Mount Baker

For other uses, see Mount Baker (disambiguation).
"Kulshan" redirects here. For other uses, see Kulshan (disambiguation).
Mount Baker
Kulshan or Koma Kulshan
Mount Baker as seen from the Southeast at Boulder Creek
Highest point
Elevation10,786 ft (3,288 m) NAVD 88[1]
Prominence8,812 ft (2,686 m)[1]
Isolation211.66 km (131.52 mi) Edit this on Wikidata
Listing
Coordinates48°46′36″N 121°48′52″W / 48.7766298°N 121.8144732°W / 48.7766298; -121.8144732[2]
Naming
EtymologyJoseph Baker
Native name
Geography
Mount Baker is located in Washington (state)
Mount Baker
Mount Baker
Mount Baker, Washington USA
LocationWhatcom County, Washington State, U.S.
Parent rangeCascade Range[3]
Topo mapUSGS Mount Baker
Geology
Rock ageLess than 140,000 years[5]
Mountain typeStratovolcano[4]
Volcanic arcCascade Volcanic Arc[3]
Last eruption7 September to 27 November 1880[6]
Climbing
First ascent1868 by Edmund Coleman, John Tennant, Thomas Stratton and David Ogilvy[7][8]
Easiest routesnow (ice) climb
The east side of Mount Baker in 2001. Sherman Crater is the deep depression south of the summit.

Mount Baker (Nooksack: Kweq' Smánit; Lushootseed: təqʷubəʔ),[9] also known as Koma Kulshan or simply Kulshan, is a 10,781 ft (3,286 m) active[10] glacier-covered andesitic stratovolcano[4] in the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the North Cascades of Washington State in the United States. Mount Baker has the second-most thermally active crater in the Cascade Range after Mount St. Helens.[11] About 30 miles (48 km)[12] due east of the city of Bellingham, Whatcom County, Mount Baker is the youngest volcano in the Mount Baker volcanic field.[5] While volcanism has persisted here for some 1.5 million years, the current volcanic cone is likely no more than 140,000 years old, and possibly no older than 80–90,000 years. Older volcanic edifices have mostly eroded away due to glaciation.

After Mount Rainier, Mount Baker has the heaviest glacier cover of the Cascade Range volcanoes; the volume of snow and ice on Mount Baker, 0.43 cu mi (1.79 km3) is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. It is also one of the snowiest places in the world; in 1999, Mount Baker Ski Area, located 9 mi (14.5 km) to the northeast, set the world record for recorded snowfall in a single season—1,140 in (29 m; 95 ft).[13][14]

Mount Baker is the third-highest mountain in Washington and the fifth-highest in the Cascade Range, if Little Tahoma Peak, a subpeak of Mount Rainier, and Shastina, a subpeak of Mount Shasta, are not counted.[4][15] Located in the Mount Baker Wilderness, it is visible from much of Greater Victoria, Nanaimo, and Greater Vancouver in British Columbia, and to the south, from Seattle (and on clear days Tacoma) in Washington.

Indigenous peoples have known the mountain for thousands of years, but the first written record of the mountain is from Spanish explorer Gonzalo Lopez de Haro, who mapped it in 1790 as Gran Montaña del Carmelo.[16] The explorer George Vancouver later named the mountain for 3rd Lieutenant Joseph Baker of HMS Discovery, who saw it on April 30, 1792.[17]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference pb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference gnis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Hildreth was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Wood was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Hildreth03 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference SI was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Oakley2005 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Coleman1869 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Richardson, Allan; Galloway, Brent (2011). Nooksack Place Names: Geography, Culture, and Language. Vancouver: UBC Press. pp. 148–152.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Scott was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fire Mountains was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Topinka was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "NOAA: Mt. Baker snowfall record sticks". USA Today. August 1, 1999. Archived from the original on May 25, 2010.
  14. ^ "Mt. Baker Holds Snowfall Record". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. August 2, 1999. Archived from the original on January 7, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  15. ^ Smoot, Jeff (2000). "The 100 Highest Mountains in Washington". Cascade Alpine Guide. Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference USFSClmbHst was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Meany, Edmond Stephen (1907). "Chapter VI: Proceed up the Straits — Anchor under New Dungeness — Remarks on the Coast of New Albion — Arrive in Port Discovery — Transactions there — Boat Excursion — Quit Port Discovery — Astronomical and Nautical Observations". Vancouver's discovery of Puget Sound: Portraits and biographies of the men honored in the naming of geographic features of northwestern America. pp. 81–82.