Everything about Mount Whitney totally explained
Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the
contiguous United States with an elevation of . It is located at the boundary between California's
Inyo and
Tulare counties. The western slope of the mountain lies within
Sequoia National Park and the summit is the southern terminus of the
John Muir Trail which runs from
Happy Isles in
Yosemite Valley.
The peak was named after
Josiah Whitney, the State Geologist of
California. It was first climbed in
1873 by Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, and John Lucas; fishermen who lived in
Lone Pine, California.
Mount Whitney is just west of the lowest point in North America at Badwater in
Death Valley (below sea level).
Geography and geology
The summit lies along the
Sierra Crest and near many of the highest peaks of the Sierra Nevada. Water that falls to the west of the crest flows into the
Pacific Ocean, while that to the east flows into the
Great Basin.
The peak rises or just over 2 miles above the town of
Lone Pine in the
Owens Valley below. The eastern slope of Whitney is far steeper than its western slope. This is because the entire Sierra Nevada is result of a
fault-block that's analogous to a door: the door is hinged on the west and is slowly rising on the east.
The rise is caused by a
normal fault system that runs along the eastern base of the Sierra, below Mount Whitney. Thus, the
granite that forms Mount Whitney is the same as the granite that forms the
Alabama Hills thousands of feet below.
The raising of Whitney (and the downdrop of the Owens Valley) is due to the same geological forces that cause the
Basin and Range Province: the crust of much of the intermountain west is slowly being stretched.
Recreational opportunities
Hiking
Mount Whitney trail which starts at Whitney Portal west of the town of Lone Pine. The hike is about a round trip with an elevation gain of over . Permits are required all year and to prevent overuse access is restricted between May 1st and November 1st.
Climbing
The steep eastern side of the mountain offers a variety of
climbing challenges. The "Mountaineer's Route", a gully on the north side of the east face first climbed by
John Muir, is considered a
scramble. The East Face route, first climbed in
1931, is a classic
route in the Sierra Nevada and involves technical free climbing (
Class 5.4) but is mostly Class 3. Other routes range up to Class 5.10.
South of the main summit there are a series of minor summits that are completely inconspicuous from the west but appear as a series of "needles" from the east. The routes on these include some of the finest big-wall climbing in the high Sierra. Two of the needles were named after participants in an
1880 scientific expedition to the mountain. Keeler Needle was named for
James E. Keeler and Day Needle was named for William Cathcart Day. The latter has now been renamed Crooks Peak after
Hulda Crooks who hiked up Mount Whitney every year until well into her nineties.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Mount Whitney'.
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