The Great Expedition Series, Book 20

A Million Whys: The Mountain Expedition for Curious Kids

By Crafty Clover. Published by Million Whys Press.

How Tall Does a Hill Have to Be to Become a Mountain? How Do Mountain Goats Climb Steep Cliffs Without Slipping? How Does Snow Pile Up Into Layers on a Mountain? This book answers 150 questions like these, one question per page, each with a short video answer. Six expeditions: Mountain Giants of the World, Climbing the Life Zones, High-Mountain Life, Thin Air & Mountain Weather, Snow, Ice & Rock Clues, and Trails, Lifts & Mountain Smarts.

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All 150 questions

Tap a question to watch its video and read the answer.

Expedition 1: Mountain Giants of the World

1. How Tall Does a Hill Have to Be to Become a Mountain?
2. What Are the Biggest Mountain Ranges in the World?
3. Which Is the Tallest Mountain on Each Continent?
4. Is Mount Everest Really the Tallest Mountain?
5. How Do Surveyors Measure the Height of a Mountain?
6. What Are the Main Kinds of Mountains?
7. Why Are the Rocky Mountains Jagged but the Appalachians Rounded?
8. What Makes the Canadian Rockies So Special?
9. What Is the Tallest Mountain in Canada?
10. What Makes the Andes the Longest Mountain Range on Land?
11. Why Is There Snow on a Mountain Near the Equator?
12. Are There Mountains Under the Sea?
13. Which Is the Tallest Mountain in the Whole Solar System?
14. Why Do Some Mountains Have Flat Tops?
15. How Did the Matterhorn Get Its Pointed Shape?
16. What Is a Mountain Pass?
17. How Does a Glacier Turn a Mountain Valley Into a U?
18. How Do Mountains Get Their Names?
19. Do Mountains Have Roots?
20. Why Do Faraway Mountains Look Blue?
21. What Is the Continental Divide?
22. What Do Mountain Words Like Peak, Ridge, and Saddle Mean?
23. How Steep Is a Steep Mountain Slope?
24. Can a Mountain Wear Away to Nothing?
25. How Do Scientists Figure Out How Old a Mountain Is?

Expedition 2: Climbing the Life Zones

26. Why Does It Get Colder as You Go Up a Mountain?
27. What Are Life Zones on a Mountain?
28. What Is the Treeline?
29. Why Do Trees Get Short and Twisted Near the Top?
30. Why Does Climbing a Mountain Feel Like Traveling Toward the Poles?
31. What Lives in the Foothills?
32. What Is a Montane Forest?
33. Why Are Mountain Evergreen Trees Shaped Like Cones?
34. Why Is One Side of a Mountain Greener than the Other?
35. Why Do Mountain Meadows Burst Into Flowers All at Once?
36. What Is the Alpine Zone?
37. Why Does Some Mountain Snow Turn Pink?
38. Why Is Mountain Soil So Thin?
39. Why Does Spring Arrive Later High on a Mountain?
40. What Is the Oldest Tree on a Mountain?
41. Why Do Different Animals Live at Different Heights on a Mountain?
42. Do Animals Move Up and Down Mountains?
43. How Can People Farm on Steep Mountain Slopes?
44. Why Does the Sky Look Darker From a Mountaintop?
45. Why Can You See So Far From a Mountaintop?
46. How Did a Famous Explorer Find Out That Plants Live in Bands on Mountains?
47. Why Is the Treeline Higher Near the Equator than in Canada?
48. What Are Sky Islands?
49. Why Are Some Mountain Plants and Animals Moving to Higher Ground?
50. What Colors Make Up the Layers of a Faraway Mountain?

Expedition 3: High-Mountain Life

51. How Do Mountain Goats Climb Steep Cliffs Without Slipping?
52. What Do a Bighorn Sheep’s Curly Horns Tell Us?
53. Why Does a Pika Make a Pile of Hay?
54. Why Do Marmots Whistle?
55. How Do Snow Leopards Live in Cold Mountains?
56. How Do Animals Like Yaks and Llamas Cope with Thin Air?
57. How Do Big Birds Soar Over Mountains Without Flapping?
58. How Does a Ptarmigan Survive in a Snow Burrow?
59. What Are Cushion Plants?
60. Why Are Alpine Flowers So Bright for Such Little Plants?
61. Why Do Some Alpine Grasses Grow Baby Plants Instead of Seeds?
62. How Can a Flower Bloom Through Snow?
63. How Do Bumblebees Stay Warm High in the Mountains?
64. How Do Mountain Animals Find Food When Snow Covers Everything?
65. How Can Bar-Headed Geese Fly Over the Himalayas?
66. Why Do Mountain Gorillas Have Such Thick Fur?
67. What Is the Highest-Living Animal on Earth?
68. Which Mountain Animals Have Built-In Snowshoes?
69. How Do Baby Mountain Goats Learn to Climb So Early?
70. Why Would an Ibex Climb a Dam Wall?
71. How Do Scientists Count Animals on Steep, Snowy Slopes?
72. Why Do Flies Matter So Much to High-Mountain Flowers?
73. Which Animals Live in the Canadian Rockies?
74. Why Do Wolverines Wander So Far Across the Mountains?
75. How Does a Bird Help Plant Mountain Forests?

