Mountains rarely conform to the version a child might draw of a simple inverted cone. Instead, they often sprawl in many directions and are rumpled with lumps and divots, like an unmade bed. The very highest of the lumps is the summit, which may be part of the humped or domed mass of mountain, or it may rest at the tip of a sharp point, in which case it's also a peak. A single mountain may have multiple peaks, but only one summit.

From summits to spurs and buttresses, a mountain is made up of many parts.

More Mountain Jargon

The summit and peaks are often aligned along a sharp spine of land called a ridge or crest. Particularly sharp, jagged ridges which formed at the divide between two glaciers are known as comb ridges or arêtes. The steep face of rock below an arête is the backwall or head wall, and the scooped out bowl at the base is a cirque, which may often cradle a small pond, known as a tarn. The wave-shaped curl of snow that may form on the leeward side of a ridge, even in these post-glacial times, is a cornice.

A very steep, sometimes near-vertical ridge or fin of rock is a buttress. More smoothly humped ridges that slope gently down to a mountain's base, and which are often where trails are located, are called spurs. A short rounded spur on a mountainside is known as a shoulder. When water flows down a steep mountainside, it moves fast, forming deep, narrow channels. The smallest of these is a gully, which may grow over time, or farther down the slope, to form a gulch or ravine.

In chains, or ranges, of mountains related by geography or origin, it's not always easy to tell where one mountain ends and another begins. But between peaks are low areas called saddles or passes (see Issue 34). Within a range, such as the Southern Rockies, there may be several smaller ranges, like the Sawatch and San Juans. A series of parallel mountain ranges over a vast area forms a cordillera. The North American Cordillera encompasses the mountains stretching from Alaska to the southern tip of Mexico, including the Pacific Coast, Sierra Nevada, and Rocky Mountains. Add to this the mountains that span Central and South America and you get the American Cordillera, an inter-continental backbone of the earth.

Where a mountain range meets the plains, a series of low hills often eases the abrupt alteration of landscape. These in-between features are called foothills or piedmont. As for the mountain itself, the definition is a little vague: a natural rise of land that's higher than a hill. This leaves room for travelers to decide for themselves whether the prominence they have beheld or climbed is, in fact, a mountain.

In Conclusion

Whether the next mountain you climb was glacier-carved or wind-weathered, was born of a volcano or from the folding or faulting of plate tectonics, take a moment to notice the peaks and gullies that give it its shape and unique character, the spurs that make it easier to climb and the buttresses that block your progress. Name the parts and pieces of your mountain, and then appreciate that what makes it truly majestic and transcends words.

You can find more information in books such as How the Mountains Grew: A New Geological History of North America and in books like Geology Underfoot Along Colorado's Front Range for those interested in the Colorado Rockies. You can also see the state-by-state geology guides offered by Mountain Press.

Editor's Note: This article by contributor Andrea Lani originally appeared in Issue 39 of TrailGroove Magazine. You can read the original article here.