Clyde Spires is a 13,267-foot-elevation (4,044 meter) mountain

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 a m ...

located on the

crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings * The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York * Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switze ...

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 primari ...

mountain range in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, United States. It is situated on the boundary shared by

Kings Canyon National Park Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park 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 renamed to Kings ...

with

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 ...

, and along the common border of

Fresno County Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populous city in Cal ...

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 ...

. It is west of the community of Big Pine, and southeast of

Mount Wallace The Tapley Mountains () is a mountain range fronting on the eastern side of the Scott Glacier, extending eastward for between Leverett and Albanus glaciers in the Queen Maud Mountains, a part of the larger Transantarctic Mountains. Discovered ...

, which is the nearest higher neighbor. The west spire is slightly higher than the east spire.R. J. Secor, ''The High Sierra Peaks, Passes, Trails'', 2009, Third Edition, Mountaineers Books, , page 291.

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 w ...

is significant as the spires rise above Echo Lake in .

History

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 e ...

of the spires was made July 22, 1933, 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 a ...

Jules Eichorn Jules Marquard Eichorn (February 7, 1912 – February 15, 2000) was an American mountaineer, environmentalist, and music teacher. Early years Jules Marquard Eichorn was born in San Francisco on February 7, 1912, to Hilmar and Frieda Eichorn, wh ...

and Ted Waller, who were members of the

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, w ...

. They named the landform for Norman Clyde (1885–1972), the leader of the group and legendary mountaineer credited with 130 first ascents, most of which were in the Sierra Nevada. The toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names.

Climate

Clyde Spires 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 ...

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 ...

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 contine ...

, 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 them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range. 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 geographic feature drains north to Bishop Creek, and south into

Middle Fork Kings River The Middle Fork Kings River is a tributary of the Kings River in Kings Canyon National Park, California, in the southern Sierra Nevada. Draining – almost all of it wilderness – the Middle Fork is one of the largest wholly undeveloped water ...

Gallery

File:Clyde Spires CA.jpg, Clyde Spires from Mt. Wallace File:Picture Peak from north.jpg,

Picture Peak Picture Peak is a 13,140+ foot (4,001+ meter) mountain summit located one mile east of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Inyo County in northern California, United States. It is situated in the John Muir Wilderness, on land managed ...

(centered), Clyde Spires to left. File:Picture Peak, Wallace, Haeckel.jpg, Clyde Spires far left,

(left),
Mt. Wallace's summit centered (behind ridge), Mt. Haeckel in upper right. File:Clyde Spires, Picture Peak.jpg, Clyde Spires centered. Picture Peak to right. "Donkey Peak" to left. File:Norman Clyde.jpg, Norman Clyde

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Clyde Spires
* Clyde Spires rock climbing
Mountainproject.com
* Clyde Spires (photo)
Flickr
{{Geographic Location , Center = Clyde Spires , North =

, Northeast = Echo Lake , East = Mount Powell , Southeast =

John Muir Trail The John Muir Trail (JMT) (Paiute: Nüümü Poyo, ''N-ue-mue Poh-yo'') is a long-distance trail in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, passing through Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. From the northern terminus a ...

, South =

Black Giant Black Giant is a mountain summit located near the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Fresno County of northern California, United States. Black Giant ranks as the 86th highest summit in California. It is situated in northern Kings Cany ...

, Southwest =

Mount Warlow Mount Warlow is a 13,206-foot-elevation (4,025 meter) mountain summit located west of the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Fresno County of northern California, United States. It is situated on the Goddard Divide in northern Kings Ca ...

, West =

Mount Fiske Mount Fiske is a 13,503-foot-elevation (4,116 meter) mountain summit located near the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, in Fresno County of northern California, United States. It is situated in northern Kings Canyon National Park, west o ...

, Northwest =

Inyo National Forest Mountains of Inyo County, California Mountains of Fresno County, California Mountains of Kings Canyon National Park Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness North American 4000 m summits Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

History

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links