This list of first ascents in the Sierra Nevada can be sorted by any listed characteristic. The route taken and its Yosemite Decimal System rating are given where known. The only criterion for inclusion is the historic notability of the climb when it was completed. Both first ascents of summits by any route, and first ascents of technical non-summit routes, are listed.
Peak | Height (ft) | Height (m) | Route | YDS class | Climbers | Date | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red Lake Peak | 10,068 | 3,069 | John C. Fremont and Charles Preuss | February 1844 | Farquhar 1965 | ||
Mount Langley | 14,032 | 4,277 | South Slopes | 1 | William Bellows | 1864 | Secor |
Red Slate Mountain | 13,156 | 4,010 | 1 | James Gardiner * disputed by Farquhar 1926 | 1864 | Secor | |
Mount Brewer | 13,576 | 4,138 | South Ridge | 2 | William Brewer, Charles Hoffmann | July 2, 1864 | Secor |
Mount Tyndall | 14,025 | 4,275 | North Rib | 3 | Clarence King, Richard Cotter | July 6, 1864 | Secor |
Mount Clark | 11,527 | 3,513 | Southeast Arête | 4 | Clarence King, James Gardiner | July 12, 1866 | Secor |
Cathedral Peak | 10,911 | 3,326 | West Face | 4 | John Muir | September 1869 | Secor |
Mount Lyell | 13,120 | 4,000 | Lyell Glacier | 2-3 | John B. Tilestone | August 29, 1871 | Secor |
Mount Whitney | 14,505 | 4,421 | West Slope | 2 | "The Fishermen" Charles Begole, Albert Johnson, John Lucas | August 18, 1873 | Secor |
Half Dome | 8,836 | 2,693 | Cables Route | 6 | George Anderson | October 12, 1875 | Farquhar |
Mount Starr King | 9,096 | 2,772 | Northeast Side | 5.2 | George Bailey, E. S. Schuyler | August 1876 | Secor |
Mount Maclure | 12,886 | 3,928 | Southeast Ridge | 3 | Willard Johnson | 1883 | Secor |
Mount Williamson | 14,389 | 4,386 | Southeast ridge from George Creek | 2 | W.L. Hunter, C. Mulholland | 1884 | Secor |
Split Mountain | 14,064 | 4,287 | 1 | Frank Salque and party | July 1887 | Secor | |
Junction Peak | 13,888 | 4,233 | South Ridge | 3 | Edwin Copeland, E.N. Henderson | August 8, 1899 | Secor |
Mount Sill | 14,159 | 4,316 | Southwest slope | 2-3 | Joseph N. LeConte, James Moffit, James Hutchinson, Robert Pike (Sierra Club) | July 24, 1903 | Secor |
North Palisade | 14,248 | 4,343 | The LeConte Route | 4 | James S. Hutchinson, Joseph N. LeConte, James K. Moffitt | July 25, 1903 | Secor |
Table Mountain | 13,627 | 4,154 | West Ridge, South Side | 3 | Gilbert Hassel, Fred Shoup & Paul Shoup | August 25, 1908 | Secor |
Temple Crag | 12,982 | 3,957 | Southeast face | 3 | United States Geological Survey | 1909 | Secor |
Milestone Mountain | 13,641 | 4,158 | Southwest Ridge | 3 | William E. Colby, Francis Farquhar & Robert Price | July 14, 1912 | Secor |
Mount Muir | 14,018 | 4,273 | West face | 3 | LeRoy Jeffers | 1919 | Secor |
Mount Humphreys | 13,992 | 4,265 | Southwest Slope and Northwest Face | 4 | George Bunn and party | August 3, 1919 | Secor |
Black Kaweah | 13,680 | 4,170 | West Ridge | 3 | Onis Brown, James Hutchinson, Duncan McDuffie | August 11, 1920 | Secor |
Triple Divide Peak | 12,634 | 3,851 | East Ridge | 2-3 | James Hutchinson, Charles Noble | 1920 | Secor |
Middle Palisade | 14,018 | 4,273 | Farquhar Route | 4 | Francis Farquhar, Ansel Hall | August 26, 1921 | Secor |
Mount Agassiz | 13,899 | 4,236 | Norman Clyde | August 30, 1925 | Secor | ||
Mount Russell | 14,094 | 4,296 | East ridge | 3 | Norman Clyde | June 24, 1926 | Secor |
