Gray Peak
At sunset, from WNW
Highest point
Elevation11,573 ft (3,527 m)[1]
Prominence573 ft (175 m)[1]
Parent peakRed Peak (11,699 ft)[2]
Isolation1.46 mi (2.35 km)[2]
ListingSierra Peaks Section
Coordinates37°40′25″N 119°25′07″W / 37.6736678°N 119.4187464°W / 37.6736678; -119.4187464[3]
Geography
Gray Peak is located in California
Gray Peak
Gray Peak
Location in California
Gray Peak is located in the United States
Gray Peak
Gray Peak
Gray Peak (the United States)
LocationYosemite National Park
Madera County
California, U.S.
Parent rangeSierra Nevada
Clark Range
Topo mapUSGS Merced Peak
Geology
Age of rockCretaceous
Mountain typeFault block
Type of rockMetamorphic rock
Climbing
Easiest routeclass 2[2] Southwest slope[4]

Gray Peak is an 11,573-foot-elevation (3,527 meter) mountain summit located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Madera County of northern California, United States.[3] It is situated in Yosemite National Park, approximately 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Yosemite Valley, 1.3 mile (2.1 km) north of Red Peak, and 1.5 mile (2.4 km) south-southeast of Mount Clark. Gray Peak is the fourth-highest peak in the Clark Range, which is a subset of the Sierra Nevada.[1]

History

The peak was probably named by the Wheeler Survey when it explored the Yosemite region in 1878 and 1879.[5] This geographical feature's descriptive name, due to black iron-bearing minerals, was shown on an 1893 Le Conte map as Gray Peak, and was officially adopted in 1897 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.[3][6] In 1920, Ansel Adams left a Sierra Club cylinder-type register at the summit.[4]

Climate

According to the Köppen climate classification system, Gray Peak is located in an alpine climate zone.[7] Most weather fronts originate in the Pacific Ocean, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range (orographic lift). Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains into tributaries of the Merced River.

See also

Gray Peak centered, Red Peak to left, Mount Clark to right. From northeast.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Gray Peak, California". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "Gray Peak - 11,573' CA". listsofjohn.com. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  3. 1 2 3 "Gray Peak". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2021-05-09.
  4. 1 2 Richard M. Leonard, Climber’s Guide to the High Sierra (1954)
  5. ↑ Peter Browning, Place Names of the Sierra Nevada: From Abbot to Zumwalt, Wilderness Press, 1986, ISBN 9780899970479, page 86.
  6. ↑ Francis P. Farquhar, Place Names of the High Sierra (1926)
  7. ↑ Peel, M. C.; Finlayson, B. L.; McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen−Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11. ISSN 1027-5606.
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