Expedition 4: Thin Air & Mountain Weather

76. Why Does Air Pressure Drop as You Go Up a Mountain?
77. How Much Air Is There at the Top of Mount Everest?
78. Why Do Snack Bags Puff Up When You Drive Into the Mountains?
79. How Can a Watch Tell How High You Are?
80. Why Do You Sunburn Faster in the Mountains?
81. Why Does Wind Roar Through Mountain Passes?
82. Why Does the Wind Blow Uphill During the Day and Downhill at Night?
83. What Is a Lenticular Cloud?
84. What Is a Banner Cloud?
85. Why Do Hikers Start Early to Avoid Afternoon Storms?
86. How Does a Mountain Range Squeeze the Rain Out of the Wind?
87. What Is the “Snow Eater” Wind That Melts Snow in Hours?
88. Why Can Mountain Weather Change So Fast?
89. Why Can a Valley Be Colder than the Slope Above It?
90. Why Does It Snow So Much More in the Mountains than in the Valleys?
91. What Is a Mountain Weather Station?
92. Why Can It Snow in July on a Mountain?
93. What Is Alpenglow?
94. What Is a Brocken Spectre?
95. Why Is a Mountaintop a Bad Place to Be in a Thunderstorm?
96. Can You Walk Inside a Cloud?
97. Why Does a Ball Fly Farther at High Altitude?
98. Why Do Airplanes Need Longer Runways at High Airports?
99. Why Is It So Hard to Forecast Mountain Weather?
100. What Are the Tiny White Pellets That Fall in Mountain Storms?

Expedition 5: Snow, Ice & Rock Clues

101. How Does Snow Pile Up Into Layers on a Mountain?
102. Why Do Snow Scientists Dig Pits in the Snow?
103. Why Does a Whole Layer of Snow Sometimes Let Go and Slide?
104. How Do Avalanche Forecasters Keep People Safe?
105. What Is a Cornice?
106. How Does a Glacier Form High on a Mountain?
107. What Carved the Giant Bowls Near Mountaintops?
108. What Are Moraines, the Rubble Ridges Left by Melting Glaciers?
109. How Do Scientists Measure Whether a Mountain Glacier Is Growing or Shrinking?
110. Why Do Cliffs Have Piles of Broken Rock at Their Feet?
111. Why Do Big Granite Domes Peel Like Onions?
112. Why Do Some Mountain Rocks Look Like Wavy Ribbons?
113. How Did a Giant Boulder Get to a Place Where It Doesn’t Belong?
114. Why Are Some Mountain Cliffs Red, Green, or Yellow?
115. What Are Hoodoos?
116. Why Do Rocks Sometimes Tumble Off Cliffs?
117. What Is a Rock Glacier?
118. Why Do Some Mountain Forests Have Bare Stripes?
119. Where Is the Line Above Which Snow Never Melts Away?
120. Why Is Snow in the Rockies So Light and Fluffy?
121. Why Are Mountains Called Water Towers?
122. How Can Scientists Measure Snow in Inches of Water?
123. Why Do Mountain Streams Run Higher in the Late Afternoon?
124. Why Are Some of the Oldest Weird Animal Fossils Found High in the Rocky Mountains?
125. How Can You Read a Mountain’s History From Its Shape?

Expedition 6: Trails, Lifts & Mountain Smarts

126. Why Do Mountain Trails Zigzag Back and Forth?
127. How Does a Contour Map Show a Mountain?
128. What Are Cairns and Trail Blazes?
129. How Does a Gondola Lift Get Up the Mountain?
130. How Does a Chairlift Work?
131. How Do Cog Railways and Funiculars Climb Slopes That Normal Trains Can’t?
132. How Do Ski Areas Make Snow?
133. Why Do Skis Slide So Well on Snow?
134. How Do Trains Spiral Inside a Mountain?
135. Why Do Some Mountain Highways Have Long Roofs Called Snow Sheds?
136. Why Is It Important to Drink Water and Snack on a Mountain Hike?
137. Why Do Hikers Carry the “Ten Essentials”?
138. Why Do Mountain Trails Have Steps, Boardwalks, and Little Ditches?
139. Why Is Alpine Tundra So Easily Damaged?
140. What Does “Leave No Trace” Mean?
141. How Do Hikers Stay Safe Around Mountain Wildlife?
142. Why Do Hikers Set a Turnaround Time?
143. What Jobs Help Keep Mountains Safe and Fun?
144. How Do Mountain Huts Stay Warm and Stocked?
145. Why Do Mountains Look Closer than They Really Are?
146. What Should a Kid Do If They Get Separated From Their Group on a Trail?
147. How Can You Enjoy Mountains in Every Season?
148. How Do Wolves and Bears Get Across the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff?
149. How Can You Be a Mountain Scientist?
150. What Mountain Puzzles Are Left to Solve?