CASTLE MOUNTAIN IN VINTAGE POSTCARD 1947

VINTAGE POSTCARD  1947

Castle Mountain or  Mount Eisenhower   (2,766m - 9,075ft)

Canada

 In Castle Mountain in Banff National Park, 1947, Hand-tinted photograph  

The mountain 

Castle Mountain (2,766m - 9,075ft) also named Mount Eisenhower between 1946 and 1979, is a mountain located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise. It is the easternmost mountain of the Main Ranges in the Bow Valley and sits astride the Castle Mountain Fault which has thrust older sedimentary and metamorphic rocks forming the upper part of the mountain over the younger rocks forming its base. The mountain's castellated, or castle-like, appearance is a result of erosive processes acting at different rates on the peak's alternating layers of softer shale and harder limestone, dolomite and quartzite.
The mountain was named in 1858 by James Hector for its castle-like appearance. From 1946 to 1979 it was known as Mount Eisenhower in honour of the World War II general Dwight D. Eisenhower. Public pressure caused its original name to be restored, but a pinnacle on the southeastern side of the mountain was named Eisenhower Tower. Located nearby are the remains of Silver City, a 19th-century mining settlement, and the Castle Mountain Internment Camp in which persons deemed enemy aliens and suspected enemy sympathizers were confined during World War I.
While looking nearly inaccesible from the Trans-Canada Highway, the peak can be ascended from the backside on the northeastern slopes. The trail to Rockbound Lake leads hikers around the eastern side. The massif contains several high points including Helena Ridge (2,862 m - 9,390 ft), Stuart Knob (2,850 m - 9,350 ft) and Television Peak (2,970 m - 9,744 ft), the latter being named for the TV repeater located on top. Technicians use a helicopter rather than hiking the long ascent to the top.
James Hector, who accompanied the Palliser Expedition, encountered Castle Mountain in August 1858 while leading a side expedition to find the headwaters of the Bow River. He noted that it "...looks exactly like a gigantic castle" and named it Castle Mountain.  He also made the first recorded ascent of its slopes, but is not believed to have reached its summit.
The first climber to reach the top of Castle Mountain was Arthur P. Coleman, a professor at the University of Toronto, in 1884. Lawrence Grassi and P. Cerutti, both from Canmore, were the first to climb Eisenhower Tower in 1926.
In 1881, Joe Healy received some ore in trade from a First Nations person which was discovered to contain a relatively high silver content. The following year he settled at Castle Mountain as a prospector. News of Healy's ore soon spread; others began to arrive and the settlement of Silver City, situated near Castle Mountain, quickly developed. It was already thriving when the Canadian Pacific transcontinental railroad was built through the area in 1884.  Over three thousand people lived there at its height, but it was almost entirely abandoned in 1885 because the mines failed to yield a significant profit.
Situated nearby is Castle Mountain Internment Camp, a First World War internment camp where Ukrainian immigrants to Canada were confined. Life in the camps was often described as 'grim'; with its isolated location far from the roads of the time, the Castle Mountain camp was an ideal place to confine 'enemy aliens' and 'suspected enemy sympathisers'. The forced labour of these men helped build much of the infrastructure of Banff National Park. Internees were held at the Cave & Basin site during the winter months.
Construction began in 1910 at Castle Junction on a highway connecting British Columbia to Calgary that would, upon its completion in the early 1920s, make Castle Mountain more accessible to climbers, hikers and other tourists.


Vintage postcards
Postcards became popular at the turn of the 20th century, especially for sending short messages to friends and relatives. They were collected right from the start, and are still sought after today by collectors of pop culture, photography, advertising, wartime memorabilia, local history, and many other categories.
Postcards were an international craze, published all over the world. The Detroit Publishing Co. and Teich & Co. were two of the major publishers in the U.S, and sometimes individuals printed their own postcards as well. Yvon were the most famous in France. Many individual or anonymous publishers did exist around the world and especially in Africa and  Asia (Japan, Thailand, Nepal, China, Java) between 1920 and 1955. These photographer were mostly local notables, soldiers, official guides belonging to the colonial armies (british french, belgium...) who sometimes had rather sophisticated equipment and readily produced colored photograms or explorers, navigators, climbers (Vittorio Sella and the Archiduke of Abruzzi future king of Italy remains the most famous of them).
There are many types of collectible vintage postcards.
Hold-to-light postcards were made with tissue paper surrounded by two pieces of regular paper, so light would shine through. Fold-out postcards, popular in the 1950s, had multiple postcards attached in a long strip. Real photograph postcards (RPPCs) are photographs with a postcard backing.
Novelty postcards were made using wood, aluminum, copper, and cork. Silk postcards–often embroidered over a printed image–were wrapped around cardboard and sent in see-through glassine paper envelopes; they were especially popular during World War I.
In the 1930s and 1940s, postcards were printed on brightly colored paper designed to look like linen.
Most vintage postcard collectors focus on themes, like Christmas, Halloween, portraits of movie stars, European royalty and U.S. presidents, wartime imagery, and photos of natural disasters or natural wonders. Not to mention cards featuring colorful pictures by famous artists like Alphonse Mucha, Harrison Fisher, Ellen Clapsaddle, and Frances Brundage.

KATA TJUTA / MOUNT OLGA BY NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY

NASA EARTH OBSERVATORY  (since 1999)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION  

Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga  (1,069 m - 3,507 ft)

Australia (Northern Territory )

Photographed from space in 2010

The mountain 

Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga  (1,069 m - 3,507 ft) is a located in the Northern Territory of Australia,  in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park which hosts some of the world’s most spectacular examples of inselbergs (isolated mountains). The most famous of these inselbergs is Uluru /Ayers Rock. An equally massive inselberg located approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) to the northwest is known as Kata Tjuta. Like Uluru, this is a sacred site to the native Anangu or Aboriginal people. An English-born explorer named the highest peak Mount Olga, with the entire grouping of rocks informally known as “the Olgas.” Mount Olga has a peak elevation making it 206 meters (676 feet) higher than Uluru/Ayers Rock.

In this astronaut photograph, afternoon sunlight highlights the rounded summits of Kata Tjuta against the surrounding sandy plains. Sand dunes are visible at image lower left, while in other areas (image bottom and image right) sediments washed from the rocks have been anchored by a variety of grasses and bushes adapted to the arid climate. Green vegetation in the ephemeral stream channels that drain Kata Tjuta (image top center) provides colorful contrast with the red rocks and surrounding soils. Large gaps in the rocks (highlighted by shadows) are thought to be fractures that have been enlarged due to erosion.

Kata Tjuta is comprised of gently dipping Mount Currie Conglomerate, a sedimentary rock that includes rounded fragments of other rock types (here, primarily granite with less abundant basalt and rhyolite in a coarse sandy matrix). Geologists interpret the Mount Currie Conglomerate as a remnant of a large fan of material rapidly eroded from mountains uplifted approximately 550 million years ago. Subsequent burial under younger sediments consolidated the eroded materials to form the conglomerate exposed at the surface today.

Source: 

- NASA  Earth Observatory 

The photographer 

Astronaut photograph ISS023-E-29806 was acquired on April 30, 2010, with a Nikon D3 digital camera fitted with an 800 mm lens, and is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center.  The image was taken by the Expedition 23 crew. 

The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory as part of the ISS National Lab to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. 

