Cathedral Peak | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 10,916 ft (3,327 m) NAVD 88 [1] |
Prominence | 919 ft (280 m) [1] |
Listing | SPS Mountaineers peak [2] |
Coordinates | 37°50′52″N119°24′20″W / 37.8478289°N 119.4056214°W [3] |
Geography | |
Location | Yosemite National Park, California, U.S. |
Parent range | Cathedral Range, Sierra Nevada |
Topo map | USGS Tenaya Lake |
Geology | |
Age of rock | Cretaceous |
Mountain type | Granite arête |
Climbing | |
First ascent | 1869 by John Muir [4] |
Easiest route | Rock climb class 4 [2] |
Cathedral Peak is part of the Cathedral Range, a mountain range in the south-central portion of Yosemite National Park in eastern Mariposa and Tuolumne Counties. The range is an offshoot of the Sierra Nevada. The peak which lends its name to the range derives its name from its cathedral-shaped peak, which was formed by glacial activity: the peak remained uneroded above the glaciers in the Pleistocene.
Cathedral Peak has a subsidiary summit to the west called Eichorn Pinnacle, for Jules Eichorn, who first ascended a class 5.4 route to its summit on July 24, 1931, with Glen Dawson.
In 1869, John Muir wrote in My first summer in the Sierra:
The body of the Cathedral is nearly square, and the roof slopes are wonderfully regular and symmetrical, the ridge trending northeast and southwest. This direction has apparently been determined by structure joints in the granite. The gable on the northeast end is magnificent in size and simplicity, and at its base there is a big snow-bank protected by the shadow of the building. The front is adorned with many pinnacles and a tall spire of curious workmanship. Here too the joints in the rock are seen to have played an important part in determining their forms and size and general arrangement. The Cathedral is said to be about eleven thousand feet above the sea, but the height of the building itself above the level of the ridge it stands on is about fifteen hundred feet. A mile or so to the westward there is a handsome lake, and the glacier-polished granite about it is shining so brightly it is not easy in some places to trace the line between the rock and water, both shining alike. [5]
The Cathedral Peak Granodiorite of Cathedral Peak is an intrusion into an area of older intrusive (or plutonic) and metamorphic rock in the Sierra Nevada Batholith. It is part of a grouping of intrusions called the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite. Cathedral Peak is the youngest of the rock formations in the Suite, dating to the Cretaceous Period at 83 million years ago. Its composition is mainly granodiorite with phenocrysts of microcline. [6]
Cathedral Peak was a nunatak during the Tioga glaciation of the last ice age, the peak projected above the glaciers, which carved and sharpened the peak's base while plucking away at its sides. [7] [8] [9] [10]
The Cathedral Range is a mountain range immediately to the south of Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. The range is an offshoot of the Sierra Nevada. The range is named after Cathedral Peak, which resembles a cathedral spire.
The exposed geology of the Yosemite area includes primarily granitic rocks with some older metamorphic rock. The first rocks were laid down in Precambrian times, when the area around Yosemite National Park was on the edge of a very young North American continent. The sediment that formed the area first settled in the waters of a shallow sea, and compressive forces from a subduction zone in the mid-Paleozoic fused the seabed rocks and sediments, appending them to the continent. Heat generated from the subduction created island arcs of volcanoes that were also thrust into the area of the park. In time, the igneous and sedimentary rocks of the area were later heavily metamorphosed.
Mount Maclure is the nearest neighbor to Mount Lyell, the highest point in Yosemite National Park. Mount Maclure is the fifth-highest mountain of Yosemite. Mount Maclure is located at the southeast end of the Cathedral Range, about 0.6 miles (0.97 km) northwest of Lyell. The summit is on the boundary between Madera and Tuolumne counties which is also the boundary between the park and the Ansel Adams Wilderness. It was named in honor of William Maclure, a pioneer in American geology who produced the first geological maps of the United States. Maclure Glacier, one of the last remaining glaciers in Yosemite, is situated on the mountain's northern flank.
Yosemite National Park is located in the central Sierra Nevada of California. Three wilderness areas are adjacent to Yosemite: the Ansel Adams Wilderness to the southeast, the Hoover Wilderness to the northeast, and the Emigrant Wilderness to the north.
Jules Marquard Eichorn was an American mountaineer, environmentalist, and music teacher.
The Cathedral Peak Granodiorite (CPG) was named after its type locality, Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park, California. The granodiorite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada. It has been assigned radiometric ages between 88 and 87 million years and therefore reached its cooling stage in the Coniacian.
Glen Dawson was an American rock climber, mountaineer, antiquarian bookseller, publisher and environmentalist.
Vogelsang Pass is a mountain pass in the Cathedral Range of Yosemite National Park, at 10,680 ft (3,260 m). It lies between the cirque containing Vogelsang Lake and the valley with Lewis Creek. The pass also lies on the ridge between Fletcher Peak and Vogelsang Peak.
Matthes Crest is an approximately mile-long fin of rock with two summits separated by a deep notch. It is a part of the Cathedral Range, which is a mountain range in the south-central portion of Yosemite National Park. The range is part of the Sierra Nevada.
Half Dome Granodiorite is granodiorite found in a region on and near Half Dome, in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. The granodiorite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada.
El Capitan Granite is a type of granite, in a large area near El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park, California, United States. The granite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada.
Kuna Crest Granodiorite, is found, in Yosemite National Park, United States. The granodiorite forms part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, one of the four major intrusive suites within the Sierra Nevada. Of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suite, it is the oldest and darkest rock.
Sentinel granodiorite is a type of granodiorite found in Yosemite National Park. It is a poorly understood western "outlier" of the ~93-85-Ma Tuolumne Intrusive Suite of the Sierra Nevada batholith. It is only slightly older than the undated Yosemite Creek Granodiorite and the Kuna Crest Granodiorite.
The Tuolumne Intrusive Suite is the youngest and most extensive of the intrusive suites of Yosemite National Park, and also comprises about 1/3 of the park's area. The Suite includes Half Dome Granodiorite, Cathedral Peak Granite, and Kuna Crest Granodiorite.
The Intrusive Suite of Sonora Pass is one of several intrusive suites in Yosemite National Park. These also include
Hiking, rock climbing, and mountain climbing around Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park has many options.
Tuolumne Peak is a mountain, in Yosemite National Park, in the area of Tuolumne Meadows. It is a fractured granite, twin summited peak, and is close to geographic center of the park. Tuolumne Peak is located approximately 2.5 miles (4.0 km) northeast of Mount Hoffmann via a granite ridge-line. It is climbed less often than Hoffman, probably due to a more difficult approach.
Kuna Crest is a mountain range near Tuolumne Meadows, in Yosemite National Park, California.
Finger Peaks is a granitic mountain summit with an elevation of 11,498 feet (3,505 m) located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in northern California, United States. The three peaks are situated in Yosemite National Park and Tuolumne County. The landform is set immediately west of Burro Pass, 1.5 mile south of Eocene Peak, and 1.4 mile southwest of Matterhorn Peak. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises 1,700 feet above Piute Creek in one-half mile. The first ascent of the summit was made July 19, 1931, by Jules Eichorn, Glen Dawson, and Walter Brem. This landform's toponym has been in publications since at least 1925, and was officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in 1932.
Johnson Granite Porphyry is found in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park.