Giraud Peak is a mountain summit located west 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 primari ...

mountain range, in

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 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most populo ...

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. It is situated in the Palisades area of northern

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 ...

, southwest of

North Palisade North Palisade is the third-highest mountain in the Sierra Nevada range of California, and one of the state's small number of peaks over 14,000 feet, known as fourteeners. It is the highest peak of the Palisades group of peaks in the central pa ...

, and southwest of Columbine Peak, the nearest higher neighbor. Giraud Peak ranks as the 258th-highest summit in California.

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 west aspect rises above LeConte Canyon in less than two miles. On the direct opposite side of the canyon

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

stands guard. 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 September 1, 1925, 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 ...

via the east arête.

Etymology

This mountain's name has been officially adopted by the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

. It was probably named for Pierre "Little Pete" Giraud (1874–1907), a

shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

of Inyo County who was made famous in Mary Austin's 1906 book, ''The Flock''.Francis P. Farquhar, ''Place Names of the High Sierra'' (1926)
/ref> Pierre and his younger brother, Alfred, were French immigrants who arrived in the Owens Valley, where they grazed sheep for many years at the head of the South and Middle Forks of Kings River.

Climate

Giraud Peak 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 originating 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 ...

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 Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...

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 from this mountain drains into tributaries of the

Middle Fork Kings River The Middle Fork Kings River is a tributary of the Kings River (California), Kings River in Kings Canyon National Park, California, in the southern Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada. Draining – almost all of it National Wilderness Preservati ...

Gallery

File:Giraud Peak, Dusy Basin.jpg, from Dusy Basin File:Giraud Peak from Dusy Basin.jpg, from Dusy Basin File:Giraud Peak.jpg, from Bishop Pass. (The top of Devils Crags visible to the right)

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Giraud Peak

Pierre Joseph Giraud photo
(Page 26, with bear) {{Geographic Location 2 , Center = Giraud Peak , North = Mount Goode , Northeast = Columbine Peak , East = Knapsack Pass , Southeast = Mount Shakspere , South = Palisade Creek , Southwest = Devils Crags , West =

, Northwest = Langille Peak Mountains of Fresno County, California Mountains of Kings Canyon National Park Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

Etymology

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links