MOUNT KAZBEK PAINTED BY ILYA N. ZANKOVSKSY

ILYA NIKOLAEVITCH ZANKOVSKY (1832-1919)

Mount Kazbek  (5,047m - 16, 558ft)

Russia - Georgia border

The mountain 
Mount Kazbek  (5,047m - 16, 558ft) or Mkinvartsveri (in Georgian) or Bashlam (in Vainkah)  is a dormant stratovolcano and one of the major mountains of the Caucasus located in the Kazbegi District of Georgia, just south of the border with Russia.  It is the third highest peak in Georgia (after Mount Shkhara and Janga) and the seventh highest summit in the Caucasus Mountains.  Kazbek is also the second highest volcanic summit in the Caucasus, after Mount Elbrus. The summit lies directly to the west of the town of Stepantsminda and is the most prominent geographic feature of the area. Mount Kazbek is the highest peak of Eastern Georgia.
Kazbek is located on the Khokh Range, a mountain range which runs north of the Greater Caucasus Range, and which is pierced by the gorges of the Ardon and the Terek. At its eastern foot runs the Georgian Military Road through the pass of Darial 2,378 meters (7805 feet). The mountain itself lies along the edge of the Borjomi-Kazbegi Fault (which is a northern sub-ending of the Anatolian Fault). The region is highly active tectonically, with numerous small earthquakes occurring at regular intervals. An active geothermal/hot spring system also surrounds the mountain.
 Kazbek is a potentially active volcano, built up of trachyte and sheathed with lava, and has the shape of a double cone, whose base lies at an altitude of 1,770 m (5,800 feet). Kazbek is the highest of the volcanic cones of the Kazbegi volcanic group which also includes Mount Khabarjina (3,142 m).
Owing to the steepness of its slopes, the glaciers of Kazbek are not very large. The total combined area of all of Kazbek's glaciers is 135 kmІ. The best-known glacier is the Dyevdorak (Devdaraki), which creeps down the north-eastern slope into a gorge of the same name, reaching a level of 2,295 meters (7,530 feet). Kazbek's other glaciers include the Mna, Denkara, Gergeti, Abano, and Chata. The recent collapse of the Kolka Glacier, located in a valley between Mt. Jimara and Kazbek in the year 2002 was attributed to solfatara volcanic activity along the northern slope of the mountain, although there was no eruption. In addition to the 2002 event, a massive collapse of the Devdaraki Glacier on the mountain's northeastern slope which occurred on August 20, 2014, led to the death of seven people. The glacier collapse dammed the Terek River in the Daryal Gorge and flooded the Georgian Military Highway.

The painter 
Ilya Zankovsky was a russian  painter and graphic artist  who studied as a noncredit student in the Imperial Academy of Arts (IAKh, 1862–1863) and who did not finish the course. Zankovsky lived in Tiflis, served in the Military topographic department of the Caucasus military region. He painted landscapes of the Caucasus (Mount Elbrus, Georgian military road, The Darial Gorge, From the main mountain range, Mount Ushba. Hunters halt). He worked a lot in watercolor. His works were shown at the exhibitions of the Caucasian Society for Encouragement of Fine Arts, the Society for mutual aid of Caucasian artists, the Society of Russian Watercolorists, and at the Autumn exhibitions in the halls of the IAKh. Zankovsky taught in the Drawing School under the Caucasian Society for Encouragement of Fine Arts in 1880s–1910s.
In 2009 an exhibition of Zankovsky’s works was held in Moscow. Works by Ilya Zankovsky are in many museum collections, including the State Russian Museum, Odessa Fine Arts Museum, Omsk Regional Museum of Fine Arts named after M. A. Vrubel, and Dagestan Museum of Local History.
_______________________________
2017 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau 

MOUNT DAMAVAND IN VINTAGE POSTCARD, 1951

VINTAGE POSTCARD, 1951

Mount Damavand (5, 610m -18,410ft) 

Iran

 ©wanderingvertexescollection

The mountain 

Mount Damāvand  (5, 610m -18,410ft), in Persian  دماوند‎‎ , a potentially active volcano, is a stratovolcano which is the highest peak in Iran and the Middle East as well as the highest volcano in Asia (the Kunlun Volcanic Group in Tibet has a higher elevation than Damāvand, but are not considered to be volcanic mountains). It has a special place in Persian mythology and folklore.The origins and meaning of the word "Damavand" is unclear, yet some prominent researchers have speculated that it probably means "The mountain from which smoke and ash arises", alluding to the volcanic nature of the mountain. 

This peak is located in the middle of the Alborz range, adjacent to Varārū, Sesang, Gol-e Zard, and Mīānrūd. The mountain is located near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, in Amol County, Mazandaran Province, 66 kilometres (41 miles) northeast of the city of Tehran. Mount Damāvand is the 12th most prominent peak in the world, and the second most prominent in Asia after Mount Everest. It is the highest volcanic mountain in Asia, and part of the Volcanic Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.

Damavand is a significant mountain in Persian mythology. It is the symbol of Iranian resistance against despotism and foreign rule in Persian poetry and literature. In Zoroastrian texts and mythology, the three-headed dragon Aži Dahāka was chained within Mount Damāvand, there to remain until the end of the world. In a later version of the same legend, the tyrant Zahhāk was also chained in a cave somewhere in Mount Damāvand after being defeated by Kāveh and Fereydūn. Persian poet Ferdowsi depicts this event in his masterpiece, the Shahnameh, in which the mountain is said to hold magical powers. Damāvand has also been named in the Iranian legend of Arash (as recounted by Bal'ami) as the location from which the hero shot his magical arrow to mark the border of Iran, during the border dispute between Iran and Turan. The famous poem Damāvand by Mohammad Taqī Bahār is also one fine example of the mountain's significance in Persian literature.
Mount Damavand is depicted on the reverse of the Iranian 10,000 rials banknote.

An anthropologist of Mazandaran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department, Touba Osanlou, has said that a proposal has been put forward by a group of Iranian mountaineers to register the highest peak in the Middle East, Mount Damavand as a national heritage site. Mazandaran Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department has accepted the proposal, the Persian daily Jam-e Jam reported. 

Climbing routes 

The best major settlement for mountain climbers is the new Iranian Mountain Federation Camp in the village of Polour, located on the south of the mountain. There are at least 16 known routes to the summit, with varying levels of difficulty. Some of them are very dangerous and require rock 

climbing.

Sources:

- Smithsonian Institution  - Global volcanism program 

Vintage postcards

Postcards became popular at the turn of the 20th century, especially for sending short messages to friends and relatives. They were collected right from the start, and are still sought after today by collectors of pop culture, photography, advertising, wartime memorabilia, local history, and many other categories.

Postcards were an international craze, published all over the world. The Detroit Publishing Co. and Teich & Co. were two of the major publishers in the U.S, and sometimes individuals printed their own postcards as well. Yvon were the most famous in France. Many individual or anonymous publishers did exist around the world and especially in Africa and  Asia (Japan, Thailand, Nepal, China, Java) between 1920 and 1955. These photographer were mostly local notables, soldiers, official guides belonging to the colonial armies (british french, belgium...) who sometimes had rather sophisticated equipment and readily produced colored photograms or explorers, navigators, climbers (Vittorio Sella and the Archiduke of Abruzzi future king of Italy remains the most famous of them).

There are many types of collectible vintage postcards.

Hold-to-light postcards were made with tissue paper surrounded by two pieces of regular paper, so light would shine through. Fold-out postcards, popular in the 1950s, had multiple postcards attached in a long strip. Real photograph postcards (RPPCs) are photographs with a postcard backing.

Novelty postcards were made using wood, aluminum, copper, and cork. Silk postcards–often embroidered over a printed image–were wrapped around cardboard and sent in see-through glassine paper envelopes; they were especially popular during World War I.

In the 1930s and 1940s, postcards were printed on brightly colored paper designed to look like linen.

Most vintage postcard collectors focus on themes, like Christmas, Halloween, portraits of movie stars, European royalty and U.S. presidents, wartime imagery, and photos of natural disasters or natural wonders. Not to mention cards featuring colorful pictures by famous artists like Alphonse Mucha, Harrison Fisher, Ellen Clapsaddle, and Frances Brundage.

