Seven Gables is a mountain summit located in 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 between the east and south forks of Bear Creek in 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

Sierra National Forest Sierra National Forest is a U.S. national forest located on the western slope of the central Sierra Nevada in California, bounded on the northwest by Yosemite National Park and on the south by Kings Canyon National Park. The forest is known for ...

. It is set southeast of Lake Thomas A Edison, northwest of

Gemini Gemini most often refers to: * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Gemini (astrology), an astrological sign Gemini may also refer to: Science and technology Space * Gemini in Chinese astronomy, the Gemini constellat ...

, and west-southwest of

Feather Peak Feather Peak is a mountain summit located west of the Royce Lakes in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in northern California, United States. It is situated in Fresno County, in the John Muir Wilderness, on land managed by Sierra National Forest ...

, the nearest higher neighbor.

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 it rises nearly above Upper Bear Creek Meadows in approximately two miles. Seven Gables ranks as the 133rd highest summit in California.

History

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 20, 1894, by

Theodore Solomons Theodore Seixas Solomons (1870–1947) was an American explorer and early member of the Sierra Club. From 1892 to 1897 he explored and named the Mount Goddard, Evolution Valley and Evolution Basin region in what is now northern Kings Canyon N ...

and Leigh Bierce.Francis P. Farquhar, Place Names of the High Sierra (1926)
/ref> Solomons also named it: "The south wall of the gap we found to be the side of a peak, the eccentric shape of which is suggested in the name Seven Gables, which we hastened to fasten upon it". Impressed by the superlative view from the summit, Solomons wrote: "I was too awed to shout. The ideas represented by such words as lovely, beautiful, wild or terrible, cold or desolate, fail to compass it. Words are puny things, and the language of description quite as impotent as the painter's brush. Roughly speaking, one might say that the sight was sublime and awful." Joseph Nisbet LeConte and Clarence L. Cory climbed it on June 29, 1898, placing a

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 ...

register at the summit. The Direct East Face, considered one of the classic climbing routes in the Sierra Nevada, was first climbed in 1981 by Claude Fiddler and Vern Clevenger.

Galen Rowell Galen Avery Rowell (August 23, 1940 – August 11, 2002) was an American wilderness photographer, adventure photojournalist and mountaineer. Born in Oakland, California, he became a full-time photographer in 1972. Early life and education Rowe ...

put up a new route in 1988.R. J. Secor, ''The High Sierra Peaks, Passes, Trails'', 2009, Third Edition, Mountaineers Books, , page 330. This mountain's name has been officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Today this peak draws interest because it is on the

Sierra Peaks Section The Sierra Peaks Section (SPS) is a mountaineering society within the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club that serves to provide mountaineering activities for Sierra Club members in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada, and to honor mountaineers ...

's ''Mountaineers Peaks''

peak bagging Peak bagging or hill bagging is an activity in which Hiking, hikers, climbing, climbers, and Mountaineering, mountaineers attempt to reach a collection of summits, published in the form of a list. This activity has been popularized around the world ...

list.

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, Seven Gables 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 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 Bear Creek, a tributary of the South Fork San Joaquin River.

Gallery

File:Seven Gables from Feather Peak.jpg, Seven Gables from Feather Peak. Vee Lake lower right. File:Seven Gables, northeast aspect.jpg, Northeast aspect File:Seven Gables mountain.jpg File:Approaching Seven Gables.jpg File:Seven Gables CA.jpg

References

External links

* Weather forecast
Seven Gables
* Seven Gables rock climbing
Mountainproject.com
{{John Muir Wilderness, state=collapsed Sierra National Forest Mountains of Fresno County, California Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States)

History

Climate

Gallery

See also

References

External links