Ladd Peak is a 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 ...

Sublette County Sublette County is a county in the U.S. state of Wyoming. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 8,728. The county seat is Pinedale. It is a sparsely populated rural county in western Wyoming, along the Green River. History S ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the sou ...

, United States.

Description

Ladd Peak is located in the remote

Wind River Range The Wind River Range (or "Winds" for short) is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW–SE for approximately . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and inclu ...

, which is a subrange of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. It is set west of the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, no ...

within the

Bridger Wilderness The Bridger Wilderness is located in Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming, United States. Originally established in 1931 as a primitive area, region was redesignated as a wilderness in 1964 and expanded to the current size in 1984. The wildern ...

, on land managed by Bridger-Teton National Forest. The nearest town is Pinedale, to the south-southwest. Ladd Peak ranks as the 40th-highest peak in Wyoming and is west of

Gannett Peak Gannett Peak is the highest mountain peak in the U.S. state of Wyoming at . It lies in the Wind River Range within the Bridger Wilderness of the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Straddling the Continental Divide along the boundary between Fre ...

, the highest peak in Wyoming. 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 the mountain drains into headwaters of the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada *Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

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 summit rises nearly above the river in 1.25 mile (2 km) and the 4,500-foot rise above Three Forks Park is the largest rise in the Wind River Range.Joe Kelsey, ''Climbing and Hiking in the Wind River Mountains'', Rowman & Littlefield (2013), , p. 164, 421. Mount Whitecap and Ladd Peak

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 summit was made in 1921 by Dr. William S. Ladd,

Evans Clark Evans Clark (1888–1970) was an American writer strongly committed to first to Communist and Socialist causes and then liberal socio-economic issues, served for a quarter century as first executive director of the Twentieth Century Fund (renam ...

Freda Kirchwey Mary Frederika "Freda" Kirchwey (September 26, 1893 – January 3, 1976) was an American journalist, editor, and publisher strongly committed throughout her career to liberal causes (anti-Fascist, pro-Soviet, anti-anti-communist). From 1933 ...

, and Dr. Adolf Schultz via the East Ridge. The North Couloir was first climbed in 1974 by Stan Hilbert and Bill March. The mountain's toponym has been officially adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names.

William S. Ladd

In addition to making the first ascent of this peak, Dr. Ladd is also credited with first ascents of Mount Saskatchewan and

North Twin Peak North Twin (Peak) is one of the two main peaks that comprise The Twins massif located at the northeast corner of the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada. The other lower peak is named South Twin (3,566 m). North Twin is ...

in Canada. An avid mountaineer, he served as president of the

American Alpine Club The American Alpine Club (AAC) is a non-profit member organization with more than 24,000 members. Its vision is to create "a united community of competent climbers and healthy climbing landscapes." The Club is housed in the American Mountaineerin ...

from 1929 through 1931.''William Sargent Ladd, 1887-1949'', American Alpine Journal (1950), americanalpineclub.org
/ref> He was born in Portland, Oregon, on August 16, 1887, and died unexpectedly on September 17, 1949.

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, nota ...

system, Ladd Peak is located in an alpine subarctic climate zone with long, cold, snowy winters, and cool to warm summers. Due to its altitude, it receives precipitation all year, as snow in winter and as thunderstorms in summer.

Hazards

Encountering

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the N ...

s is a concern in the Wind River Range. There are other concerns as well, including

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wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

s, adverse snow conditions and nighttime cold temperatures. Importantly, there have been notable incidents, including

accidental death An accidental death is an unnatural death that is caused by an accident, such as a slip and fall, traffic collision, or accidental poisoning. Accidental deaths are distinguished from death by natural causes, disease, and from intentional homici ...

s, due to falls from steep cliffs (a misstep could be fatal in this class 4/5 terrain) and due to

falling rocks Falling or fallin' may refer to: *Falling (physics), movement due to gravity *Falling (accident) *Falling (execution) *Falling (sensation) People *Christine Falling (born 1963), American serial killer who murdered six children Books * ''Falli ...

, over the years, including 1993, 2007 (involving an experienced NOLS leader), 2015 and 2018. Other incidents include a seriously injured backpacker being airlifted near

Squaretop Mountain Squaretop Mountain is an mountain summit located in Sublette County of Wyoming, United States. Geography The peak is the emblematic geographical feature of the remote Wind River Range and is set seven miles west of the Continental Divide. It ...

in 2005, and a fatal hiker incident (from an apparent

accidental fall Falling is the action of a person or animal losing stability and ending up in a lower position, often on the ground. It is the second-leading cause of accidental death worldwide and a major cause of personal injury, especially for the elderly. ...

) in 2006 that involved state

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

. The

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...

does not offer updated aggregated records on the official number of fatalities in the Wind River Range.

References

External links

* William Ladd in memoriam
Americanalpineclub.org
* Weather forecast
Ladd Peak
{{Mountains of Wyoming Bridger–Teton National Forest Mountains of Sublette County, Wyoming Mountains of Wyoming North American 3000 m summits