BISHOP PEAK PAINTED BY HENRY-JOSEPH BREUER

HENRY JOSEPH BREUER (1860-1932)

Bishop peak (471m - 1,546ft)

United States of America (California)  

oil on canvas, 1920

The mountain 

Bishop Peak (471m- 1,546ft) is a volcanic plug in San Luis Obispo, California. It is the tallest of the Morros or "Nine Sisters", a chain of similar peaks stretching to Morro Bay. It's mistakenly said to take its name from its resemblance to a bishop's miter, however, it is actually named in homage to the town's name (San Luis Obispo). "Obispo" is the Spanish word for Bishop, and It is frequently referred to by locals as "Bishop's Peak".
Like the other Morros, Bishop Peak is primarily composed of dacite. About 20 to 25 million years ago, magma welled up underneath a layer of softer rock and solidified. The softer overlying rock has since eroded away, leaving a distinct rugged shape.
In the past some quarrying has taken place, primarily to provide stone for the nearby city of San Luis Obispo.  Currently Bishop Peak Natural Reserve includes 350 acres (1.4 km2) of land purchased or donated since 1977.
There are several trails in the Open Space with trailheads on Patricia Drive and at the end of Highland Drive. The Felsman Loop Trail covers the northeast base and connects with Bishop Peak Trail, which climbs the South slope to the summit. There is a third possible trailhead on Foothill Blvd. accessing a steep fall line trail on private property which intersects the Bishop Peak Trail partway up. Residents surrounding Bishop Peak prefer for hikers to use the Patricia Drive Trailhead, which offers a 4.2 miles (6.8 km) round trip hike to the summit, ascending 1,175 feet (360 m).
There are many access trails that rock climbers use regularly on Bishop Peak to access different climbing walls. One of these trails, the 'Oh Man' trail starts just to the left of the cracked wall, which is off of the Highland or Patricia Drive trailheads, and it can be taken as an alternate route to the summit. It was named the 'Oh Man' trail due to the fact that it is a short, sprinty trail and it must be taken at a steady tempo in order to maintain safety.

The painter 

Not to be  confused with the austrian physician, Joseph Breuer, Henry Joseph Breuer, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,  in 1860 is a american painter who earned a reputation as a well-known "painter of poetic landscapes."  He studied art during the 1870s in Buffalo, New York, and then worked as a designer-decorator for the Rockwood Pottery Company in Cincinnati where he also attended the Art Academy. He worked for five years as a lithographer in New York City. 

In 1888, he settled in San Francisco where he became art editor for the San Francisco Chronicle and Californian magazine. Then he went to France for art study and was influenced by the Barbizon School of impressionist painters of rural landscapes. 

Living out of a horse-drawn wagon, he traveled extensively along the western coast of California and Oregon, painting and earning a national reputation for his landscapes. He also painted in Arizona including Canyon de Chelly in Navajo country and did commissioned views of the San Gabriel Valley for the St. Louis Exposition in 1904.


In 1903 he spent two weeks in  Mount Shasta which had a great impact on him. In the Cincinatti  Time Stars he wrote: 

" I board a train to some station somewhere near Mount Shasta,and this into the woods. I man a one- man camp every night for two weeks.  It was cold and sometimes miserable in the thick, wet, cold mist of the mountain side, but the days were grand before that high, white altar, Shasta! I shall feel for all my life that I was a true pilgrim, and for the sake of days like that, I am happy to be what I am, a landscape painter..."

NOSHAQ PEAKS IMAGED IN AUTOCHROME LUMIERE

AUTOCHROME LUMIERE (ANONYMUS)

Noshaq peaks or Nowshak (7, 492 m-  24, 580 ft) 

Afghanistan - Pakistan border 

In Summer in Hindu Kush - Noshaq peak in the distance, c.1922., autochrome Lumière process

©wanderingvertexescollection - no copy allowed without permission

The mountain 

Noshaq peaks (7, 492 m-  24, 580 ft), also called Nowshak or Nōshākh (in Urdu/Persian/Pashto: نوشاخ‎) is the second highest independent peak of the Hindu Kush Range after Tirich Mir (7,706 m -25,289 ft) and lies on the border between Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan and Chitral District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Noshaq peaks, the 4th highest peak of the Hindu Kush Range, is an independent mountain on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, with its 4 summits which are :
Noshaq Main (7,492m),  Noshaq East (7,480m), Noshaq Central (7,400m), Noshaq West (7,250 m)
From Pakistan:
Only Noshaq West (7,250 m) stands on the Pak-Afghan border, being natural water shed. Noshaq Main (7,492m) and the rest of the peaks of this massif lie well within Pakistan territory and easily accessible from Chitral-Pakistan which is 64 km away. Chital airport is linked with Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, with a daily flight of one hour duration and Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa province of Pakistan with a daily flight of 40 minutes duration.
Noshaq Main (7,492m) was first ascent by Japanese expedition in 1960. The expedition was led by Professor Sakato. Other members of the expedition were Goro Iwatsabo and Toshiaki Sakai. The route was followed from the South East Ridge of the peak, Nowadays; the normal route is by southeast face through Terich valley of Chitral-Pakistan. The second highest peak in this range is Noshaq East (7,480m) climbed in 1963 by Dr. Gerald Gruber and Rudolf Pischenger from Austria. The 3rd highest peak of the massif Noshaq Central (7,400m) and the 4th peak is Noshaq West (7,250m). These peaks were also climbed by the same Austrian expedition of 1963. The first winter ascent was in 1973 by Tadeusz Piotrowski and Andrzej Zawada, member of a Polish expedition, via the north face. It was the world’s first winter climb above any 7,000m peak.
From Afghanistan:
The North and the west sides of the mountain are in Afghanistan where as the South and Eastern sided are in Pakistan. In Afghanistan's Noshaq is considered it's the highest mountain and is located in the northeastern corner of the country along the Durand line which marks the border with Pakistan. It's 28 km away from Qazi Deh village, an expedition of 5 days journey. Qazi Deh is 280 km away from Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, a perilous journey. However, the Easiest access to Noshaq is from Chitral, Pakistan. Nowadays, the normal route on Afghanistan side is by the West ridge.
The first Afghan ascent of the mountain was in July 2009. Two members of a team of four Afghans from the Wakhan Corridor made the summit on July 19.
Source: 
- Afghan Noshaq expedition
- Chitral explorer blog

ESPLANADE RANGE PAINTED BY LAWREN HARRIS

LAWREN HARRIS (1885-1970)
Esplanade Range   (2,301 m - 7,549 ft)

Canada

In Athabaska at Jasper, oil on canvas, 1924
 

The mountains
Esplanade Range includes, from right to left, in the painting above :  Gargoyle mountain, Esplanade mountain, Chetamin, The Palisades. 
Esplanade Mountain (2,301 m - 7,549 ft)  is a mountain summit located in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. The peak is situated 20 kilometres north of the municipality of Jasper, in the Athabasca Valley and is visible from Highway 16 and the Canadian. Its nearest higher peak is Cliff Mountain, 5.0 km (3.1 mi) to the west. Esplanade Mountain was named in 1916 by Morrison P. Bridgland for its long, flat top resembling an esplanade. Bridgland (1878-1948) was a Dominion Land Surveyor who named many peaks in Jasper Park and the Canadian Rockies. The mountain's name was officially adopted in 1956 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada.

Gargoyle Mountain (2,693m - 8,835 ft)  is a mountain summit located in Jasper National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, Canada. The peak is situated 23 kilometres north of the municipality of Jasper, and is a prominent landmark in the Athabasca Valley visible from Highway 16 and the Canadian. Its nearest higher peak is Cliff Mountain, 5.5 km (3.4 mi) to the west.  Gargoyle Mountain was named in 1916 by Morrison P. Bridgland for the fact a stream heads at the mountain, like a gargoyle or spout.  Bridgland (1878-1948) was a Dominion Land Surveyor who named many peaks in Jasper Park and the Canadian Rockies.  The mountain's name was officially adopted in 1956 by the Geographical Names Board of Canada.


