Kettle Peak is a mountain with a summit elevation of located 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 Mono County 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. The summit is set in the

Hoover Wilderness The Hoover Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Inyo and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests. It lies to the east of the crest of the central Sierra Nevada in California, to the north and east of Yosemite National Park - a long strip stretchin ...

on land managed by Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest, and is less than one-half mile outside the boundary of Yosemite National Park. The peak is situated approximately three miles southwest of Twin Lakes, three miles south of Victoria Peak, 2.9 miles northeast of Crown Point, and 3.1 miles northwest of

Matterhorn Peak Matterhorn Peak is located in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, in California, at the northern boundary of Yosemite National Park. At elevation, it is the tallest peak in the craggy Alps-like Sawtooth Ridge and the northernmost peak in ...

. Topographic relief is significant as the west aspect rises over above Robinson Creek in one mile.

History

Kettle Peak is the toponym officially adopted 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 ...

for this 11,000-foot summit, which should not be confused with another Kettle Peak (10,000 ft) located in California's Sequoia National Park. This toponym was likely applied by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

during a 1905–09 survey and it appears on the first edition of the 1911 Bridgeport Quadrangle map.Peter Browning (1986), ''Place Names of the Sierra Nevada: From Abbot to Zumwalt'', Wilderness Press, , p. 119. 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 August 1948 by William Dunmire and Robert L. Swift.

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, Kettle 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, causing moisture in the form of rain or snowfall to drop onto the range ( orographic lift). 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 Robinson Creek which is a tributary of the

Walker River The Walker River is a river in west-central Nevada in the United States, approximately long. Fed principally by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada of California, it drains an arid portion of the Great Basin southeast of Reno and flows into the endor ...

Gallery

File:Kettle Peak, east aspect.jpg, Kettle Peak, east aspect, from Little Slide Canyon File:Kettle Peak NNE.jpg, Kettle Peak seen from north-northeast. Summit left of center. File:Kettle Peak, east.jpg, East aspect of Kettle Peak (centered) seen from The Incredible Hulk.
Crown Point (left) and

Hunewill Peak Hunewill Peak is a mountain with a summit elevation of located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Mono County of northern California, United States. The summit is set in Hoover Wilderness on land managed by Humboldt–Toiyabe National For ...

(right). File:Crown Lake - Kettle Peak.jpg, Kettle Peak seen from Crown Lake File:Snow Lake and Kettle Peak.jpg, Snow Lake and Kettle Peak File:Little Slide Canyon.jpg, Little Slide Canyon with Incredible Hulk to left and Kettle Peak upper right File:Kettle Peak sunrise.jpg, Kettle Peak seen from Little Slide Canyon at sunrise File:Spectacular granite outcrop.jpg, Spires on the northeast aspect of Kettle Peak. Unofficial names include "Outguard Spire", "The Turret", "Regge Pole", and "The Duck".

References

{{reflist

External links

* Weather forecast
Kettle Peak
* Kettle Peak and Maltby Lake (photo)
Flickr
Mountains of Mono County, California North American 3000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest

History

Climate

See also

Gallery

References

External links