains which in turn form part of the Arctic Cordillera mountain range.{{cite bivouac|id=4155|name=Thor Peak|access-date=30 November 2009}}

Geology

This mountain consists of solid granite. The rock making up this formation have been metamorphosed multiple times through earth's history, causing this granitic layer to be pushed through other layers. The age of the rock ranges from 570 million years to 3.5 billion years (Precambrian), making it some of the oldest rock on earth. {{Cite web |title=The Earth Story - geologic blog |url=https://the-earth-story.com/post/149363840032/vertical-thor-earths-tallest-vertical-drop#:~:text=Much%20of%20the%20Baffin%20Mountains,our%20planet%27s%20oldest%20known%20rocks.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826015300/http://the-earth-story.com/post/149363840032/vertical-thor-earths-tallest-vertical-drop#:~:text=Much%20of%20the%20Baffin%20Mountains,our%20planet%27s%20oldest%20known%20rocks.|url-status=usurped|archive-date=26 August 2016}}

The peak and vertical drop itself are a product of glacial erosion, carved over millennia by seasonal glacial activity through the Akshayuk Pass, on the rim of which this mountain sits. Like other glacial channels, this pass has the characteristic U-shape which gives the mountain its vertical drop{{Cite web |title=Mount Thor, Baffin Island post by Brian John |date=13 August 2014 |url=https://brian-mountainman.blogspot.com/2014/08/mount-thor-baffin-island.html}}

Ascents

Donald Morton and Lyman Spitzer made the first recorded ascent of Mount Thor in 1965 during the Alpine Club of Canada expedition led by Pat Baird.{{Cite journal | last1 = Ostriker | first1 = J. P. | author-link = Jeremiah P. Ostriker| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2007.0020 | title = Lyman Spitzer. 26 June 1914 -- 31 March 1997: Elected ForMemRS 1990 | journal = Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society | volume = 53 | pages = 339–348| year = 2007| doi-access = }}{{rp|347}} Pat Baird also led the 1953 geophysical expedition during which Hans Weber, J. Rothlisberger and F. Schwarzenbach climbed the North Tower of Mount Asgard for the first time.

The first ascent of the west face was achieved by Earl Redfern, John Bagley, Eric Brand and Tom Bepler in 1985.{{Citation | last = Redfern | first = Earl | title = -Mount Thor - 33 Days on the West Face | journal = Climbing Magazine | issue = 93 | pages = 34–36 | date = December 1995 | issn = 0045-7159 }} The first solo ascent of the West Face was completed by Jason 'Singer' Smith in 1998. The first free climb of the Southwest Buttress was made in 2012 by Bill Borger and John Furneaux.

Gallery

File:Mount_Thor_Peak_1997-08-07.jpg|View of Mount Thor summit in 1997

File:Mount Thor.jpg|Mount Thor and its steep cliff

File:Auyuittuq ThorPeak 2007.JPG|Hiking north towards Thor Peak, July 2007

File:Baffin2520Island2520Auyuittuq25202007252-1.jpg|Mount Thor on the rim of Akshayuk Pass, showing the U-shaped glacial valley

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite journal | journal=Canadian Alpine Journal | year=1966 | volume=49 | pages=42–48

| title=Mt. Asgard And Mt. Thor

| last1 = Morton | first1 = Donald C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923052458/http://library.alpineclubofcanada.ca:8009/book-acc.php?id=CAJ049-1-1966#page/38/mode/1up|archive-date=23 September 2018

| url=http://library.alpineclubofcanada.ca:8009/book-acc.php?id=CAJ049-1-1966#page/42/mode/1up}}

{{cite journal | title = Climber Bill Borger | journal = Radio Canada | date = 24 July 2012 | url = http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Alberta/ID/2260076690/ | access-date=28 August 2012}}

{{cite web |first=Casey |last=Kazan | url = http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/03/mount-thor-the-greatest-vertical-drop-on-earth.html

| title = Mount Thor -The Greatest Vertical Drop on Earth!

| website = The Daily Galaxy | date = 9 March 2010 | access-date = 21 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312051404/https://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/03/mount-thor-the-greatest-vertical-drop-on-earth.html |archive-date=12 March 2010}}

{{Citation | last = Hummel | first = Will

| title = New route on Baffin Island's Mount Thor | journal = Rock and Ice | date = 3 August 2012

| url = http://www.rockandice.com/news/2154-new-route-on-baffin-islands-mt-thor | access-date=28 August 2012

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120808045854/http://www.rockandice.com/news/2154-new-route-on-baffin-islands-mt-thor

| archive-date = 8 August 2012}}

}}

External links

{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130133026/http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/travel/thisweek/stories/DN-baffin_0125tra.ART.State.Edition1.1a0a0ae.html|date=30 January 2009|title=Above the Arctic Circle: Trekking across Canada's Baffin Island}} about Mt. Thor and other Akshayuk Pass features by writer Dave Levinthal

Category:Arctic Cordillera

Category:Extreme points of Canada

Category:Mountains of Baffin Island

Category:Cliffs of Canada

Category:One-thousanders of Nunavut