The painter  
Lawren Stewart Harris, (1885–1970) was a leading landscape canadian painter, imbuing his paintings with a spiritual dimension. An inspirer of other artists, he was a key figure in the Group of Seven and gave new vision to representations of the northern Canadian landscape. During the 1920s, Harris's works became more abstract and simplified, especially his stark landscapes of the Canadian north and Arctic.  He also stopped signing and dating his works so that people would judge his works on their own merit and not by the artist or when they were painted.
In 1924, a sketching trip with A.Y. Jackson to Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies marked the beginning of Harris' mountain subjects, which he continued to explore with annual sketching trips until 1929, exploring areas around Banff National Park, Yoho National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. In 1930, Harris went on his last extended sketching trip, travelling to the Arctic aboard the supply ship SS. Beothic for two months, during which time he completed over 50 sketches.  "We are on the fringe of the great North and its living whiteness, its loneliness and replenishment, its resignations and release, tis call and answer, its cleansing rhythms. It seems that the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow that will ever shed clarity into the growing race of America."(Lawren S. Harris, 1926)
For Harris, art was to express spiritual values as well as to represent the visible world. North Shore, Lake Superior (1926), an image of a solitary weathered tree stump surrounded by an expanse of dramatically lit sky, effectively evokes the tension between the terrestrial and spiritual.
The resulting Arctic canvases that he developed from the oil panels marked the end of his landscape period, and from 1935 on, Harris enthusiastically embraced abstract painting. Several members of the Group of Seven later became members of the Canadian Group of Painters including Harris, A. J. Casson, Arthur Lismer, A. Y. Jackson, and Franklin Carmichael.
From 1934 to 1937, Harris lived in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he painted his first abstract works, a direction he would continue for the rest of his life. In 1938 he moved to Sante Fe, New Mexico, and helped found the Transcendental Painting Group, an organization of artists who advocated a spiritual form of abstraction.
In 1969, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Harris died in Vancouver in 1970, at the age of 84, as a well-known artist. He was buried on the grounds of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, where his work is now held.
On November 26, 2015 his painting Mountain and Glacier was auctioned for $3.9 million at a Heffel Fine Art Auction House auction in Toronto, breaking the previous record for the sale of one of Harris's works.
In 2016 a film about Harris's life, Where the Universe Sings, was produced by TV Ontario. It was created by filmmaker Peter Raymont and directed by Nancy Lang.
Source:
- Lawren S. Harris biography in  National Gallery of Canada notice

ONTAKESAN PAINTED BY ITO TAKAHASHI

ITO TAKASHI (1894-1982)

Ontakesan or Mount Ontake (3,067m- 10,062ft)

Japan

In Mount Kiso Ontake, 1932, print, 

The mountain 

Ontakesan  (3,067 m -10,062 ft) - in japanese 御嶽山 - also referred to as Mount Kiso Ontake (木曽御嶽山) or Mount Ontake, is the second highest volcano in Japan, after Fujiyama. Ontakesan is located around 100 km (62 mi) northeast of Nagoya, and around 200 km (125 mi) west of Tokyo, at the borders of Kiso and Ōtaki, Nagano Prefecture, and Gero, Gifu Prefecture.

The volcano has five crater lakes, with Ni no Ike at 2,905 m (9,531 ft) being the highest mountain lake in Japan. Ontake is a major sacred mountain, and following older shamanistic practices, actors and artists have gone to the mountain to put themselves into trances in order to get divine inspiration for their creative activities.

Ontakesan was thought to be inactive until October 1979, when it underwent a series of explosive phreatic eruptions (VEI 2), ejecting 200,000 tons of ash in total.[

There were minor non-explosive (VEI 0) phreatic eruptions in 1991 and 2007.

On Saturday, September 27, 2014, at around 11:53 a.m. Japan Standard Time (UTC +9), the volcano erupted with a VEI of 3 or 4. There were no significant earthquakes that might have warned authorities in the lead up to the phreatic eruption—caused by ground water flashing to steam in a hydrothermal explosion. The  Ontakesan volcano eruption was an extremely rare phenomenon which made it difficult to take precautionary measures. At least 40 people were injured, and another 32 were believed to be missing. The Japan Self-Defense Forces began carrying out helicopter searches for missing people after the eruption.] On October 7, the total confirmed death count stood at 54.

The artist

Itō Takashi was born in Kama, Shizuoka Prefecture.  He was one of the lesser known landscape artists who designed prints for the shin hanga publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō. Like several other print artists of this period, including Ito Shinsui (1898-1972) and Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), Ito Takashi studied painting under Kaburagi Kiyokata (1878-1973). He graduated from the Kyoto Koto Kogei (Higher Polytechnic) School of Designing where he studied Yoga (Western-style painting) with Totori Eiki (1873-1943), the Koto Kogei Gakko (Kyoto Higher Technical Art School) where he studied Nihonga (traditional Japanese-style painting) with Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942) and the Tokyo Academy of Fine Arts where he studied Nihonga with painter Yuki Somei (1875-1957). Takashi primarily worked as a painter and started making color woodblock prints in 1922, which he did intermittently throughout the rest of his career.  He exhibited paintings at the Teiten.  He designed about 85 woodblock prints from the early 1920's through 1965.
Many of Takashi's early woodblock prints were only printed in one or two colors, because he was still experimenting with composition and design. These prints were probably not widely distributed. In 1923, a devastating earthquake struck Tokyo destroying the blocks for Takashi's early prints. However, at least one print, Ferry at Odai, Tokyo, was recarved by Watanabe's craftsmen and reprinted for many years afterward.
Many of Takashi's prints are idealistic images that emphasize the beauty of the unspoiled Japanese landscape. He enjoyed depicting dramatic seasonal and weather phenomena and often used bright, almost surreal colors to emphasize these changes. Occasionally people are part of his designs, but they are always incidental, solitary figures. A typical print, Takegawa River at Dawn, shows man living in harmony with nature. Takashi's prints evoke the Japan of old and represent the height of romantic shin hanga landscapes.
Watanabe describes Ito as an artist who experimented frequently with printing and overprinting, and that he also carved one design himself entitled Sinking Sun which illustrated the courtyard of Tokyo Imperial University (present-day University of Tokyo.)  Sinking Sun was apparently not published by Watanabe and was distributed by Ito to members of the Edo-Picture Appreciation Society.  Watanabe also states that at the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923 a number of trial prints by Ito, done in conjunction with Watanabe's printers, were in progress.  They were subsequently abandoned due to the destruction of his shop premises.

RONDSLOTETT PAINTED BY HARALD SOHLBERG

HARALD SOHLBERG (1869-1935) 

Rondslotett (2,178m - 7,146ft) 

Norway

1.  In Winter night in Rondane, 1901, oil on canvas, National Gallery, Oslo 

2. In Winternight in Rondane, 1914, oil on canvas,National Gallery, Oslo 

3. In Winter night in Rondane, 1918-24,  oil on canvas,National Gallery, Oslo

The mountain 

Rondslottet (2,178m - 7,146ft)  is the highest mountain in the Rondane mountain range and is also the highest mountain in the county Hedmark. The landscapes of Rondane are well known to have inspired the work Peer Gynt (1867), a play by Henrik Ibsen, and a opera by Edvard Grieg which is partly set in Rondane. Rondane is the finite plural of the word rond. Several mountains in the area have the ending-ronden (Digerronden, Høgronden, Midtronden, Storronden and Vinjeronden), and this is the finite singular of the same word. The word rond was probably originally the name of the long and narrow lake Rondvatnet ('Rond water/lake') - and the mountains around were then named after this lake. For the meaning see under Randsfjorden.

Rondane National Park (Norwegian: Rondane nasjonalpark) is the oldest national park in Norway, established on 21 December 1962.  The park contains ten peaks above 2,000 metres (6,560 ft), with the highest being Rondeslottet at an altitude (see above). The park is an important habitat for herds of wild reindeer. The park was extended in 2003, and now covers an area of 963 km2 (372 sq mi) in the counties Oppland and Hedmark. Rondane lies just to the east of Gudbrandsdal and two other mountain areas, Dovre and Jotunheimen are nearby.

