Mount Olympus is the tallest and most prominent mountain in the Olympic Mountains

Olympic Mountains

The Olympic Mountains is a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high - Mount Olympus is the highest at - but the western slopes of the Olympics rise directly out of the Pacific...

 of western Washington state. Located on the Olympic Peninsula

Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state of the USA, that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous...

, it is the central feature of Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park is located in the U.S. state of Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. The park can be divided into four basic regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west side temperate rainforest and the forests of the drier east side. U.S...

. Mount Olympus is the highest summit of the Olympic Mountains, however, peaks such as Mount Constance

Mount Constance

Mount Constance is a peak in the Olympic Mountains of Washington and the third highest in the range. It is the most visually prominent peak on Seattle's western skyline. Despite being almost as tall as the ice-clad Mount Olympus to the west, Mount Constance has little in the way of glaciers and...

, on the eastern margin of the range, are more visible from the Seattle metropolitan area

Seattle metropolitan area

The Seattle metropolitan area in the US state of Washington includes the city of Seattle, King County, Snohomish County, and Pierce County within the Puget Sound region. The U.S...

. With notable local relief, it ascends over 2100 m (6,889.8 ft) from the 293 m (961 ft) elevation confluence of the Hoh River with Hoh Creek in only 8.8 km (5.5 mi). Mount Olympus has 7829 ft (2,386 m) of prominence

Topographic prominence

In topography, prominence, also known as autonomous height, relative height, shoulder drop , or prime factor , categorizes the height of the mountain's or hill's summit by the elevation between it and the lowest contour line encircling it and no higher summit...

, ranking 5th in the state of Washington.

Due to heavy winter snowfalls, Mount Olympus supports large glaciers, despite its modest elevation and relatively low latitude. These glaciers include Blue

Blue Glacier

Blue Glacier is a large glacier located to the north of Mount Olympus in the Olympic Mountains of Washington. The glacier covers an area of and contains of ice and snow in spite of its low terminus elevation...

, Hoh, Humes, Jeffers

Jeffers Glacier

Jeffers Glacier is a glacier located in the Olympic Mountains in Olympic National Park. The body of ice, relatively small compared to the nearby Blue Glacier, is located southeast of Mount Olympus. Beginning at foot of a very steep headwall at about , the glacier flows and descends northeast to...

, Hubert

Hubert Glacier

Hubert Glacier is a medium-sized glacier located on the south side of Mount Olympus in the Olympic Mountains and Olympic National Park. Due to its southern orientation, the glacier is smaller than those on the north side of Mount Olympus, such as Blue Glacier....

, and White

White Glacier (Mount Tom)

White Glacier is a medium-sized glacier located to the northeast of Mount Tom in the Olympic Mountains and Olympic National Park, Washington state, United States. The glacier, located in between Mount Tom and Mount Olympus, starts at around...

, the longest of which is Hoh at 4.93 kilometres (3.1 mi). The largest is Blue with a volume of 0.57 cubic kilometre (0.136750272404443 cu mi) and area of 5.31 square kilometres (2.1 sq mi).

Mount Olympus was sighted in 1774 by the Spanish explorer Juan Perez

Juan José Pérez Hernández

Juan José Pérez Hernández , often simply Juan Pérez, was an 18th century Spanish explorer. He was the first European to sight, examine, name, and record the islands near present-day British Columbia, Canada...

, who named it "El Cerro de la Santa Rosalia". This is said to be the first time a European named a geographic feature in what is now Washington state. In 1778, on July 4, the British explorer John Meares

John Meares

John Meares was a navigator, explorer, and maritime fur trader, best known for his role in the Nootka Crisis, which brought Britain and Spain to the brink of war.- Career :...

gave the mountain its present name.