The Saint Elias Mountains ( French : Chaîne Saint-Élie ) are a subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges , located in southeastern Alaska in the United States , Southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada . The range spans Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in the United States and Kluane National Park and Reserve in Canada and includes all of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska . In Alaska, the range includes parts of the city/borough of Yakutat and the Hoonah-Angoon and Valdez-Cordova census areas.
20-642: This mountain range is named after Mount Saint Elias , which in turn was named in 1741 by the Danish-born Russian explorer Vitus Bering . The Saint Elias Mountains form the highest coastal mountain range on Earth. It formed due to the subduction of the Yakutat microplate underneath the North American Plate . The Yakutat microplate is a wedge shaped oceanic plateau with a thickness of 20 to 30 kilometres (12 to 19 mi). Similar to
40-523: A Danish-born Russian explorer. While some historians contend that Bering named the mountain, others believe that eighteenth-century mapmakers named it after Cape Saint Elias when Bering left the peak unnamed. Mount Saint Elias is notable for its immense vertical relief . Its summit rises 18,008 feet (5,489 m) vertically in just 10 miles (16 km) horizontal distance from the head of Taan Fjord, off of Icy Bay . In 2007 Gerald Salmina directed an Austrian documentary film, Mount St. Elias , about
60-460: A number of clans and houses. The Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska have multiple moieties (otherwise known as descent groups) in their society, each of which is divided into a number of clans . Each clan has its own history, songs, and totems , and each forms a social network of extended families which functions as a political unit in Tlingit society. The moieties of the Tlingit society are
80-532: A team of skier/mountaineers determined to make "the planet's longest skiing descent" by ascending the mountain and then skiing nearly all 18,000 feet down to the Gulf of Alaska ; the movie finished editing and underwent limited release in 2009. The climbers ended up summiting on the second attempt and skiing down to 13,000 ft (3,960 m). Mt. St. Elias was first climbed on July 31, 1897, by an Italian expedition led by famed explorer Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of
100-498: The Alaska Panhandle is known as Tsalx̱aan ; legend states that this mountain and Yasʼéitʼaa Shaa (Mt. St. Elias) originally stood next to each other, but had an argument and separated. Their children, the mountains in between the two peaks, are called Tsalx̱aan Yátxʼi ("Children of Tsalxaan"). European explorers first sighted the mountain on July 16, 1741, with the arrival of the expedition commanded by Vitus Bering ,
120-743: The Malaspina Glacier ( Mount Saint Elias , Mount Cook ), in the region known as the St. Elias syntaxis . At the syntaxis region the tectonic style changes from strike-slip motion along the Fairweather Fault to collision west of Malaspina Strait . This tectonic transition concentrates stress in the crust at the syntaxis that together with efficient glacial erosion results in positive feedback processes that through time forms extreme high mountain peaks and local relief, and rapid exhumation of rocks from up to 10 km (6.2 mi) depths to
140-534: The Tyndall Glacier , they climbed the southwest ridge and followed the "Milk Bowl" variation in order to avoid 2,000 feet of loose rock on the normal route. The team had originally planned to begin their ascent from the ocean and cross the Tyndall Glacier but the terrain was in very poor condition. Mount Saint Elias is infrequently climbed today, despite its height, because it has no easy route to
160-456: The foundation story of the clan. The clans are usually referred to in English by the name of their primary crest, such as Deisheetaan being called "Beaver Clan". This is not accurate since some crests may be held by multiple clans. Clans of opposite moieties occasionally claim the same crest, but such irregular ownership is usually due to a debt owed by some other clan; until the debt is paid,
180-731: The Abruzzi , (who also reconnoitered the current standard route on K2 in 1909 ) and included noted mountain photographer Vittorio Sella . The second ascent was not until 1946, when a group from the Harvard Mountaineering Club including noted mountain historian Dee Molenaar climbed the Southwest Ridge route. The summit party comprised Molenaar, his brother Cornelius, Andrew and Betty Kauffman, Maynard Miller, William Latady, and Benjamin Ferris. William Putnam