Visitors to Rondane are free to hike and camp in all areas of the park, except in the immediate vicinity of cabins. Apart from being closed for motor traffic, not many special regulations apply. Fishing and hunting is available to licensees. The Norwegian Mountain Touring Association (DNT) is an association that owns and manages a network of mountain cabins in the service of hikers. In Rondane, there is a central cabin by the southern end of the lake Rondvatnet, Rondvassbu. There is also Dørålseter and Bjørnhollia at the northern and eastern rims of the park. All three cabins are manned, and provide food and limited accommodation. There are also un-manned cabins in the Park, like Eldåbu where a key is needed. The service cabins are also open during the winter season, although they are sometimes only self-serviced off season. Ski trails are marked and sometimes prepared, either by DNT or some of the hotels and skiing resorts close to the park.

The painter 

Harald Oskar Sohlberg was a Norwegian Neo-romantic painter. Sohlberg attended the Royal School of Art and Design of Christiania. He later trained under the graphic artist and painter Johan Nordhagen. He also studied as a pupil of Kristian Zahrtman,  Erik Werenskiold, Eilif Peterssen and Harriet Backer. He is particularly known for his depictions of the mountains of Rondane and the town of Røros. Perhaps his most widely recognized paintings, in several variations, is Winter's Night in Rondane, presently featured at the National Gallery in Oslo (Nasjonalgalleriet).

Winter Night in the Mountains (Norwegian: Vinternatt i Rondane) is the name of several versions of the same place, created in several techniques and at different moments of the life of the painter, exactly like Claude Monet  did with Mount Kolsaas (in Norway as well)  or Hokusai did with Mount Fuji in Japan. The first version of Winter's Night in Rondane was painted in 1910,  the last in 1918, but the most famous is the oil painting from 1914.

SANDSTONE PEAK / MOUNT ALLEN BY HANSON PUTHUFF

HANSON PUTHUFF (1875-1972)

Sandstone Peak or Mount Allen (949 m - 3,114 feet)

United States of America (California)  

 In Mount Allen, oil on canvas, 1920, 1930,1950

The mountain 

Sandstone Peak (949 m- 3,114 feet ) also known as Mount Allen, is a mountain in Ventura County, California, and the highest summit in the Santa Monica Mountains. Located near the western edge of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, the summit provides panoramic views of Malibu, The Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica, the Conejo Valley, and four of the Channel Islands. The Sandstone Peak Trail, which leads to the top, connects to a vast trail system in the area, including the Backbone Trail. The mountain is highly popular with climbers, hikers, campers, and photographers.

The Boy Scouts of America petitioned the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to name the mountain for W. Herbert Allen who had donated land for nearby Camp Circle X and other Boy Scout camps. He served as president of the Los Angeles Area Council. The board denied the request because of a long-standing policy not to approve a geographic name in commemoration of a living person. The land is now known as the Circle X Ranch, a park unit located in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Sandstone Peak can be climbed all year. The best months probably are October through June with clearer views. Summer tends to be quite hot despite the proximity to the Pacific Ocean.
There are two main trails to the summit. The Sandstone Peak Trail, which starts from the Sandstone Peak trailhead off Yerba Buena Road about one mile east from the Circle X Ranch main house. This trail is about 3 miles roundtrip with ~ 1,100 feet of elevation gain. The second, longer, trail is the Mishe Mokwa Trail, which is about 6 miles roundtrip and a total of ~ 1,400 feet elevation gain. The trailhead is a short distance further east from the Sandstone Peak trailhead on Yerba Buena Road. Both trails are in very good condition and well maintained. To reach the summit of Sandstone Peak a short but fun scramble over reddish, volcanic rocks (not exceeding class 2) is necessary.

Source: 

- Summitpost.org 

The Painter 

Hanson Duvall Puthuff was a landscape painter and muralist, born in Waverly, Missouri. Puthuff studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to Colorado in 1889 to study at University of Denver Art School. He traveled to Los Angeles in 1903 and for 23 years worked as a commercial artist painting billboards while painting landscapes in his leisure. In 1926, he abandoned commercial art and devote full-time to fine art and exhibitions. He is nationally famous for his lyric interpretations of the Southern California deserts. 

Puthuff was one of the cofounders of the California Art Club and the Laguna Beach Art Association. He won awards in 1909 from the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, a bronze medal at the Paris Salon in 1914, and two silver medals from the Panama-California Exposition in 1915. His works are exhibited in, among other places, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, and Bowers Museum. Many of his works are also cataloged in the Smithsonian American Art Museum art inventory. Puthuff died in Corona del Mar on May 12, 1972.

In 2007, the Pasadena Museum of California Art featured California Colors: Hanson Puthuff, the first solo museum exhibition of his work. In conjunction with the exhibit, the Museum republished the artist's autobiography.

Sources: 

- Askart 

MOUNT ASSINIBOINE PAINTED BY FRED BUCHWITZ

FRED BUCHWITZ  (bn.1949)

Mount Assiniboine (3,618m - 11,870ft) 

Canada

The mountain

Mount Assiniboine (3,618m - 11,870ft) also known as Assiniboine Mountain, is a pyramidal peak mountain located on the Great Divide, on the British Columbia/Alberta border in Canada.
It is the highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Rockies. Mt. Assiniboine rises nearly 1,525 m (5,003 ft) above Lake Magog. Because of its resemblance to the Matterhorn in the Alps, it is nicknamed the "Matterhorn of the Rockies". Mt. Assiniboine was named by George M. Dawson in 1885. When Dawson saw Mt. Assiniboine from Copper Mountain, he saw a plume of clouds trailing away from the top. This reminded him of the plumes of smoke emanating from the teepees of Assiniboine Indians. Mt. Assiniboine lies on the border between Mount Assiniboine Provincial Park, in British Columbia, and Banff National Park, in Alberta. The park does not have any roads and thus can only be reached by a six-hour hike 27 km (17 mi), three-hour bike ride (now disallowed to reduce human / grizzly encounters) or helicopter. The usual approach is via Bryant Creek. From Canmore follow the Smith-Dorien road to the Mount Shark parking lot. The trail is well signed. A helipad is also here.
Climbing 
Mt. Assiniboine was first climbed in 1901 by James Outram, Christian Bohren and Christian Hasler. In 1925, Lawrence Grassi became the first person to make a solo ascent. On August 27, 2001, Bohren's granddaughter Lonnie along with three others made a successful ascent, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first ascent. There are no scrambling routes up Mt. Assiniboine. The easiest mountaineering routes are the North Ridge and North Face at YDS 5.5 which are reached from the Hind Hut.
Source:
- Summitpost.org
- Wikipedia

The painter
Fred Buchwitz was born in Europe and came to Canada in 1949  at the  age of four. His family settled in the town of Chilliwack nestled in Southern British Columbia. Fred’s artistic talent was first noticed when he was thirteen. He spent a great deal of time painting murals around his school with a friend. One of his most memorable murals illustrated the history of western art.  After high school, Fred moved to Vancouver and started a job as a window displayman for Woodwards. Fred worked part-time hours at Woodwards one year while he took courses in graphic design at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. However, he was unable to complete the program because his wife gave birth to their first child. In 1974, Fred was given the opportunity to display his original paintings Thursday to Saturdays in Guildford Town Centre. Fred was able to sell more of his work from his studio as a result of this exposure. After a year of displaying at Guildford, Fred traveled with a group of painters known as “Great Western Artists.” They traveled throughout western Canada and it was on these trips that Fred discovered the beauty and majesty of the Rocky Mountains. The Rockies have become a major theme in his work ever since. Fred also started releasing limited edition prints and art cards of his work.
Source:
- Art Country Canada.com 

MOUNT LAFAYETTE PAINTED BY ALBERT BIERSTADT

ALBERT BIERSTADT (1830-1902) 

Mount Lafayette (1,600m - 5,249 ft) 

United State of America 

The Mountain 

Mount Lafayette (1,600m - 5,249 ft)  is a mountain at the northern end of the Franconia Range in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, United States. It is located in the town of Franconia in Grafton County. It is on the New England Fifty Finest list of the most topographically prominent peaks in New England. The upper portion of the mountain is located in the alpine zone, an area where only small vegetation exists due to the harsh climate.

