Mount Fairweather, Alaska, USA
(c) 2000 Andrew Alden, licensed to About.com, Inc. (fair use policy)
Mount Fairweather is visible up and down the desolate central coast of southeastern Alaska—in fair weather, like this July evening in 1979 at the twilight's last gleaming. It's the highest peak in the Fairweather Range, which in turn is the tallest coastal range on Earth. The larger photo including this view is available as a free 1024x768 wallpaper image.
Fairweather is also the name of a terrane, a mini-micro-plate that has migrated thousands of kilometers up the western edge of the North American plate. The relative motions of the Pacific and North American plates, along with several smaller plates between them, have piled up a diverse assemblage of these pieces against the armpit of Alaska. The combination of rapid uplift and vigorous erosion here makes the region a North American analog of the Tibetan Plateau's extreme tectonics.
Covered with icefields, very remote, and guarded by grizzlies and mosquitoes, this part of Alaska has challenged geologists for generations. Even approaching by ship is difficult in the stormy and unpredictable Gulf of Alaska.
