The Triplets (Washington) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Triplets |
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The Triplets
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 7,240 ft (2,210 m) |
| Prominence | 360 ft (110 m) |
| Geography | |
 The Triplets
Location in Washington (state)
The Triplets
Location in the United States
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| Parent range | North Cascades |
| Topo map | USGS Cascade Pass |
| Type of rock | Breccia |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 1945, Fred Beckey, Jack Schwabland |
| Easiest route | Climbing |
The Triplets is a cool mountain peak in Skagit County, Washington state. It stands tall at 7,240 feet! This mountain looks like three peaks joined together. It is made of a type of rock called breccia.
The Triplets is part of the amazing North Cascades mountain range. You can find it above Cascade Pass. It sits right on the edge of both North Cascades National Park and Glacier Peak Wilderness. The closest taller mountain is Cascade Peak, which is about 0.35 miles away. Water from The Triplets flows down into the Cascade River.
Mountain Weather
The Triplets is in a "marine west coast" climate zone. This means it gets a lot of moisture from the nearby Pacific Ocean. Most of the weather systems start over the Pacific. They then travel northeast towards the Cascade Mountains.
When these weather systems hit the tall North Cascades, the mountains force the air to rise. As the air goes higher, it cools down. This causes the moisture in the air to turn into rain or snowfall. This process is called Orographic lift. Because of this, the western side of the North Cascades gets a lot of rain and snow. This is especially true in winter.
During the winter, it's often cloudy. But in the summer, high-pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean bring clear skies. This means there's usually little or no cloud cover. The snow here tends to be wet and heavy because of the ocean's influence. This can lead to a high risk of avalanches.
How Mountains Form
The North Cascades mountains have some of the roughest land in the Cascade Range. They have jagged peaks, sharp ridges, and deep valleys carved by glaciers. These amazing shapes were created by geological events that happened millions of years ago. These events caused huge changes in the land's height. This also led to different climates and types of plants in the area.
The Cascade Mountains started forming a very long time ago, in the late Eocene Epoch. This was when the North American Plate slowly moved over the Pacific Plate. This movement caused many volcanic eruptions. Also, small pieces of the Earth's crust, called terranes, crashed into North America. This helped create the North Cascades about 50 million years ago.
Later, during the Pleistocene period (over two million years ago), huge sheets of ice called glaciers moved across the land. They advanced and then melted back many times. As they moved, they scraped the landscape. This left behind piles of rock and debris. The river valleys in this area have a "U" shape. This is a clear sign that glaciers carved them out. The combination of land being pushed up (uplift) and cracks in the Earth's crust (faulting), along with glaciation, created the tall peaks and deep valleys we see today in the North Cascades.
Images for kids
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The Triplets
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The Triplets in winter
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The Triplets from Sahale Arm
- The Triplets weather: Mountain Forecast
 | Misty Copeland |
 | Raven Wilkinson |
 | Debra Austin |
 | Aesha Ash |