The mountain is named to honor General Lafayette, a French military hero of the 18th century who fought with and significantly aided the Continental Army and was loved and adopted by George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. Lafayette re-visited New Hampshire and all the other states in an extremely popular, triumphal tour during 1824-1825, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Mount Lafayette is the highest point in the Franconia Range, a line of peaks along the east side of Franconia Notch. It is the sixth highest peak in New Hampshire and the highest outside of the Presidential Range. It is the second most prominent peak in the state. On the western side, its lower slopes lie inside Franconia Notch State Park. The remainder of the mountain lies within the White Mountain National Forest. The summit marks the western border of the Pemigewasset Wilderness Area within the WMNF.

The painter 

Albert Bierstadt was a German-born American painter. He was brought to the United States at the age of one by his parents. He later returned to study painting for several years in Düsseldorf. At an early age Bierstadt developed a taste for art and made clever crayon sketches in his youth. 

In 1851, he began to paint in oils. He became part of the Hudson River School in New York, an informal group of like-minded painters who started painting along this scenic river. Their style was based on carefully detailed paintings with romantic, almost glowing lighting, sometimes called luminism. An important interpreter of the western landscape, Bierstadt, along with Thomas Moran, is also grouped with the Rocky Mountain School.

In 1858 he exhibited a large painting of a Swiss landscape at the National Academy of Design, which gained him positive critical reception and honorary membership in the Academy.  At this time Bierstadt began painting scenes in New England and upstate New York, including in the Hudson River valley. A group of artists known as the Hudson River School portrayed its majestic landscapes and craggy areas, as well as the light affected by the changing waters.

In 1859, Bierstadt traveled westward in the company of Frederick W. Lander, a land surveyor for the U.S. government, to see those landscapes.  He continued to visit the American West throughout his career.

During the American Civil War, Bierstadt paid for a substitute to serve in his place when he was drafted in 1863. He completed one Civil War painting Guerrilla Warfare, Civil War in 1862, based on his brief experiences with soldiers stationed at Camp Cameron in 1861.

Bierstadt's painting was based on a stereoscopic photograph taken by his brother Edward Bierstadt, who operated a photography studio at Langley's Tavern in Virginia. Bierstadt's painting received a positive review when it was exhibited at the Brooklyn Art Association at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in December 1861. Curator Eleanor Jones Harvey observes that Bierstadt's painting, created from photographs, "is quintessentially that of a voyeur, privy to the stories and unblemished by the violence and brutality of first-hand combat experience."

In 1860, he was elected a member of the National Academy; he received medals in Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, and Germany.[ In 1867 he traveled to London, where he exhibited two landscape paintings in a private reception with Queen Victoria. He traveled through Europe for two years, cultivating social and business contacts to sustain the market for his work overseas.

As a result of the publicity generated by his Yosemite paintings, Bierstadt's presence was requested by every explorer considering a westward expedition, and he was commissioned by the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad to visit the Grand Canyon for further subject matter.

Bierstadt's technical proficiency, earned through his study of European landscape, was crucial to his success as a painter of the American West. It accounted for his popularity in disseminating views of the Rockies to those who had not seen them. The immense canvases he produced after his trips with Lander and Ludlow established him as the preeminent painter of the western American landscape. 

Despite his popular success, Bierstadt was criticized by some contemporaries for the romanticism evident in his choices of subject and his use of light was felt to be excessive. 

In 1882 Bierstadt's studio at Irvington, New York, was destroyed by fire, resulting in the loss of many of his paintings. By the time of his death on February 18, 1902, the taste for epic landscape painting had long since subsided. Bierstadt was then largely forgotten. He was buried at the Rural Cemetery in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Interest in his work was renewed in the 1960s, with the exhibition of his small oil studies. The subsequent reassessment of Bierstadt's work has placed it in a favorable context.

Bierstadt's theatrical art, fervent sociability, international outlook, and unquenchable personal energy reflected the epic expansion in every facet of western civilization during the second half of the nineteenth century. Bierstadt was a prolific artist, having completed over 500 paintings during his lifetime. Many of these are held by museums across the United States.

Several mountain paintings by Bierstadt are published in this blog.  To find them, go to his name in the column on the right and just click on his name.

Sources: 

- Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Bierstadt, Albert". Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.

- Reynolds, Francis J., ed. (1921). "Bierstadt, Albert". Collier's New Encyclopedia. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Company

CERO EL AVILA / PICO NAIGUATA BY FRITZ MELBYE

FRITZ MELBYE ( 1826-1869) 

 Pico Naiguata (2,765m - 9,072ft)
Venezuela 

In Pico Naiguata, Cerro El Avila, vista de Caracas", 1854, oil on canvas,
Museo de Bellas Arte de Caracas

The mountain 

Pico Naiguatá  (2,765m - 9,072ft) is the summit of a mountain called Cerro el Avila in South America near Caracas, Venezuela, part of the Venezuelan Coastal Range, of which it is the highest peak. It is situated on the border of the Venezuelan states Miranda and Vargas. It is the highest point in both of these states and the fourth highest of the Caribbean after Pico Simón Bolivar and Pico Cristóbal Colón of The Santa Marta Coastal range in Colombia and Pico Duarte in the Dominican Republic.
The El Ávila National Park (or Waraira Repano, from an indigenous name for the area) protects part of the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range, in the coastal region of central-northern Venezuela. El Ávila National Park is located along the central section of the Cordillera de la Costa mountain system, in the Cordillera de la Costa Central mountain range.  El Ávila was declared a park in 1958, fulfilling an interest in its protection that had been prevalent since the 19th century. With its creation came the protection of the forested mountains that surround Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. These mountains now serve as both a recreational area and as a buffer to pollution and urban expansion. El Ávila has always been an important resource for the inhabitants of Caracas, who have used the area for a variety of activities, some of which have threatened its conservation.

The painter 
Fritz Sigfred Georg Melbye  was a Danish marine painter, the brother of Anton Melbye and Vilhelm Melbye who were also marine painters. He traveled widely, painting seascapes, coastal and harbour scenes as well as some landscapes in Europe, the Caribbean, Venezuela, North America and Asia.
In 1849, he set off for the Danish West Indies, settling on Saint Thomas. There he met the young Camille Pissarro whom he inspired to take up painting as a full-time profession. Pissarro became his pupil as well as close friend.
In April 1852, Melbye was on Saint Croix, preparing a trip to Venezuela. Pissarro decided to join him and they spent two years together in Caracas and the harbour city of La Guaira before Pissarro returned to Saint Thomas. Melbye stayed until 1856 and then briefly returned to Europe, living some time in Paris, before traveling to North America where he set up a studio in New York City.
He continued to travel widely, mainly to the Caribbean but also north to Newfoundland. A close friend in New York and frequent travelling companion on his Caribbean travels was the famous American landscape painter Frederick Church who also had a studio in New York.
In 1866, Melbye set off on a journey to the Far East in search of new adventures, leaving his studio in Church's care. In Asia he used Peking as a base for travels around the region which also took him to Japan. He died in Shanghai three years later.
Fritz Melbye initially painted seascapes in the family tradition his brother had taught him, but he increasingly turned to landscapes, coastal and town views with mountains. He preferred a realistic style, often with romantic scenes. He exhibited at Charlottenborg in Copenhagen from 1849-1858.
In Peking he was commissioned to paint the Imperial Summer Palace and during his years in America he exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.

OLYMPUS MONS (MARS) BY NASA VIKING PROGRAM

NASA VIKING PROGRAM (1975-1982)

Olympus Mons (21, 230m -  69,650ft) 

Planet Mars - Solar system  

1.  Image of Olympus Mons from NASA Viking 1 Orbiter in 1974 

2.  Olumpus Mons caldera from Mars Express camera on 26 May 2004 

The mountain 

Olympus Mons (21, 230m -  69,650 ft) is a very large shield volcano located on the planet Mars. By one measure, it has a height of nearly 22 km (13.6 mi). Olympus Mons stands about two and a half times as tall as Mount Everest's height above sea level. It is the youngest of the large volcanoes on Mars, having formed during Mars's Hesperian Period. It is currently the largest volcano discovered in the Solar System and had been known to astronomers since the late 19th century as the albedo feature Nix Olympica (Latin for "Olympic Snow"). Its mountainous nature was suspected well before space probes confirmed its identity as a mountain.

