Mount Gayley is a mountain summit located one mile east 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 Inyo County,

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 the

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 National Forest, Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Established in 1964 by the Wilderness Act and named for naturalist ...

, on land managed 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 ...

. It is approximately west-southwest of the community of Big Pine, southwest of Temple Crag, and north-northeast of parent Mount Sill. Mount Gayley ranks as the 59th highest summit in California.

History

The name commemorates Charles Mills Gayley (1858–1932), beloved English professor and Academic Dean of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. This mountain's name was officially adopted prior to 1939 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names based on a recommendation by the

Sierra Club The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...

. Mount Sill and nearby Mount Jepson were also named for University of California professors. 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 June 10, 1927, by Norman Clyde, who is credited with 130 first ascents, most of which were in the Sierra Nevada.

Climbing

Established climbing routes on Mount Gayley:Alan M. Hedden and David R. Brower, ''A Climber's Guide to the High Sierra'' (1954)
/ref> * Southwest Ridge (aka ''Yellow Brick Road'') – – First ascent 1927 * South Face – class 3 – Several possible routes * West Face – class 3 – FA June 1950 by Robert Cogburn and Ed Robbins Access from Big Pine: Glacier Lodge Road, North Fork Big Pine Creek Trail, then Glacier Trail.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Mount Gayley 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, 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 ...

). This climate supports the

Palisade Glacier The Palisade Glacier is a glacier located on the northeast side of the Palisades (California Sierra), Palisades within the John Muir Wilderness in the central Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of California. The glacier descends from the flanks ...

below the west slope. Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains into Big Pine Creek.

Gallery

File:Mt. Gayley.jpg, Mt. Gayley from the west File:Mt Gayley.jpg, In 1984, with Palisade Glacier File:Mt. Gayley, Palisade Glacier.jpg, Mt. Gayley (centered) above Palisade Glacier as seen from

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 ...

.
"Buck Mountain" (aka Contact Peak) beyond Gayley. File:Mt. Gayley, west aspect.jpg, Mt. Gayley from the west File:Mts. Gayley and Sill.jpg, Gayley from the north. (Mt. Sill to right) File:Mount Gayley CA.jpg File:Gayley from Temple Crag.jpg, Mount Gayley (centered) seen from Temple Crag, with Mt. Sill behind (left).

References

External links