Charybdis is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Located deep in the backcountry of

Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park is a national park of the United States 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 ren ...

, Charybdis sits at the heart of one of the mountain range's least accessible regions. The shortest approach is 16 miles from the Sabrina Lake trailhead, and requires significant cross-country travel over rugged, exposed class 3 terrain. The shortest approach not requiring extensive cross-country travel is 23 miles long, beginning at the South Lake trailhead. Charybdis and its sister peak

Scylla In Greek mythology, Scylla ( ; , ) is a legendary, man-eating monster that lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart, the sea-swallowing monster Charybdis. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's range o ...

flank the Enchanted Gorge at its upper end, rising from the east and west sides of the gorge, respectively.

Theodore Solomons Theodore Seixas Solomons (1870–1947) was an American explorer and early member of the Sierra Club. From 1892 to 1897 he explored and named the Mount Goddard, Evolution Valley and Evolution Basin region in what is now northern Kings Canyon N ...

gave Charybdis its name in 1895 on an expedition through the area. Its name, together with Scylla's, is a reference to the ancient Greek legend of

Scylla and Charybdis In Greek mythology, Scylla ( ; , ) is a legendary, man-eating monster that lives on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart, the sea-swallowing monster Charybdis. The two sides of the strait are within an arrow's range o ...

. In this legend, Scylla and Charybdis are two sea monsters located very close to each other in the narrow

Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina (; ) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily (Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria (Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north with the Ionian Sea to the south, with ...

. It was considered impossible to avoid one of the monsters without getting too close to the other.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{Cite peakbagger, title=Charybdis, California, pid=2710, access-date=June 10, 2020 {{Cite loj, id=32386, name=Charybdis, accessdate=June 10, 2020 {{Cite summitpost, name=Charybdis, id=151458, date=June 10, 2020 {{Cite book, title=The dictionary of California land names, last=Hanna, first=Phil T., year=1951, publisher=Automobile Club of Southern California, page=61 Mountains of Northern California