The volcano is located in Mars's western hemisphere at approximately 18.65°N 226.2°E, just off the northwestern edge of the Tharsis bulge. The western portion of the volcano lies in the Amazonis quadrangle (MC-8) and the central and eastern portions in the adjoining Tharsis quadrangle (MC-9).

Two impact craters on Olympus Mons have been assigned provisional names by the International Astronomical Union. They are the 15.6 km (9.7 mi)-diameter Karzok crater (18°25′N 131°55′W) and the 10.4 km (6.5 mi)-diameter Pangboche crater (17°10′N 133°35′W). The craters are notable for being two of several suspected source areas for shergottites, the most abundant class of Martian meteorites.

Olympus Mons and a few other volcanoes in the Tharsis region stand high enough to reach above the frequent Martian dust-storms recorded by telescopic observers as early as the 19th century. The astronomer Patrick Moore pointed out that Schiaparelli (1835–1910) "had found that his Nodus Gordis and Olympic Snow [Nix Olympica] were almost the only features to be seen" during dust storms, and "guessed correctly that they must be high".
The Mariner 9 spacecraft arrived in orbit around Mars in 1971 during a global dust-storm. The first objects to become visible as the dust began to settle, the tops of the Tharsis volcanoes, demonstrated that the altitude of these features greatly exceeded that of any mountain found on Earth, as astronomers expected. Observations of the planet from Mariner 9 confirmed that Nix Olympica was not just a mountain, but a volcano. Ultimately, astronomers adopted the name Olympus Mons for the albedo feature known as Nix Olympica.

The program

The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts: an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface. The orbiters also served as communication relays for the landers once they touched down.
The Viking program grew from NASA's earlier, even more ambitious, Voyager Mars program, which was not related to the successful Voyager deep space probes of the late 1970s. Viking 1 was launched on August 20, 1975, and the second craft, Viking 2, was launched on September 9, 1975, both riding atop Titan III-E rockets with Centaur upper stages. Viking 1 entered Mars orbit on June 19, 1976, with Viking 2 following suit on August 7.
After orbiting Mars for more than a month and returning images used for landing site selection, the orbiters and landers detached; the landers then entered the Martian atmosphere and soft-landed at the sites that had been chosen. The Viking 1 lander touched down on the surface of Mars on July 20, 1976, and was joined by the Viking 2 lander on September 3. The orbiters continued imaging and performing other scientific operations from orbit while the landers deployed instruments on the surface.
The project cost roughly 1 billion USD in 1970s dollars, equivalent to about 11 billion USD in 2016 dollars. It was highly successful and formed most of the body of knowledge about Mars through the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Source :
 - NASA- JPL-CALTECH

CONSTANTIABERG PAINTED BY ANDREW COOPER

ANDREW COOPER  (bn.1967)  

Constantiaberg  (927m - 3,041ft) 

South Africa

The mountain 

Constantiaberg (927m - 3,041ft)  is a large, whalebacked mountain that forms part of the mountainous spine of the Cape Peninsula in Table Mountain National Park, Cape Town, South Africa. It lies about 7 km south of Table Mountain, on the southern side of Constantia Nek. The mountain is 927 m high. It is not known who first ascended the peak. Constantiaberg, Devil's Peak and Table Mountain are the highest mountains in the range that stretches from Table Mountain all the way to Cape Point. The range, made up of resistant sandstones of the Table Mountain Group, dominates the southern suburbs of the city on the verge of the Cape Flats.

The lower eastern slopes of Constantiaberg are covered by the commercial pine and gum plantations of Tokai forest, and are crisscrossed with hiking trails and gravel roads that are used for harvesting the trees. The forest is popular for walking, running and mountain biking.

The western slopes of the mountain overlook the magnificent scenery of Hout Bay.

A tarred road leads to the summit of Constantiaberg, where an important VHF mast is located 34°03′17.78″S 18°23′10.77″E. The mast is about 100 m high and is visible for perhaps 80 kilometers in any direction. It was constructed in the 1960s and is used to transmit signals for many local television and radio channels, and also to support cellular networks. The South African Weather Service has a radar installation at the summit.

Constantiaberg is home to a variety of bird and plant species. The mountain is covered mainly by fynbos, a botanical biome native to the Western Cape. The specific vegetation type of the mountain is Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos, an endangered vegetation type that is endemic to the city of Cape Town - occurring nowhere else in the world. Elephant's Eye cave, a popular hiking destination, is the mountain's biggest feature after the mast. This is visible near the southern end of the mountain when viewed from the Cape Flats. Elephant's Eye is so named because the eastern profile of the mountain resembles an elephant (the range that continues toward Cape Point being the trunk).

Source: 

- Wikipedia

The artist
South African artist Andrew Cooper is a contemporary mountains and landscape  painter.  Born in Cape Town, South Africa in November, 1967, Andrew is a gifted, self taught fine artist, who started painting professionally in 1987. He prefers to work on large scale landscape paintings and seascape paintings allowing the viewer to experience "the grandeur and depth of the scene".
Living in a region rich in breathtaking scenery, he has created a spectacular body of contemporary South African paintings that has been exhibited throughout South Africa and elsewhere around the world.  The 2004 International Art Expo in New York City marked his premiere major American exhibition. His  paintings have also been exhibited in the United Kingdom, most recently in June 2012 (Westcliffe Gallery in Norfolk). Andrew Cooper is devoted to painting much as he is devoted to exploring the vast and spectacular countryside of South Africa. His paintings of the mountainside, seaside, wine country, and the rich grasslands are a testament to his sincere appreciation of nature. . His sharp eye and keen memory for detail caught every nuance of the scenes which played out in glorious colours before him. It was not long before he took paint to canvas and duplicated the glory of nature in its heights of beauty, thereby creating a lasting legacy of Nature's finest moments.
Source: 
- Andrew Cooper website 

AORAKI / MOUNT COOK PAINTED BY JOHN TURNBULL THOMSON

JOHN TURNBULL THOMSON (1821-1884)

Aoraki/ Mount Cook (3,724m - 12, 218ft) 

New Zealand

The mountain 

Aoraki / Mount Cook (3,724m - 12, 218ft)  is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height since 2014 is listed as 3,724 m since December 1991, due to a rockslide and subsequent erosion. It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite challenge for mountain climbers. Aoraki / Mount Cook consists of three summits, from South to North the Low Peak (3,593 m or 11,788 ft), Middle Peak (3,717 m or 12,195 ft) and High Peak. The summits lie slightly south and east of the main divide of the Southern Alps, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the southwest.The mountain is in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, in the Canterbury region. The park was established in 1953 and along with Westland National Park, Mount Aspiring National Park and Fiordland National Park forms one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The park contains more than 140 peaks standing over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and 72 named glaciers, which cover 40 percent of its 700 square kilometres (170,000 acres).

Aoraki is the name of a person in the traditions of the Ngāi Tahu iwi; an early name for the South Island is Te Waka o Aoraki (Aoraki's Canoe). In the past many believed it meant "Cloud Piercer",  Historically, the Māori name has been spelt Aorangi, using the standard Māori form.

