Thor Peak is a mountain summit located east of 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

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 ...

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 in 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 ...

on land managed by

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 ...

. It is west of the community of Lone Pine, and east of

Mount Whitney Mount Whitney (Paiute: Tumanguya; ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'') is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of . It is in East–Central California, on the boundary between California's Inyo and Tu ...

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 above

Whitney Portal Whitney Portal (formerly, Hunter Flat and Hunters Camp) is the end of the Whitney Portal road in Inyo County, California, west of Lone Pine at an elevation of . Whitney Portal is the gateway to Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous ...

in 1.5 mile. Hikers on the

Mount Whitney Trail The Mount Whitney Trail is a hiking trail that climbs Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States. It starts at Whitney Portal, west of the town of Lone Pine, California. The hike is about round trip, with an elevation gain o ...

pass below the impressive south face of the peak.

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, Thor Peak 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 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 ...

via Lone Pine Creek.

Climbing

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 by

Norman Clyde Norman Clyde (April 8, 1885 – December 23, 1972) was a mountaineer, mountain guide, freelance writer, nature photographer, and self-trained naturalist. He is well known for achieving over 130 first ascents, many in California's Sierra Nevada an ...

, date unknown. Established rock climbing routes: * Southwest side – – First ascent by

* West Arête – class 2 * Southeast chimney, aka ''Stemwinder'' – class 5.4 – FA 1936, by Glen Dawson,

Robert K. Brinton Robert K. Brinton (January 9, 1915 – December 9, 1996) was a pioneer American Rock climbing, rock climber and Ski mountaineering, ski mountaineer. Along with his frequent climbing partner, Glen Dawson (mountaineer), Glen Dawson, he made numerous ...

, William Rice * South face – class 5 – FA 1937, by Howard Koster, Arthur B. Johnson, James N. Smith * ''Odin’s Wrath'' – class 5.10dPat Brennan, ''Thor Peak, South Face, Odin's Wrath'', American Alpine Journal, 1997
/ref>

Gallery

File:Thor Peak seen from Outpost Camp.jpg, Thor Peak seen from Outpost Camp along Mt. Whitney Trail File:Thor Peak, Mount Whitney Trail, California.jpg, South aspect File:Lone Pine Lake - Thor Peak.jpg, Thor Peak from Lone Pine Lake along Mt. Whitney Trail File:Road to Whitney Portal, Sierra Nevada 2015 (33308028375).jpg, Thor Peak (center) from Whitney Portal Road File:Mt Whitney, Tallest in Lower Forty-eight, CA 2016.jpg, Thor Peak (left of center) with Mt. Whitney File:Sunrise on Thor Peak from Mt. Whitney Trail.jpg, Sunrise on Thor Peak, from Mt. Whitney Trail File:Thor and Whitney.jpg, Snow-covered Thor, with Mt. Whitney (right) File:Thor Peak, Mount Whitney.jpg, Snow-covered Thor Peak (left), with Mt. Whitney (right) File:Whitney Needles.jpg, Thor Peak in center of photo File:Sunrise over mirror lake mt. whitney wilderness.jpg, Thor Peak above Mirror Lake File:Thor Peak from Whitney Portal.jpg, from Whitney Portal

References

{{reflist

External links

* Weather forecast
Thor Peak
* Thor Peak climbing
Mountainproject.com
Inyo National Forest Mountains of Inyo County, California North American 3000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness

Climate

Climbing

Gallery

See also

References

External links