Mount Versteeg is a mountain summit located on 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

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 ...

. It is situated on the common border of

Tulare County Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...

with

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 ...

, as well as the shared boundary of

Sequoia National Park Sequoia National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890, and today protects of forested mountainous terrain. Encompassing ...

and

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 ...

. It is west-northwest of the community of Lone Pine, southeast of

Mount Tyndall Mount Tyndall is a peak in the Mount Whitney region of the Sierra Nevada in the U.S. state of California. At , it is the tenth highest peak in the state. The mountain was named in honor of the Irish scientist and mountaineer, John Tyndall. Ge ...

, southwest of

Mount Williamson Mount Williamson, at an elevation of , is the second-highest mountain in both the Sierra Nevada range and the state of California, and the sixth-highest peak in the contiguous United States. Geography Williamson stands in the John Muir Wild ...

, and 0.68 mile northwest of

Trojan Peak } Trojan Peak is a 13,947-foot-elevation (4,251 meter) mountain summit located along the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Inyo County, California. It is situated in the John Muir Wilderness, on land managed by Inyo National Forest ...

, the nearest higher neighbor. Mt. Versteeg ranks as the 66th highest peak in California.

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 word ...

is significant as it rises approximately above Lake Helen of Troy in approximately 0.2 mile.

Etymology

The peak's name was officially adopted by the

United States 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 ...

in 1964 in memory of Chester Versteeg (1887–1963), lawyer, author, and prominent

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an environmental organization with chapters in all 50 United States, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who be ...

member who devoted much of his life to furthering interest in the Sierra Nevada. He is credited with 40

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 ...

s in the Sierra Nevada, such as Mount Tinemaha,

Mount Goode Mount Goode, pronounced like "good", is a prominent glaciated mountain summit located in the Chugach Mountains, in the U.S. state of Alaska. The peak is situated east of Anchorage, northwest of College Fjord, west of Mount Grace, and southwe ...

, and

Colosseum Mountain Colosseum Mountain is a 12,473-foot-elevation (3,802 meter) double summit mountain located on the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in northern California. It is situated on the common border of Fresno County with Inyo County, as well a ...

. As the first chairman the Sierra Club's Committee on Geographic Names, he was responsible for the naming of 250 geographical features in the Sierra Nevada, including Trojan Peak and Lake Helen of Troy, which he named for his alma mater, University of Southern California.John W. Robinson, ''History 101: The Life and Adventures of Chester Versteeg'', The Sierra Echo, April-June 2015, pages 14-17.
/ref> The club's Angeles Chapter annually presents a Chester Versteeg Outings Award which is "for long-term and outstanding leadership in furthering the enjoyment and safety of the outings program."

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, Mount Versteeg has 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 ...

. 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 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 west to the

Kern River The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an Endangered, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfiel ...

, and east to

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Numic Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin, Colorado River basin, Snake River basin, and southern Great Pl ...

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Mount Versteeg
* Chester Versteeg photo
Flickr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Versteeg, Mount Mountains of Tulare County, California Mountains of Sequoia National Park 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)

Etymology

Climate

See also

References

External links