Aoraki / Mount Cook has been known to Maori since their arrival in New Zealand some time around the 14th century CE. The first Europeans who may have seen Aoraki / Mount Cook were members of Abel Tasman's crew, who saw a "large land uplifted high" while off the west coast of the South Island, just north of present-day Greymouth on 13 December 1642 during Tasman's first Pacific voyage. The English name of Mount Cook was given to the mountain in 1851 by Captain John Lort Stokes to honour Captain James Cook who surveyed and circumnavigated the islands of New Zealand in 1770. Captain Cook did not sight the mountain during his exploration.
Following the settlement between Ngāi Tahu and the Crown in 1998, the name of the mountain was officially changed from Mount Cook to Aoraki / Mount Cook to incorporate its historic Māori name, Aoraki. As part of the settlement, a number of South Island placenames were amended to incorporate their original Māori name. Signifying the importance of Aoraki / Mount Cook, it is the only one of these names where the Māori name precedes the English.
Climbing
The first recorded European attempt on the summit was made by the Irishman Rev. William S. Green and the Swiss hotelier Emil Boss and the Swiss mountain guide Ulrich Kaufmann on 2 March 1882 via the Tasman and Linda Glaciers. Mt Cook Guidebook author Hugh Logan believe they came within 50 metres of the summit.
The first known ascent was on 25 December 1894, when New Zealanders Tom Fyfe, John Michael (Jack) Clarke and George Graham successfully reached the summit via the Hooker Valley and the north ridge. Despite an earlier failed attempt on 20 December, the local climbers were spurred on by their desire for the first ascent to be made by New Zealand mountaineers amid reports that the American mountaineer Edward FitzGerald had his eye on the summit. The route they had successfully traversed was not repeated again until the 100th ascent over 60 years later in 1955.
 Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen of FitzGerald's party made the second ascent on 14 March 1895 from the Tasman Glacier side, via the ridge that now bears his name. This is credited as the first solo ascent, although Zurbriggen was accompanied part of the way up the ridge by J Adamson. After Zurbriggen's ascent it was another ten years before the mountain was climbed again. In February 1905 Jack Clarke with four others completed the third ascent following Zurbriggen's route. So Clarke therefore became the first person to do a repeat ascent.
The first woman to ascend the mountain was Freda Du Faur, an Australian, on 3 December 1910. Local guide George Bannister, a nephew of another guide, Pahikore Te Koeti Turanga of Ngāi Tahu, was the first Māori to successfully scale the peak in 1912. A traverse of the three peaks was first accomplished in 1913 by Freda Du Faur and guides Peter and Alex Graham. This 'grand traverse' was repeated in January 1916 by Conrad Kain, guiding the 57-year-old Mrs. Jane Thomson, considered at the time "a marvellous feat unequalled for daring in the annals of the Southern Alps".
Sir Edmund Hillary made his first ascent in January 1948. In February 1948 with Ruth Adams, Harry Ayres and Mick Sullivan, Hillary made the first ascent of the South Ridge to the Low Peak. In order to celebrate the life of Hillary the South Ridge was renamed as Hillary Ridge in August 2011.
Aoraki / Mount Cook is a technically challenging mountain with a high level of glaciation. Its level of difficulty is often understimated and can change dramatically depending on weather, snow and ice conditions. The climb crosses large crevasses, and involves risks of ice and rock falls, avalanches and rapidly changing weather conditions.
Since the early 20th century, around 80 people have died attempting to climb the mountain, making it New Zealand's deadliest peak. The climbing season traditionally runs from November to February, and hardly a season goes by without at least one fatality.

The painter 

John Turnbull Thomson was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand.
After his father was killed in a hunting accident in 1830, the young Thomson and his mother went to live in Abbey St. Bathans, Berwickshire. He was educated at Wooler and Duns Academy, later spending some time attached to Marischal College, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh University before studying engineering at Peter Nicholson's School of Engineering at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Thomson arrived in the Malay Straits in 1838 and was employed by the East India Survey. In 1841 he was appointed Government Surveyor at Singapore and in 1844 became Superintendent of Roads and Public Works. He was responsible for the design and construction of a number of notable engineering works including bridges, roads, and hospitals. His outstanding achievement was the erection of the Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branca. In 1853 his health failed and he returned to England where he studied modern engineering techniques, and travelled widely through Britain and the Continent inspecting engineering works. Early in 1856 he emigrated to New Zealand, where he worked as Chief Surveyor of the Otago Province until 1873. From 1876 until 1879 he was Surveyor-General of New Zealand. He was also the original surveyor of the city of Invercargill.
From 1856 until 1858 Thomson surveyed and explored large sections of the interior of the South Island, covering most of the southern half of the island.
He was also a amateur painter of landscapes, working mostly in oils, almost known for the interesting historical topographical viewpoint of his paintings.

CATHEDRAL MOUNT PAINTED BY EUGENE VON GUERARD

EUGENE VON GUERARD (1811-1901)

Cathedral Mount  (1,241 m - 4,072 ft)

Australia (Victoria) 

The mountain
The Cathedral Range (1,241 m - 4,072 ft)  not to be confused with Cathedral Mountain (Tasmania) is a mountain range that is part of the Great Dividing Range in Victoria, Australia, located in Cathedral Range State Park. The range is formed from a 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) ridge of upturned sedimentary rock, consisting mainly of sandstone, mudstone and conglomerates of the Devonian Period. This has given the range steep sides, and a narrow razorback ridge. The plateau on the eastern boundary of the park continues to the nearby Lake Mountain cross country ski area. Much of the park was burnt in the Black Saturday bushfires.

The painter 
Johann Joseph Eugene von Guerard was an Austrian-born artist, active in Australia from 1852 to 1882. Known for his finely detailed landscapes in the tradition of the Düsseldorf school of painting, he is represented in Australia's major public galleries, and is referred to in the country as Eugene von Guerard. In 1852 von Guerard arrived in Victoria, Australia, determined to try his luck on the Victorian goldfields. As a gold-digger he was not very successful, but he did produce a large number of intimate studies of goldfields life, quite different from the deliberately awe-inspiring landscapes for which he was later to become famous. Realizing that there were opportunities for an artist in Australia, he abandoned the diggings and was soon undertaking commissions recording the dwellings and properties of wealthy pastoralists.
By the early 1860s, von Guerard was recognized as the foremost landscape artist in the colonies, touring Southeast Australia and New Zealand in pursuit of the sublime and the picturesque.  He is most known for the wilderness paintings produced during this time, which are remarkable for their shadowy lighting and fastidious detail.  Indeed, his View of Tower Hill in south-western Victoria was used as a botanical template over a century later when the land, which had been laid waste and polluted by agriculture, was systematically reclaimed, forested with native flora and made a state park. The scientific accuracy of such work has led to a reassessment of von Guerard's approach to wilderness painting, and some historians believe it likely that the landscapist was strongly influenced by the environmental theories of the leading scientist Alexander von Humboldt. Others attribute his 'truthful representation' of nature to the criterion for figure and landscape painting set by the Düsseldorf Academy.
In 1866 his Valley of the Mitta Mitta was presented to the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne; in 1870 the trustees purchased his Mount Kosciusko shown in this article was titled "Northeast view from the northern top of Mount Kosciusko", which is actually  "from Mount Townsend".
In 2006, the City of Greater Geelong purchased his 1856 painting View of Geelong for A$3.8M. His painting, Yalla-y-Poora, is in the Joseph Brown Collection on display at the National Gallery of Victoria.  The State Library of New South Wales in Sydney holds an extensive collection of working sketchbooks by Eugene von Guerard, as well as larger drawings and paintings and a diary. The sketchbooks cover regions as diverse as Italy and Germany, Tasmania, New South Wales, and of course, Victoria.
In 1870 von Guerard was appointed the first Master of the School of Painting at the National Gallery of Victoria, where he was to influence the training of artists for the next 11 years. His reputation, high at the beginning of this period, had faded somewhat towards the end because of his rigid adherence to picturesque subject matter and detailed treatment in the face of the rise of the more intimate Heidelberg School style. Amongst his pupils were Frederick McCubbin and Tom Roberts. Von Guerard retired from his position at the National Gallery School the end of 1881 and departed for Europe in January 1882. In 1891 his wife died. Two years later, he lost his investments in the Australian bank crash and he lived in poverty until his death in Chelsea, London, on 17 April 1901.
Several paintings of mountains of Australia and New Zealand by Eugène von Guerard are published in this blog....
Sources: 
- Dictionnary of Australian Artists, Oxford University Press, 1992
- Wikipedia Eugene Von Guerard page