Wrangell Mountains

The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska in the United States. Much of the range is included in Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve. The Wrangell Mountains are almost entirely volcanic in origin, and they include the second and third highest volcanoes in the United States, Mount Blackburn and Mount Sanford. The range takes its name from Mount Wrangell, which is one of the largest andesite shield volcanoes in the world, and also the only presently active volcano in the range. The Wrangell Mountains comprise most of the Wrangell Volcanic Field, which also extends into the neighboring Saint Elias Mountains and the Yukon Territory in Canada.

The Wrangell Mountains are just to the northwest of the Saint Elias Mountains and northeast of the Chugach Mountains, which are along the coast of the Gulf of Alaska. These ranges have the combined effect of blocking the inland areas from warmer moist air over the Pacific Ocean. The inland areas to the north of the Wrangell Mountains are therefore among the coldest areas of North America during the winter.

Major peaks
The Wrangell Mountains include 12 of the 40+ Alaskan peaks over 13000 ft (see fourteeners and thirteeners):


 * Mount Blackburn, 16390 ft, and East Summit, 16286 ft
 * Mount Sanford, 16237 ft, and South Peak, 13654 ft
 * Mount Wrangell, 14163 ft, and West Summit, 14013 ft
 * Atna Peaks, 13860 ft
 * Regal Mountain, 13845 ft
 * Mount Jarvis, 13421 ft, and North Peak, 13025 ft
 * Parka Peak, 13280 ft
 * Mount Zanetti, 13009 ft

Other prominent mountains include:
 * Mount Drum, 12010 ft
 * Castle Peak, 10190 ft

Name origin and references in popular culture
The mountains are named after explorer, president of Russian-American Company, and admiral Ferdinand von Wrangel. American folk singer John Denver wrote a song, "The Wrangell Mountain Song", in reference to the range.