Stanton Peak is a granitic 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

Tuolumne County Tuolumne County (), officially the County of Tuolumne, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 55,620. The county seat and only incorporated city is Sonora. Tuolumne County comprises the ...

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 remote summit is set within

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 ...

, and is situated 0.63 mile southwest of

line parent A peak's line parent is the closest higher peak on the highest ridge leading away from the peak's "key col". A col is the lowest point on the ridge between two summits and is roughly synonymous with pass, gap, saddle and notch. The highest col of ...

Virginia Peak, 1.6 mile southeast of Whorl Mountain, and 2.6 miles south-southeast 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 ...

. Stanton Peak is bound on the west by Spiller Creek and on the east by Return Creek, so 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 these two tributaries of the Tuolumne River. Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises over above Spiller Creek in one mile.

History

Stanton Peak is the toponym 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 ...

for this landform. This toponym's origin is unknown, however it may have been named by Major William W. Forsyth, the acting superintendent of Yosemite Park from 1909 to 1912, possibly to honor General William Stanton (1843–1927). The peak's name and location were published by

François E. Matthes François Émile Matthes ( – ) was a geologist and an expert in topographic mapping, glaciers, and climate change. He mapped remote areas of the Western United States, American West for the United States Geological Survey (USGS). His maps co ...

on a 1912 map of Yosemite.François Matthes (1912), ''Sketch of Yosemite National Park: And an Account of the Origin of the Yosemite and Hetch Hetchy Valleys'', Department of the Interior, p. 24 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 during a snow storm on May 31, 1934, by Richard G. Johnson, Kenneth May, and Howard Twining.

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, Stanton 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).

References

{{reflist

External links

* Weather forecast
Stanton Peak
* Gen. William Stanton
Findagrave.com
Mountains of Tuolumne County, California North American 3000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Mountains of Yosemite National Park

History

Climate

See also

References

External links