 | Mount Waesche from the southwest (photo by Oscar González-Ferrán) <click to enlarge> |
Mount Waesche
10801 ft (3292 m) . |
||
| Location: | Executive Committee Range, Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica | ||
| Lat / Long: | 77.2° S, 126.9° W | ||
| Volcanic Type: | Shield volcano complex | ||
| Volcanic Status: | Dormant | ||
| First Ascent: | |||
| First Ski Descent: | |||
| Skiable Vertical: | over 4000 ft (1200 m) | ||
| Mount Waesche is the southernmost of the five major volcanoes in the Executive Committee Range, which dominates the terrain of central Marie Byrd Land. It is located about 15 miles (25 km) southwest of Mount Sidley, the highest point in the range. Mount Waesche is the youngest volcano in the range, with its main cone built within the past million years, and it forms a high rounded summit on the southwestern edge of an older caldera, which is over 6 miles (10 km) in diameter. There are lavas younger than 100,000 years on the upper slopes, and the volcano may even have been active within the past 30,000 years, depositing ash layers seen in ice cores taken at nearby Byrd Station. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is quite thick in this region, and the summit of Waesche extends only about 4000 ft (1200 m) above the ice surface. | |||
 |
Some useful links: Global Volcanism Program: Mount Waesche United States Antarctic Resource Center USGS Atlas of Antarctic Research (online maps & photos) |
||
| Topographic map of Mounts Sidley and Waesche (1:250,000 scale) from USGS Mount Sidley and Mount Hampton <click to enlarge> |
|||
More photos and info about routes, access, etc. may be added in the future ... |
|||