200-524: The Raven ( Yéil ) and Eagle, Wolf, killerwhale, Frog, Thunderbird and hummingbird and butterfly. The sumilarity to moiety names are because its primary crests differ between the north and the south regions of Tlingit territory, probably due to influence from the neighboring tribes of Haida , Tsimshian and Nisga'a . Each moiety is further subdivided into clans, and each clan is subdivided into houses. The Tlingit clans have names whose meaning typically reflects
220-487: The adjacent Pacific Plate , which has a crustal thickness of 7 kilometres (4.3 mi), the Yakutat plate is moving northwestward at a rate of 50 millimetres (2 in) per year with respect to North America. The Yakutat plate is transported northwards along the active Fairweather Fault , which probably started more than 35 million years ago. Due to its thickness, the Yakutat plate is buoyant, resulting in surface uplift of
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#1732771836195240-416: The clan holding the debt claims the crest of the clan which owes the debt, as a means of shaming it. Clan allegiance is governed through a matrilineal system; children are born to the mother's clan and gain their status within her family, including what was traditionally hereditary leadership positions. The parents are required to be from differing clans and be opposite moieties; the children are born from
260-505: The father, but he has a lesser role in their rearing than does the mother's brothers. Not all clans listed below are extant; some have been absorbed into other clans; others have died out due to the lack of female descendants, and a few have been lost to history. Not all the clans are independent, since clans formed in a long and fluid process. For instance, the K ak'weidí descend from the Deisheetaan. Some members claim that they are
280-703: The mountain in Tlingit , Yasʼéitʼaa Shaa or Was'eitushaa , means "mountain behind Icy Bay "; the Yakutat Tlingit occasionally call it Shaa Tlein "Big Mountain". It is one of the most important crests of the Kwaashkʼiḵwáan clan , who used it as a guide during their journey down the Copper River . Mount Fairweather at the apex of the British Columbia and Alaska borders at the head of
300-665: The overriding North American plate, which formed the Talkeetna Mountains and the Alaska Range in Southcentral Alaska , located above the subducted part of the Yakutat plate. The Saint Elias Mountains formed at the plate boundary between the Yakutat and North American plates. The up-to-12-kilometre (7.5 mi)-thick sediments that have been deposited on top of the Yakutat plate became imbricated and deformed as they were scraped off and compose today
320-633: The second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States , stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about 26 miles (42 km) southwest of Mount Logan , the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side of Mount Saint Elias forms part of Kluane National Park and Reserve , while the U.S. side of the mountain is located within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve . The name of
340-584: The southern (coastal) flanks of the St. Elias Mountains. In contrast the high elevated regions of the drainage divide ( Bagley Icefield , Seward Glacier ) and north of it are composed of rocks that are part of the North American plate. The highest peaks of the St. Elias Mountains are located in the high ice field region of the Kluane National Park ( Mount Logan , Mount Vancouver ) and north of
360-700: The summit and because of its prolonged periods of bad weather (mainly snow and low visibility). Tlingit clans The Tlingit clans of Southeast Alaska , in the United States, are one of the Indigenous cultures within Alaska. The Tlingit people also live in the Northwest Interior of British Columbia , Canada, and in the southern Yukon Territory . There are two main Tlingit lineages or moieties within Alaska, which are subdivided into
380-775: The surface. The mountains are divided by the Duke Depression, with the shorter, more rounded Kluane Ranges to the east, and the higher Icefield Ranges to the west. Sub-ranges of the Saint Elias include the Alsek Ranges , the Fairweather Range , and the Centennial Range . The highest mountains of the range include: Download coordinates as: Mount Saint Elias Mount Saint Elias ( Was'eitushaa also designated Boundary Peak 186 ),
400-424: Was a member of the expedition but did not make the summit. They used eleven camps, eight of which were on the approach from Icy Bay, and three of which were on the mountain. They were supported by multiple air drops of food. The first winter ascent was made on February 13, 1996, by David Briggs, Gardner Heaton and Joe Reichert. After being flown by pilots Steve Ranney and Gary Graham, in to 2,300 feet (700 m) on
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