Mount Morrison | 12,366 | 3,769 | East Slope | 2 | John Mendenhall or Norman Clyde | 1928 | Secor |
Clyde Minaret | 12,264 | 3,738 | Glacier Route | 4 | Norman Clyde | June 27, 1928 | Secor |
Norman Clyde Peak | 13,861 | 4,225 | North face | 3 | Norman Clyde | June 9, 1930 | Secor |
Thunderbolt Peak | 14,003 | 4,268 | Underhill Couloir | 4 | Lewis Clark, Norman Clyde, Glen Dawson, Jules Eichorn, Francis Farquhar, Bestor Robinson, Robert L. M. Underhill | August 13, 1931 | Secor |
Mount Farquhar | 12,899 | 3,932 | South Ridge | 3 | Norman Clyde and party | July 17, 1932 | Secor |
Polemonium Peak | 14,080 | 4,290 | U Notch | 5.2 | Lewis Clark, Julie Mortimer, Jack Riegelhuth, Ted Waller | August 2, 1933 | Secor |
Mount Le Conte | 13,930 | 4,250 | 3 | Norman Clyde | June 1935 | Secor | |
North Dome | 7,542 | 2,299 | Royal Arches Route | 5.10 | Adam, Harris, Davis | 1936 | Roper; Steck |
Lost Arrow Spire | 6,930 | 2,110 | Spire Chimney | 5.10 | Ax Nelson, John Salathé | 1947 | Roper; Steck |
Sentinel Rock | 7,038 | 2,145 | Steck-Salathe Route | 5.9 | John Salathé, Allen Steck | 1950 | Roper; Steck |
Palisade Crest | 13,559 | 4,133 | Northwest ridge | 4 | Don Jensen, Joan Jensen, Rex Post | 1969 | Secor |
Norman Clyde was a mountaineer, mountain guide, freelance writer, nature photographer, and self-trained naturalist. He is well known for achieving over 130 first ascents, many in California's Sierra Nevada and Montana's Glacier National Park. He also set a speed climbing record on California's Mount Shasta in 1923. The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley has 1467 articles written by Clyde in its archives.
Steve Roper is a noted climber and historian of the Sierra Nevada in the United States. He along with Allen Steck are the founding editors of the Sierra Club journal Ascent.
Mount Morrison is located in the Sierra Nevada, in the Sherwin Range. It rises south of Convict Lake near the town of Mammoth Lakes.
Mount Tom is a large and prominent peak near the city of Bishop in Inyo County of eastern California. It is in the Sierra Nevada and east of the Sierra Crest. The mountain is also in the John Muir Wilderness.
Mount Williamson, at an elevation of 14,379 feet (4,383 m), is the second-highest mountain in both the Sierra Nevada range and the state of California, and the sixth-highest peak in the contiguous United States.
North Palisade is the third-highest mountain in the Sierra Nevada range of California, and one of the state's small number of peaks over 14,000 feet, known as fourteeners. It is the highest peak of the Palisades group of peaks in the central part of the Sierra range. It sports a small glacier and several highly prized rock climbing routes on its northeast side.
Mount Sill is one of the fourteeners of the Sierra Nevada in California. It is located in the Palisades, a group of prominent rock peaks with a few small glaciers on their flanks. Mount Sill is located 0.6 miles (1 km) east of North Palisade, the high point of the group. The two peaks are connected by a high, rocky ridge, on the north side of which lies the Palisade Glacier. Mount Sill lies on the main Sierra Crest, but is at a point where the crest turns sharply, giving it particularly striking summit views. On one side is Kings Canyon National Park and Fresno County; on the other is the John Muir Wilderness, Inyo National Forest and Inyo County.
