Mount McDuffie is a mountain summit located west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada 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 central

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, United States. This peak 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 King ...

, northwest of

The Citadel The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina. Established in 1842, it is one of six senior military colleges in the United States. ...

, and two miles south of

Black Giant Black Giant is a mountain summit located near the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Fresno County of northern California, United States. Black Giant ranks as the 86th highest summit in California. It is situated in northern Kings Can ...

, which is the nearest higher neighbor. McDuffie ranks as the 93rd highest summit in California, and the second-highest point on Black Divide.

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 w ...

is significant as it rises nearly above Le Conte Canyon in approximately 2.5 miles. An approach to this remote peak is made possible via the

John Muir Trail The John Muir Trail (JMT) ( Paiute: Nüümü Poyo, ''N-ue-mue Poh-yo'') is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. From the northern terminus a ...

History

This mountain's name honors

Duncan McDuffie Duncan McDuffie (September 24, 1877 – 1951) was a real estate developer, conservationist, and mountaineer based in Berkeley, California, United States. Developer McDuffie is best known for developing the Claremont and Northbrae neighbo ...

(1877–1951), to commemorate his interest in the national parks and his work as a conservationist. He was also an accomplished

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

in the Sierra Nevada, having made first ascents of Mount Abbot,

Bear Creek Spire Bear Creek Spire is a mountain in the Sierra Nevada in Inyo County, California, in the western United States, and is the 46th highest mountain in California and the 225th highest mountain in the United States. Bear Creek Spire is part of the Jo ...

, and

Black Kaweah Black Kaweah is a mountain of the Kaweah Peaks Ridge of the California's Sierra Nevada, in Sequoia National Park. The peak has a local magnetic disturbance that has caused compasses in the vicinity to vary by up to eight degrees. Fulgurite ...

. Along with James S. Hutchinson and Joseph Nisbet LeConte, he pioneered a high alpine route in 1908 from Yosemite National Park to Kings Canyon, roughly along the route of what would become the

. He served as President of the Sierra Club from 1928 to 1931, and again from 1943 to 1946. The name was officially adopted in 1953 by the United States Board on Geographic Names. 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 July 23, 1951, by Charles Bays Locker, Karl Hufbauer, and Alfred Elkin via the north ridge.

Climbing

Established climbing routes: * North Ridge – – First ascent July 23, 1951 * Southeast Ridge – class 2-3 – July 15, 1952, by Charles Bays Locker, Karl Hufbauer, Don Albright, Gary Hufbauer * Northwest Slope and West Ridge – class 3 – August 1971, by Dave Gladstone * West Chute – class 3 – August 2, 1974, by Bob Rockwell * Southwest Ridge – class 2 – August 10, 1989, by Dave Helphrey, Ron Robson, Reiner Stenzel

Climate

Mount McDuffie 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 o ...

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 contin ...

, 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 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 marke ...

from this mountain drains into tributaries of the

Middle Fork Kings River The Middle Fork Kings River is a tributary of the Kings River in Kings Canyon National Park, California, in the southern Sierra Nevada. Draining – almost all of it wilderness – the Middle Fork is one of the largest wholly undeveloped water ...

Gallery

File:Mt. McDuffie and Ladder Lake.jpg, East aspect of Mt. McDuffie viewed from The Citadel. Ladder Lake below. File:Wheel and McDuffie.jpg, Wheel Mountain (left) and Mount McDuffie (right), from Dusy Basin File:Mount McDuffie.jpg, East aspect centered in the distance.
From Mt. Agassiz, with Dusy Basin lower foreground

References

External links