It is consequently important as a reference base for measuring changes in the similar polar desert ecosystems of the other Dry Valleys where scientific investigations are conducted.

[4] Download coordinates as: Named features include, from west to east, Mistake Peak, Shapeless Mountain and Balham Lake.

Snowy peak, about 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) high, rising 3 nautical miles (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) west-southwest of Shapeless Mountain, at the south end of the Willett Range.

Named by the United States Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (US-ACAN) after United States Antarctic Research Program (USARP) oceanographer Jeffrey D. Rude who drowned in McMurdo Sound, October 12, 1975, when the tracked vehicle he was driving broke through bay ice and sank in the vicinity of Erebus Glacier Tongue and Turtle Rock.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Geological Survey.