Middle Palisade is a 14,018-foot peak in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range in the U.S. state of California. It is a fourteener, and lies on the Sierra Crest as part of the Palisades group, a group of prominent Sierra Nevada mountain summits that includes multiple other fourteeners, approximately 12 miles southwest of the town of Big Pine. Middle Palisade is the twelfth highest peak in California.
James Sather Hutchinson (1867–1959) was a lawyer in San Francisco, California, a mountaineer and an environmentalist. He was most noted for being an explorer of the Sierra Nevada.
Mount Agassiz, at 13,899 feet (4,236 m), is one of the twenty highest peaks of California. It is the northernmost and easiest to climb of the major Palisades summits. This peak is not to be confused with the 9967 ft peak by the same name in Desolation Wilderness, also in the California Sierra.
George G. Anderson is best known for making the first ascent to the summit of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park in California, United States on October 12, 1875. During the climb, he drilled the holes which, after 1919, came to house the cables of the popular route up Half Dome. A pioneer without the benefit of modern climbing gear or techniques, Anderson worked barefoot, and placed iron spikes drilled into the rock for protection. The ascent took him days on end. His one-room log cabin, originally located at what is now Foresta just west of Yosemite Valley, was moved to the Pioneer Yosemite History Center in Wawona where it continues to be preserved.
Mount Goddard is a mountain of California's Sierra Nevada, in the north section of Kings Canyon National Park. Goddard forms the southwest boundary of the Evolution Basin.
Jules Marquard Eichorn was an American mountaineer, environmentalist, and music teacher.
Robert Lindley Murray Underhill was an American mountaineer best known for introducing modern Alpine style rope and belaying techniques to the U.S. climbing community in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Glen Dawson was an American rock climber, mountaineer, antiquarian bookseller, publisher and environmentalist.
Bestor Robinson was an American mountaineer, environmentalist, attorney and inventor. He was a law partner of Earl Warren, later governor of California and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Robinson was a long-time leader of the Sierra Club.
Mount McAdie is a summit on the crest of the Sierra Nevada, and is located 2.1 miles (3.4 km) south of Mount Whitney. It has three summits, with the north peak being the highest. The summit ridge marks the boundary between Sequoia National Park and the John Muir Wilderness. It is also on the boundary between Inyo and Tulare counties. Lone Pine, 12.4 miles (20.0 km) to the northeast, is in the Owens Valley on U.S. 395.
Mount Haeckel is a 13,424-foot (4,092 m) mountain summit located on the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in northern California, United States. It is situated on the shared boundary of Kings Canyon National Park with John Muir Wilderness, and along the common border of Fresno County with Inyo County. It is 21.5 miles (34.6 km) west of the community of Big Pine, 1.27 miles (2.04 km) south-southeast of Mount Darwin, and one mile north-northeast of Mount Fiske, which is the nearest higher neighbor. Mount Haeckel ranks as the 71st highest summit in California.
Seven Gables is a 13,080-foot-elevation (3,990-meter) mountain summit located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Fresno County of northern California, United States. It is situated between the east and south forks of Bear Creek in the John Muir Wilderness, on land managed by Sierra National Forest. It is set 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Lake Thomas A Edison, 1.2 miles (1.9 km) northwest of Gemini, and 3.2 miles (5.1 km) west-southwest of Feather Peak, the nearest higher neighbor. Topographic relief is significant as it rises nearly 3,500 feet above Upper Bear Creek Meadows in approximately two miles. Seven Gables ranks as the 133rd highest summit in California.
Mount Johnson is a 12,871-foot-elevation mountain summit located on the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California, United States. It is situated on the boundary between Kings Canyon National Park and John Muir Wilderness, and along the county line between Fresno County and Inyo County. It is also 18 miles (29 km) west of the community of Big Pine, 0.9 miles (1.4 km) southeast of Mount Gilbert, and one mile (1.6 km) west-northwest of Mount Goode. Mount Johnson ranks as the 187th-highest summit in California. Topographic relief is significant as the southwest aspect rises 3,670 feet above LeConte Canyon in 1.5 mile, and the north aspect rises 3,100 feet above South Lake in 2.5 miles.