Two Arizona peaks have been destroyed!

[BrianR]

I just sent several Arizona peak corrections to John, but I thought two of them were worth mentioning in the Forum. Since this is a Colorado based/biased place, most of us know about the loss of height of Bartlett Mountain and Red Mountain due to mining. Well, there are at least two Arizona ranked peaks that have been mined into oblivion!

Porphry Mountain:
http://www.listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=141797
http://www.listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/mapf.php?lat=33.4123&lon=-110.9646

Point 4412:
http://www.listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=141798
http://www.listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/mapf.php?lat=33.4075&lon=-110.9013

These are both part of the major strip mining operations near Globe and Superior. If you go to the "Satellite" tab on the "Full Screen Topo Map" links, you can see that they have been mined away, which explains why there are roads depicted seemingly randomly on the peaks. Porphry is completely gone and seems to be a crater now, while 4412 may still have a few feet of prominence. They were both low-prominence peaks in the first place, but I didn't know of any previously ranked peaks in the western U.S. being completely destroyed.

Brian

[TWorth]

7380(formerly 7500) in Salt Lake Co, UT is another mined peak. It still gets a rank(p=320) but that's according to the new map, not field checks. Could be before long, if not already.

[BrianR]

FYI, you will have to go to the map links in my original post instead of the peak links if you want to check out the Arizona non-peaks. John has already done his usual quick job of updating the site, and has deleted or re-assigned the peak IDs.

[John Kirk]

These aren't the only AZ peaks that have been mined away:
Change the view to satellite - "now you see it, now you don't":
http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/QMap.php?lat=32.3536&lon=-111.1920&z=15

Probably a matter of time before the west peak is swallowed up.

[Andy Martin]

The east peak was limestone, and was quarried away
for the cement plant. The west peak is volcanics,
so should stay untouched.

Bob Martin used to tell folks he had climbed
a mountain they would never climb - the East
peak before it was eradicated.

[KentonB]

Michigan's 4th highest ranked peak has suffered a similar fate:

http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/QMap.p ... .6307&z=15

"Summit" peak isn't much of a summit anymore. Satellite view says it all!

[John Kirk]

Michigan's 4th highest ranked peak has suffered a similar fate:

http://listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/QMap.p ... .6307&z=15

"Summit" peak isn't much of a summit anymore. Satellite view says it all!

Thanks - updated it with an estimate of current elevation...

[KentonB]

Thanks - updated it with an estimate of current elevation...

Looks good! I'm not sure there's a chance in the world that the mining company will let me take some GPS measurements the next time I'm back in my home state on vacation, but I'll give it a shot!

[hikenewhampshire]

Thanks - updated it with an estimate of current elevation...

Looks good! I'm not sure there's a chance in the world that the mining company will let me take some GPS measurements the next time I'm back in my home state on vacation, but I'll give it a shot!

A few years back I went on a bus tour of the mining operation, we drove up the slanting road to an overlook of the big pit and stayed there quite a while as the guide talked. I thought about sneaking on up the road to the summit with the excuse of a nature stop if caught but didn't try it. At that time the side of the hill toward the big pit was undisturbed, of course I didn't go up far enough to see the back side :-)