Picture Puzzle, also known as Picture Puzzle Peak, 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 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 ...

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 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 of the community of Big Pine, one mile north of Bishop Pass, northwest of Aperture Peak, north-northwest of Mount Agassiz, and south-southwest of parent Cloudripper. Picture Puzzle ranks as the 90th-highest summit in California, and the third-highest peak of the Inconsolable Range.

Climbing

Established climbing routes on Picture Puzzle: * Northeast Couloir – * North Slope – class 3 * West Face – class 4 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 15, 1937, by Norman Clyde, who is credited with 130 first ascents, most of which were in the Sierra Nevada.

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, Picture Puzzle 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 ...

). Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains east into headwaters of North Fork Big Pine Creek, and west into headwaters of South Fork Bishop Creek.

Gallery

File:Picture Puzzle, Bishop Pass.jpg, South aspect File:Picture Puzzle peak.jpg File:"Bishop Pass, Kings River Canyon (Proposed as a national park)," California, 1936., ca. 1936 - NARA - 519918.jpg, Picture Puzzle by

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

ca. 1936 File:Mysterious isolated orange rock - Flickr - daveynin.jpg, Picture Puzzle (left) and Aperture Peak (right) File:Picture Puzzle Peak NW.jpg, Picture Puzzle from northwest File:Picture Puzzle, near Bishop Lake.jpg

References

{{reflist

External links

* Weather forecast
Picture Puzzle
* Picture Puzzle from Chocolate Peak
Flickr photo
* Cloudripper and Picture Puzzle
Flickr photo
Inyo National Forest Mountains of Inyo County, California Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness Four-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

Climbing

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links