Mount Sill is one of the
fourteeners
In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single ...
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 ...
in California. It is located in the
Palisades, a group of prominent rock peaks with a few small
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
s on their flanks. Mount Sill is located 0.6 miles (1 km) east of
North Palisade
North Palisade is the third-highest mountain in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada range of California, and one of the state's small number of peaks over 14,000 feet, known as fourteeners. It is the highest peak of the Palisades (California ...
, the high point of the group. The two peaks are connected by a high, rocky ridge, on the north side of which lies the
Palisade Glacier
The Palisade Glacier is a glacier located on the northeast side of the Palisades within the John Muir Wilderness in the central Sierra Nevada of California. The glacier descends from the flanks of four fourteeners, or mountain peaks over in elev ...
. Mount Sill lies on the main
Sierra Crest
The Sierra Crest is a roughly generally north-to-south ridgeline that demarcates the broad west and narrow east slopes of the Sierra Nevada and that extends as far east as the Sierra's topographic front (e.g., Diamond Mountains and Sierran esc ...
, but is at a point where the crest turns sharply, giving it particularly striking summit views. On one side is
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 ...
and
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 ...
; on the other is 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 ...
,
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 ...
and
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 ...
.
Routes on Mount Sill are found on all sides of the peak and range in difficulty from
scrambles
''Scrambles'' is the fifth studio album by Bomb the Music Industry!, released digitally and physically on February 15th, 2009. The album was released a year and a half after Get Warmer, making it the longest gap between the release of two chrono ...
() to a moderately
technical rock climbs (class 5.7).
The mountain is called Nen-i-mish ("the Guardian of the Valley") by the indigenous Northern
Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pai ...
people.
Its English name was coined, in 1904, by
Joseph LeConte
Joseph Le Conte (alternative spelling: Joseph LeConte) (February 26, 1823 – July 6, 1901) was a physician, geologist, professor at the University of California, Berkeley and early California conservationist.
Early life
Of Huguenot descent, h ...
, a noted
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 honor of American poet
Edward Rowland Sill
Edward Rowland Sill (April 29, 1841February 27, 1887) was an American poet and educator.
Biography
Born in Windsor, Connecticut, he graduated from Yale in 1861, where he was Class Poet and a member of Skull and Bones. He engaged in business in ...
.
See also
*
List of California fourteeners
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
*
The Palisades of the Sierra Nevada
*
Mount Gayley
Mount Gayley is a 13,510-foot-elevation (4,118 meter) mountain summit located one mile east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Inyo County, California, Inyo County, California, United States. It is situated in the Palisades (Calif ...
References
External links
*
*
Fourteeners of California
Mountains of Kings Canyon National Park
Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness
Mountains of Inyo County, California
Mountains of Fresno County, California
Mountains of Northern California
North American 4000 m summits
Religious places of the indigenous peoples of North America
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