| Mount Steel | |
| Elevation Ft: | 6225 |
| Elevation Ref: | [1] |
| Prominence Ft: | 825 |
| Isolation Mi: | 1.13 |
| Isolation Ref: | [2] |
| Parent Peak: | Mount Duckabush (6,254 ft) |
| Part Type: | Protected area |
| Part: | Olympic National Park |
| Country: | United States |
| State: | Washington |
| Region: | Jefferson |
| Region Type: | County |
| Range: | Olympic Mountains |
| Map: | Washington#USA |
| Label Position: | bottom |
| Coordinates: | 47.6396°N -123.336°W |
| Topo: | USGS Mount Steel |
| Age: | Eocene |
| First Ascent: | July 19, 1897 |
Mount Steel is a 6,225-foot-elevation (1,897-meter) mountain summit located in the Olympic Mountains, in Jefferson County of Washington state.[3] It is situated in Olympic National Park and the Daniel J. Evans Wilderness. The nearest higher neighbor is Mount Duckabush, 1.36miles to the southwest. Precipitation runoff from the mountain drains south into tributaries of the North Fork Skokomish River, and north into headwaters of the Duckabush River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises over 3,400 feet (1,036 m) above the Duckabush River in approximately one mile.
Mount Steel is located in the marine west coast climate zone of western North America.[4] Weather fronts originating in the Pacific Ocean travel northeast toward the Olympic Mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snow. As a result, the Olympics experience high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall.[5] Because of maritime influence, snow tends to be wet and heavy, resulting in avalanche danger. During winter months weather is usually cloudy, but due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer.[5] The months May through October offer the most favorable weather for climbing or viewing.[1]
The mountain's name was officially adopted in 1902 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.[3] It honors William Gladstone Steel (1854–1934), American journalist and mountaineer who encouraged the US Army to permit one of theirs to explore the Olympic Mountains, which resulted in the 1885 and 1890 O'Neil Expeditions.[6] [7] Steel was also founder of the Oregon Alpine Club, the first mountaineering organization in the Pacific Northwest. Steel recruited three of the club's members to join Lieutenant Joseph P. O'Neil's second expedition, and sometime during or immediately after the expedition, the mountain was christened after him. It was during the second expedition that the north slope of Mt. Steel was burned when a small fire that the group set to eradicate wasps got out of control.[6] William G. Steel led an ascent of Mount Steel on August 24, 1906.[6]
Established ascent routes on Mt. Steel:[1]
The Olympic Mountains are composed of obducted clastic wedge material and oceanic crust, primarily Eocene sandstone, turbidite, and basaltic oceanic crust.[8] The mountains were sculpted during the Pleistocene era by erosion and glaciers advancing and retreating multiple times.