Black Giant is a mountain summit located near the crest of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

mountain range, in

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cali ...

of northern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. Black Giant ranks as the 86th highest summit in California. It is situated in northern

Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed to Kings ...

, west-southwest of the community of Big Pine, southwest of Mount Thompson, and south-southeast of

Mount Fiske Mount Fiske is a 13,503-foot-elevation (4,116 meter) mountain summit located near the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Fresno County, California, Fresno County of northern California, United States. It is situated in northern Kings Ca ...

, which is the nearest higher neighbor.

Topographic relief Terrain or relief (also topographical relief) involves the vertical and horizontal dimensions of land surface. The term bathymetry is used to describe underwater relief, while hypsometry studies terrain relative to sea level. The Latin word ...

is significant as it rises above LeConte Canyon in approximately two miles.

Muir Pass Muir Pass is a mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada of California, United States, in Kings Canyon National Park. It is named for John Muir. The pass is near the midway point of the John Muir Trail and around mile 841 of the Pacific Crest Trail ...

is to the northwest, and the approach to this remote peak is made via the

John Muir Trail The John Muir Trail (JMT) (Northern Paiute language, Paiute: Nüümü Poyo, ''N-ue-mue Poh-yo'') is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, ...

History

This mountain was bestowed its descriptive name in 1904 by

Joseph Nisbet LeConte Joseph Nisbet LeConte (February 7, 1870 – February 1, 1950) was a noted explorer of the Sierra Nevada. He was also a cartographer, a photographer and a professor of mechanical engineering. Early life Joseph Nisbet LeConte was born in Oakland, ...

, a Sierra Nevada explorer and

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...

. LeConte wrote: "A few miles to the south rose a particularly inviting point, which certainly commands a peerless view. But time forbade an ascent this year, so I named it the Black Giant, and wondered how long it would stand as it has so far stood, an untrodden summit."Francis P. Farquhar, Place Names of the High Sierra (1926)
/ref> The

first ascent In mountaineering, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in guide books) is the first successful, documented attainment of the top of a mountain or the first to follow a particular climbing route. First mountain ascents are notable because they en ...

of the summit was made in 1905 by George R. Davis, USGS topographic engineer. In creating the map of the Mount Goddard quadrangle, 1907–1909, the USGS named this peak "Mount Goode", apparently unaware of LeConte's earlier naming. The Black Giant name was restored and officially adopted in 1926 by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal governm ...

, and the Goode name was transferred to the present location of

Mount Goode Mount Goode, pronounced like "good", is a prominent glaciated mountain summit located in the Chugach Mountains, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The peak is situated east of Anchorage, northwest of College Fjord, west of Mount Grace (Chugach Moun ...

, five miles to the east-northeast of Black Giant.

Climbing

Established climbing routes:R. J. Secor, ''The High Sierra Peaks, Passes, Trails'', 2009, Third Edition, Mountaineers Books, , page 279. * West Slope – – First Ascent 1905 * South Slope – class 2 * Southeast Ridge – class 3 – FA 1971 * Northeast Face – class 4 – FA 1966 by Steve Roper

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Black Giant is located in an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical weather (climate) for elevations above the tree line, where trees fail to grow due to cold. This climate is also referred to as a mountain climate or highland climate. Definition There are multiple definitions of ...

zone. Most

weather front A weather front is a boundary separating air masses for which several characteristics differ, such as air density, wind, temperature, and humidity. Disturbed and unstable weather due to these differences often arises along the boundary. For in ...

s originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, 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 Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

onto the range (

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

). This climate supports four small glaciers on the northeast aspect. Precipitation

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from this mountain drains into tributaries of the Middle Fork Kings River.

Gallery

File:Black Giant, east face.jpg, East aspect from Le Conte Canyon File:Looking east from Muir Pass to Black Giant.jpg, West aspect from Muir Pass File:Black Giant west aspect.jpg, West aspect File:Muir Pass.jpg, Black Giant beyond

File:Black Giant, Sierra Nevada.jpg, East aspect from LeConte Canyon File:California, Kings Canyon National Park, Muir Hut.jpg, Black Giant behind (left) Muir Hut at Muir Pass File:Black Giant.jpg

References

External links

{{stack * Weather forecast
Black Giant

Black Giant photo
by

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association of photographers advoca ...