2023 Mountain Trivia Challenge
This quiz was evening entertainment at the 12th ICA Mountain Cartography Workshop, Snow Mountain Ranch, Colorado. The winning team scored 21 out of 27 possible points.
Can you beat the mountain experts? Give yourself one point for each correct answer—your spelling need not be perfect. Answers are at the end.
1) The continental divide in the western US forms part of the border between which two states?
2) Collected in 2000, SRTM elevation data covers much of Earth from 60N to 56S at 30m resolution. What does the acronym SRTM stand for?
3) What famous mountain named after a sea captain appears in silhouette on this logo?
4) India and Pakistan are engaged in a high-altitude military standoff on the second-longest non-polar glacier in the world. What is the name of this glacier?
5) In the 1997 movie, Seven Years in Tibet, Austrian mountaineer, explorer, and geographer, Heinrich Harrer, was portrayed by which A-list actor?
6) Name this mountain. Hint: It is not Mount Fuji.
7) News that Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay had successfully climbed Mt Everest reached the outside world on June 2, 1953. What other major news event happened that same day?
8) Adams Peak is a medium-sized conical mountain considered sacred by Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, and Muslims. On what island nation is it found?
9) Identify the mountain range indicated on the map.
10) In 2017, Alex Honnold free soloed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in just under how many hours?
11) Who is this guy?
12) The northernmost active volcano on Earth belongs to what country?
13) The highest mountain range in South Africa is named after a mythical European animal. What is the name of this mountain range?
14) In the 2009 Pixar movie Up, Carl Fredricksen’s house was carried by balloons to a flat-topped mountain in Venezuela. What is the indigenous Pemon name for this distinctive type of mountain?
15) In what country will you find the mountains known as the Twelve Bens?
16) Name this mountain.
17) The Denisovans were archaic humans who lived around the same time as Neanderthals. In 2010, scientists discovered DNA evidence of their existence in a cave in what Siberian mountain range?
18) What is the bright nickname given to California’s Sierra Nevada by conservationist John Muir?
19) Identify the mountains indicated on the map. Hint: the 2010 mountain cartography workshop was held there.
20) Ayers Rock, the red monolith near the center of Australia, is now know by what aboriginal name?
21) Identify the mountain range from these clues:
A) It has the same name as a Greek Titan.
B) It is the longest range on the continent.
C) The indigenous inhabitants wear blue clothing.
22) The Pamir Mountains are at the junction of the Himalaya, Hindu Kush, Karakoram, Kunlun, Tian Shan, Suleman, and Hindu Raj ranges. In what country are they mostly located?
23) Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps, is on the border of which two countries?
24) The 2012 Mountain Cartography Workshop was held at the base of Mount Ngauruhoe, New Zealand. Mount Ngauruhoe appeared in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies as what malevolent fictional mountain?
25) Identify this 562m (1,811ft) mountain.
Extraterrestrial Extra Credit (2 points)
The highest mountain in the solar system rises to a height of 22 kilometers (14 miles).
A) What planet or moon is it on? (1 point)
B) Name the mountain (1 point)
ANSWERS
1) Idaho and Montana share a border on the continental divide.
2) SRTM = Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.
3) Cerro Fitz Roy (aka Cerro Chaltén) is on the Patagonia logo.
4) Siachen Glacier, site of the India/Pakistan military standoff.
5) Brad Pitt starred in Seven Years in Tibet.
6) Osorno volcano, from Puerto Varas, Chile.
7) The coronation Queen Elizabeth II also occured on June 2, 1953.
8) Sri Lanka is the location of Adams Peak.
9) Sierra Madre del Sur is the mountain range in Mexico.
10) Alex Honnold scaled El Capital in just 4 hours.
11) George Everest, Surveyor General of India from 1830 to 1843.
12) Norway. Beerenberg (71N) is on the island of Jan Mayen.
13) Drakensberg (Dragon Mountains), South Africa.
14) Tepui. Name of the flat-topped mountains in Venezuela.
15) Ireland is home to the Twelve Bens.
16) Mount Erebus, Ross Island, Antarctica.
17) Altai Mountains, Siberia, where Denisovans were discovered.
18) Range of light, Muir's nickname for the Sierra Nevada, California.
19) Carpathians. Site of the 2010 Mountain Cartography Workshop.
20) Uluru is the aboriginal name for Ayers Rock, Austraila.
21) Atlas Mountains, North Africa, home of blue-clad Berbers.
22) Tajikistan. Where most of the Pamir Mountains are found.
23) France and Italy. Mont Blanc is on the border of these two countries.
24) Mount Doom, the fictional LOR name of Mount Ngauruhoe.
25) Ball’s Pyramid rises out of the Pacific Ocean NE of Sydney, Aus.
Extra-terrestrial Extra Credit
A) Mars has the highest mountain in the solar system.
B) Olympus Mons is the mountain name.
CONGRATULATIONS!
The team of Yann Boulanger, Alex Fries, Carl Churchill, Becca Holdhusen, and Chaney Swiney won the 2023 Mountain Trivia Challenge with a score of 21 points.
