The Alaska-Yukon Ranges are a bogus grab-bag of a range, created
to hold together the disparate and spectacular ranges of the far
northwestern reaches of North America. The individual ranges of
the area--the Alaska Range, the St. Elias Mountains, the
Mackenzie Mountains, the Aleutain Range, and others--all seemed
too small in extent to stand alone as Range2s, so they were
combined into this artifical grouping. The Alaska-Yukon Ranges
have a obvious eastern border in the great Mackenzie River, and
a less distinct southeastern border that very roughly follows
the Liard River and the Yukon-B.C. border to White Pass and
Skagway. This vast area includes all of Alaska outside the
Southeast panhandle, virtually all of the Yukon Territory, and
adjacent areas of the Northwest Territories. It even extents
west to the Commander Islands, outliers of the Aleutians that
are politically part of Russia. The Alaska-Yukon Ranges are
right up there with the Himalaya-Central Asia mountain complex
and the Andes of South America a