Cloudripper is a 13,525-foot-elevation (4,122 meter) mountain summit located two miles east of 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

Inyo County Inyo County () is a county in the eastern central part of the U.S. state of California, located between the Sierra Nevada and the state of Nevada. In the 2020 census, the population was 19,016. The county seat is Independence. Inyo County is o ...

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. It is situated in the Palisades area of the

John Muir Wilderness The John Muir Wilderness is a wilderness area that extends along the crest of the Sierra Nevada of California for , in the Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Established in 1964 by the Wilderness Act and named for naturalist John Muir, it encompa ...

, on land managed by

Inyo National Forest Inyo National Forest is a United States National Forest covering parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. The forest hosts several superlatives, including Mount Whitney, the highest poi ...

. It is approximately west of the community of Big Pine, north-northeast of

Picture Puzzle A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle is a combination puzzle that challenges a player to slide (frequently flat) pieces along certain routes (usually on a board) to establish a certain end-configuration. The pieces to ...

, and south of parent Mount Agassiz. Cloudripper ranks as the 58th highest summit in California, and the highest point of the Inconsolable Range.

Climbing

Established climbing routes on Cloudripper: * East Ridge via Big Pine Lakes – * North Ridge via Green Lake – class 2 * West Chute via Chocolate Lake – class 3 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 June 15, 1927, by

Norman Clyde Norman Clyde (April 8, 1885 – December 23, 1972) 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 an ...

, who is credited with 130 first ascents, most of which were in the Sierra Nevada. Other sources place the date as June 15, 1926.Steve Roper, ''The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra'', 1976, Sierra Club Books, , page 348.

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, Cloudripper 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 ...

). 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 east into North Fork

Big Pine Creek Big Pine Creek may refer to: * Big Pine Creek (California), Inyo County, California * Big Pine Creek (Indiana) Big Pine Creek is a creek in northwestern Indiana, USA. It begins in Round Grove Township in southwestern White County and flows gene ...

, and northwest into headwaters of Bishop Creek.

Gallery

File:Cloudripper winter.jpg, Cloudripper in winter File:Cloudripper east ridge.jpg, Cloudripper's summit File:Cloudripper am ripping cloud snow.jpg

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Cloudripper
* {{cite summitpost , id=151202 , name=Cloudripper Inyo National Forest Mountains of Inyo County, California Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness North American 4000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

Climbing

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links