Mountains Whose Height is Great

At the time of Christ’s death, so those of the house of Israel inhabiting the isles of the sea, would know of this event “mountains shall be carried up” (1 Nephi 19:10-11) “and the face to the whole earth became deformed” (3 Nephi 8:17) “And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah that in the place of the city there became a great mountain” (3 nephi 8:10) “And there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great” (Helaman 14:23)

The Andes are new mountains, having recently attained their present height by vertical upheaval of the entire strip of the Earth's crust. They have been greatly affected by weathering; rivers have cut deep gorges, and glaciers have produced characteristic valleys. The majority of the individual mountains are volcanic; some are still active.
This great mountain system or cordillera that forms the western fringe of South America, extends through the republics of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. At 5,000 miles in length, it is the longest mountain range in the world, and its peaks exceed 12,000 feet in height for half that length, with an average breadth of 150 miles, rising at many points to more than 22,000 feet.

A geologically young system, the Andes are still rising, with volcanoes and earthquakes very common. The folded ranges are discontinuous—merging and bifurcating within the system—but as a whole they form one of the world's most important mountain masses. They are loftier than any other mountains except the Himalayas, and their waters reach the Orinoco, the Amazon, and the Río de la Plata.

The ranges approach each other again in Ecuador, where the North Andes begin. Between two volcanic cordilleras (including the cloud-capped Chimborazo and Cotopaxi) are rich intermontane basins. In Colombia the Andes divide again, the western range running between the coast and the Cauca River, the central between the Cauca and the Magdalena rivers, and the eastern running north parallel to the Magdalena River, then stretching out on the coast into Venezuela. The Andes continue in some of the islands of the West Indies, and in Panama North Andean spurs connecting with the mountains of Central America and thus with the Sierra Madre and the Rocky Mountains of North America, which run another 3,000 miles from Mexico to Alaska, and, indeed, together form the “Land of Everlasting Hills.”