Mount Elusive facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Mount Elusive |
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Aerial view looking west with Mt. Elusive centered, Mt. Edison upper left, and Mt. Gilbert Lewis in upper right, with Columbia Glacier down in front
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 11,465 ft (3,495 m) |
| Prominence | 715 ft (218 m) |
| Isolation | 1.78 mi (2.86 km) |
| Parent peak | Mount Gilbert Lewis (12,250 ft) |
| Geography | |
 Mount Elusive
Location in Alaska
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| Location | Chugach National Forest Valdez-Cordova Borough Alaska, United States |
| Parent range | Chugach Mountains |
| Topo map | USGS Anchorage B-1 |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | June 22, 1957 |
| Easiest route | South ridge |
Mount Elusive is a tall mountain in Alaska, standing at 11,465 feet (3,495 meters) high. It is covered in glaciers, which are like huge, slow-moving rivers of ice. You can find it about 36 miles (58 km) northwest of a town called Valdez.
This remote peak is located in the Chugach Mountains, a large mountain range. It's part of the Chugach National Forest, a protected area of land. Mount Elusive is close to other mountains like Mount Edison, Mount Valhalla, and Mount Einstein. It's also near the head of the Columbia Glacier, a very large glacier.
Mount Elusive is part of the Dora Keen Range. This range is a 25-mile-long line of mountains that separates two other glaciers: Harvard Glacier and Yale Glacier.
The mountain got its name in 1957 from Lawrence E. Nielsen. He found it hard to find its exact spot on maps using aerial photos, so he called it "Elusive," meaning hard to find or catch. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names officially approved the name in 1965. Nielsen was the leader of a special trip called the Chugach Mountains Expedition.
The first ascent (meaning the first time someone successfully climbed to the top) of Mount Elusive happened on June 22, 1957. Lawrence Nielsen and his team climbed it using the south ridge. Nielsen described the mountain's most special feature as a sharp, narrow ridge at the very top, like a "knife-edge."
Climate
Mount Elusive is in a subarctic climate zone. This means it has very long, cold, and snowy winters, and summers that are cool. The weather here is affected by the Gulf of Alaska. When air from the Gulf moves towards the Chugach Mountains, it is forced upwards. This process, called orographic lift, causes a lot of rain and snow to fall on the mountains.
Temperatures on Mount Elusive can drop very low, sometimes below -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit). With the wind, it can feel even colder, below -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit). This cold climate helps the Harvard and Columbia Glaciers around the mountain to stay frozen and grow. The best time to climb Mount Elusive is usually in May and June, when the weather is most favorable.
