Gale Peak is a 10,690-foot-elevation (3,258 meter) mountain

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

located in

Madera County Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera. Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...

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

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 the southeast corner of

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

, on the common boundary which the park shares with the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The mountain rises south of Fernandez Pass, south of the Clark Range, and north-northwest of Madera Peak. 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 landform drains west into tributaries of the

South Fork Merced River The South Fork Merced River is the largest tributary of the Merced River. Most of the river flows within Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada of California. The river is long, and its drainage basin covers about , of which are in the nati ...

, and east into tributaries of the San Joaquin River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises above Upper Chain Lake in . The peak can be climbed via the northwest ridge which separates Breeze Lake from the Chain Lakes.

History

This geographical feature was named in 1894 by Lieutenant Nathaniel Fish McClure who prepared a map of Yosemite National Park for use by Army troops. The toponym honors Captain George Henry Goodwin Gale (1858–1920), 4th Cavalry US Army, and the acting military superintendent of Yosemite Park in 1894. The US Army had jurisdiction over Yosemite National Park from 1891 to 1914, and each summer 150 cavalrymen traveled from the Presidio of San Francisco to patrol the park. This geographical feature's toponym was officially adopted in 1932 by the

U.S. 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 ...

. 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 1920 by Lawrence Fley, Freeman Jones, and Thomas Jones.

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, Gale Peak 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 fronts 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 ( orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range.

Gallery

File:Gale Peak, N.jpg, North aspect of Gale Peak from Breeze Lake File:Lillian Lake.jpg, East aspect of Gale Peak seen from Lillian Lake File:Lillian Lake, Gale Peak.jpg, East aspect of Gale Peak from Lillian Lake

History

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links