Black Mountain is an

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

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 primari ...

mountain range, in

Mono County Mono County ( ) is a county located in the east central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 13,195, making it the fourth-least populous county in California. The county seat is Bridg ...

of northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. The mountain is set within the Hoover Wilderness, on the common boundary shared 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 p ...

with

Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest The Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest (HTNF) is the principal National forest (United States), U.S. National Forest in the U.S. state of Nevada, and has a smaller portion further west in Eastern California in the state of California. With an a ...

, and 1.5 mile outside the boundary of Yosemite National Park. The peak is situated immediately southwest above

Virginia Lakes Virginia Lakes refers to a basin of lakes in the Eastern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California, Mono County, California. Virginia Lakes is located a few miles off U.S. Highway 395; the road to the lakes turns off U.S. ...

, northeast 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 ...

Excelsior Mountain Excelsior Mountain can refer to * Excelsior Mountain (Yosemite) in California, U.S. * Excelsior Mountain (Alberta) in the Maligne Range in Canada * Excelsior Mountain of the North Cascades in Washington state, U.S. * Excelsior Mountains The ...

, and south of Dunderberg Peak.

Topographic relief Terrain (), alternatively relief or topographical relief, is the dimension and shape of a given surface of land. In physical geography, terrain is the lay of the land. This is usually expressed in terms of the elevation, slope, and orientati ...

is significant as the north aspect rises above Cooney Lake in , and the south aspect rises above Lundy Canyon in . The

first ascent In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent (abbreviated to FA in climbing guidebook, guide books), is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers a ...

of the summit was made in 1905 by George R. Davis,

Albert Hale Sylvester Albert Hale Sylvester (May 25, 1871 – September 14, 1944) was a pioneer surveyor, explorer, and forest supervisor in the Cascade Range of the U.S. state of Washington. He was a topographer for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in the ...

, and Pearson Chapman, all with the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

.R. J. Secor, ''The High Sierra Peaks, Passes, Trails'', 2009, Third Edition, Mountaineers Books, , page 443.

Climate

Black Mountain is located in an

alpine climate Alpine climate is the typical 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 alpine cli ...

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 ins ...

s originate in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks (

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 ...

), causing moisture in the form of rain or snowfall to drop onto the range. Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains north into Virginia Creek which is a tributary of the

Walker River The Walker River is a river in west-central Nevada in the United States, approximately long. Fed principally by snowmelt from the Sierra Nevada of California, it drains an arid portion of the Great Basin southeast of Reno and flows into the endo ...

, and south into Mill Creek which drains to

Mono Lake Mono Lake ( ) is a Salt lake, saline soda lake in Mono County, California, formed at least 760,000 years ago as a terminal lake in an endorheic basin. The lack of an outlet causes Hypersaline lake, high levels of salts to accumulate in the lake ...

Gallery

File:Little Virginia Lake, Sierra Nevada, CA.jpg, East aspect of Black Mountain reflected n Virginia Lakes File:Black - Dunderberg.jpg, North aspect seen from Dunderberg Peak File:Black and Excelsior.jpg, North aspects of Black Mountain (left) and Excelsior Mountain (right, reddish) seen from Dunderberg Peak. Mount Conness centered on the distant horizon. File:Black Mountain, Sierra Nevada, CA 2019.jpg, East aspect File:Black Mountain, Cooney Lake, Virginia Lakes.jpg, Black Mountain seen from Cooney Lake File:Lake Helen 20LakesBasin.jpg, South aspect of Black Mountain beyond Lake Helen

References

{{reflist Mountains of Mono County, California Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest Inyo National Forest

Climate

See also

Gallery

References