# Mount Thor
**Mount Thor** (also called Thor Peak) is a granite peak in Auyuittuq National Park on [Baffin Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/baffin-island), Nunavut, Canada, whose west face drops 1,250 m (4,101 ft) vertically, the greatest vertical drop recorded on Earth[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/93425-greatest-vertical-drop). The mountain stands just under 5,500 feet (1,675 m) tall, and its most striking feature is a west face so steep that it curves back on itself, overhanging by an average of 15 degrees beyond vertical[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop). It is named after the Norse god of thunder[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada, in Auyuittuq National Park; coordinates 66.5333, -65.3167[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop) |
| West face | Vertical drop of 1,250 m (4,101 ft), the Guinness record for greatest vertical drop[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/93425-greatest-vertical-drop) |
| Steepness | Average angle of 105 degrees, a 15-degree overhang beyond vertical[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/93425-greatest-vertical-drop) |
| Summit height | Just under 5,500 feet (1,675 m)[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop) |
| Rock | Solid granite formed between 3.5 billion and 570 million years ago[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop) |
| First ascent | 1965, by Lyman Spitzer and Donald Morton[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop) |
| First west face ascent | 1985, a climb that took 33 days[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop) |
## The west face
The west face is the mountain's defining feature. An object falling from its top would plummet 4,100 feet (1,250 m) before striking anything, and a person falling from the summit without a parachute would remain in the air for about 26 seconds[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop). Because the face averages 105 degrees, it is technically an overhang rather than a simple vertical wall[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/93425-greatest-vertical-drop). The face rises approximately 1,250 meters above the surrounding valley[3](https://national-parks.org/canada/auyuittuq-national-park/).
## Geology
Mount Thor sits on the eastern edge of the [Canadian Shield](https://www.edgepedia.org/canadian-shield), a geological formation with rocks at least 1 billion years old, and belongs to the Arctic Cordillera, the mountain range stretching from [Ellesmere Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/ellesmere-island) to Labrador[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop). The mountain is made of solid granite that formed between 3.5 billion and 570 million years ago. Glaciers shaped the peak across thousands of years: cycles of glacial growth and shrinkage from 18,000 to 1,500 years in the past wore the western face into the C-shaped profile seen today[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop).
## Setting in Auyuittuq National Park
Mount Thor stands beside the Akshayuk Pass, a roughly 100 kilometer-long natural corridor through a landscape of glaciers, fiords and river valleys on southeastern Baffin Island[4](https://www.parks.canada.ca/pn-np/nu/auyuittuq). Auyuittuq, whose name means "the land that never melts" in [Inuktitut](https://www.edgepedia.org/inuktitut), covers 19,089 km² and is Canada's fifth-largest national park[5](https://www.parcs.canada.ca/pn-np/nu/auyuittuq/info/plan/ebauche-plan-draft-plan-2026). A named emergency shelter, the Thor shelter, stands in the pass; nine such shelters are spaced about 10 km apart from north to south[5](https://www.parcs.canada.ca/pn-np/nu/auyuittuq/info/plan/ebauche-plan-draft-plan-2026).
The mountain's own geometry creates a hazard for visitors. Parks Canada's visitor information advises people to avoid camping by the base of Thor Peak, known in Inuktitut as Qaiqsualuk, particularly during freeze-melt periods when these conditions loosen rock[6](https://www.parkscanadahistory.com/publications/auyuittuq/brochures/booklet-e-2025.pdf). The north side of the pass, the Thor side, is prone to rock falls and is not a recommended route for that reason[7](https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Auyuittuq_National_Park). The park more broadly requires self-reliance: visitors face extreme and rapidly changing weather, unpredictable river crossings, high winds, and travel in polar bear country, with limited rescue capability[8](https://www.parks.canada.ca/pn-np/nu/auyuittuq/securite-safety).
## Climbing history
Despite its remote location, Mount Thor is a popular destination for rock climbers[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop). The American astrophysicist [Lyman Spitzer](https://www.edgepedia.org/lyman-spitzer), a Princeton University professor known for his work in plasma physics and space astronomy, and his mountaineering partner Donald Morton made the first recorded ascent of the mountain in 1965[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop). The first ascent of the west face itself did not come until 1985, and that climb took 33 days[2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop).
Accounts in the American Alpine Journal record the conditions on the face. A 1980 report of a direct west face attempt describes easy but loose climbing on the first section, littered with fixed ropes, bolts and debris left by a previous Japanese expedition[9](https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198056702/North-America-Canada-Canadian-ArcticBaffin-Island-Mount-Thor-West-Face-Direct-Attempt). The 1985 direct west face climb was done in shifts of 24 hours or more, with the climbers frequently at the edge of their physical limitations, and with rockfall a constant presence; the account closes with an egg-sized rock whizzing past a climber's ear[10](https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198603900/mount-thor-direct-west-face).
## The record in context
[The 1](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-1),250 m figure measures straight vertical drop, not total face height or mountain elevation, which is why a mountain under 1,675 m tall can hold the vertical-drop record[1](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/93425-greatest-vertical-drop) • [2](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop). A 1984 survey of maximum vertical drops on selected world mountains listed Mount Thor among the steepest faces measured, a recognition that predates the current Guinness listing[11](https://mountainstatsandmore.com/documents/was_selected_worlds_steepest_mtn_faces.pdf).
## References
1. [Greatest vertical drop, Guinness World Records](https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/93425-greatest-vertical-drop)
2. [Mount Thor: The mountain with Earth's longest vertical drop, Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/geology/mount-thor-the-mountain-with-earths-longest-vertical-drop)
3. [Auyuittuq National Park, national-parks.org](https://national-parks.org/canada/auyuittuq-national-park/)
4. [Auyuittuq National Park, Parks Canada](https://www.parks.canada.ca/pn-np/nu/auyuittuq)
5. [Auyuittuq National Park of Canada Draft Management Plan, 2026, Parks Canada](https://www.parcs.canada.ca/pn-np/nu/auyuittuq/info/plan/ebauche-plan-draft-plan-2026)
6. [2025 Visitor Information Package, Auyuittuq National Park](https://www.parkscanadahistory.com/publications/auyuittuq/brochures/booklet-e-2025.pdf)
7. [Auyuittuq National Park, Wikivoyage travel guide](https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Auyuittuq_National_Park)
8. [Safety and guidelines, Auyuittuq National Park, Parks Canada](https://www.parks.canada.ca/pn-np/nu/auyuittuq/securite-safety)
9. [Mount Thor, West Face, Direct Attempt, American Alpine Journal 1980](https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198056702/North-America-Canada-Canadian-ArcticBaffin-Island-Mount-Thor-West-Face-Direct-Attempt)
10. [Mount Thor: Direct West Face, American Alpine Journal 1986](https://publications.americanalpineclub.org/articles/12198603900/mount-thor-direct-west-face)
11. [Maximum vertical drop for selected mountains of the world, Signpost, April 1984](https://mountainstatsandmore.com/documents/was_selected_worlds_steepest_mtn_faces.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Places and geography › Landforms and terrestrial features › Mountains, plains, and other land terrain › Named mountains and peaks › Mountains of the Americas*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license