Mount Thor – Nunavut - Atlas Obscura

Mount Thor

Earth's greatest purely vertical drop at 4,101 feet. 

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Sweeping glaciers and polar sea ice meet at the jagged granite of Mount Thor. A mountain with an elevation of 1,675 m (5,495 ft) located in Auyuittuq National Park, northeast of Pangnirtung Mount Thor features the world’s greatest purely vertical drop at 1,250 m (4,101 ft), with an average angle of 105 degrees. This feature makes the site popular with climbers, despite its remoteness. Camping is allowed, with the only official site being at the entrance to the Akshayuk Valley near Overlord Peak.

Auyuittuq is an Inuktitut word meaning “land that never melts.”

The world record for longest rappel was set on Mount Thor on July 23, 2006, by an American team consisting of Chuck Constable, Dirk Siron, Ben Holley, Kenneth Waite, Gordon Rosser, Donny Opperman, Deldon Barfuss, and Tim Hudson. A 26-year-old Canadian Park Ranger, Philip Robinson, also rappelled, but had a problem with his equipment and was tragically killed in a fall to the base of the mountain.

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July 2, 2012

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