Talk:Mount Fairweather

Precise elevation

Given the recent edit changing to 4671 m, it would be good to have a definitive reference for the elevation, if such exists. I'll try to look into it. -- Spireguy 03:36, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

• I gave the original elevation at 4663 m, which I believe I got from PeakWare. The 4671 m appears to be from bivouac.com. The GNIS entry lists 4604 m (15,105 ft). RedWolf 09:19, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

• National Park Service indicates the elevation of 4669m (15,300 ft). [1]. --Alwaystravel (talk) 01:36, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Peakbagger also gives 4671 m (as does bivouac.com above).

Several US sources give the 15,300 feet elevation, which looks like a rounded figure and actually converts to 4663 m, not 4669. Maybe it's not a rounding, but my gut feeling is to not trust that figure. --RacerX¹¹ Talk to me^{Stalk me} 02:10, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Which side of the border?

How come Navteq is claiming that the peak of Fairweather Mountain lies within Alaska? --  Denelson83  10:20, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

The legal summit is the summit, i.e. the treaty stipulated the summit as the boundary, not some abstract point; there may have been a survey error such that the original perceived latlong was not quite correct so that it is on the US side of the summit; I'm not sure the wording of the treaty, it could be points-as-surveyed/chartered or a more purely geographic reference such as "from the summit of Mount Fairweather to...".Skookum1 (talk) 21:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

It's also worth commenting that US-side sources, particularly government documents, are often misrepresentative of the treaty realities, often blatantly so. Take a look at Topozone's Dixon Entrance map, then use BC's online topographic system to compare; the Canadian/BC version is as the treaty reads; the Topozone one is the USGS like other US agencies and politicians pretends is reality (oil leases in Canadian/Haida waters...)....so it could simply be the same kind of thing, or a little-boy kind of thing - "No - WE have the top of the hill. Nyaa Nyaa." Not that troops could be landed to settle the dispute, as with Hans Island....Skookum1 (talk) 21:44, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Interesting; I just printed out and uploaded to my own webspace the BC Gov's online mapping system's version, which shows the summit on the Canadian side of the boundary, and I seem to recall something somewhere, maybe in bivouac.com, that that was the case; or maybe that was about St. Elias. Anyway this is the map.Skookum1 (talk) 22:00, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Further to which, I visited WikiSource for the text of the Hay-Herbert Treaty, but don't see anything specific about surveyed/chartered points; "the summits of the mountains" or some equivalent phrase is what applies. Surprising in this case that both Canada and the US have different mapped versions.....when I get time I'll inspect the latlongs; what's Navteq? I'll see if it's googleable, but will check Topozone/USGS also.Skookum1 (talk) 22:03, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Ironic...or redundant or something

The mountain was named on May 3, 1778 by Captain James Cook,[2] apparently for the good weather encountered at the time.

Well, duh....if it hadn't been for the good weather, he never would have sighted it, no?....Skookum1 (talk) 21:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

other language names

I did a radius search around Fairweather in BCGNIS and its names in other languages came up:

• Beautemps Mountain - French
• Buen-tiempo Mountain - Spanish
• Gutwetterberg Mountain - German
• Horoshi Pogodi Mountain - Russian
• Schonwetterberg Mountain - German
• Tanaku Mountain - Tlingit, according to BCGNIS anyway

The French name may be from the time of La Perouse; the German names probably from ethnographers who frequented Russian America, the Russian and Spanish names devolving from those Empire's claims/charting of the area. Just noting these for now; they could be included in the name section somewhere maybe.Skookum1 (talk) 18:19, 6 November 2009 (UTC)