Thor Peak is a mountain summit located 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 ...

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 ...

. It is situated 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

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 west of the community of Lone Pine, and east of

Mount Whitney Mount Whitney (Paiute: ''Too-man-i-goo-yah'' or ''Too-man-go-yah'') is a mountain in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, and the highest point in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of . It lies in East–Central Califor ...

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 above

Whitney Portal Whitney Portal (formerly Hunter Flat and Hunters Camp) is the end of the Whitney Portal road in Inyo County, California, west of Lone Pine, California, Lone Pine at an elevation of . Whitney Portal is the gateway to Mount Whitney, the highest p ...

in 1.5 mile. Hikers on the

Mount Whitney Trail The Mount Whitney Trail is a hiking trail that climbs Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the contiguous United States. It starts at Whitney Portal, west of the town of Lone Pine, California. The hike is round trip, with an elevation gain of ...

pass below the impressive south face of the peak.

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, Thor Peak has 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 ...

. 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 east to

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Mono language (California), Mono: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra ...

via Lone Pine Creek.

Climbing

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 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 ...

, date unknown. Established rock climbing routes: * Southwest side – – First ascent by

* West Arête – class 2 * Southeast chimney, aka ''Stemwinder'' – class 5.4 – FA 1936, by Glen Dawson, Robert K. Brinton, William Rice * South face – class 5 – FA 1937, by Howard Koster, Arthur B. Johnson, James N. Smith * ''Odin’s Wrath'' – class 5.10dPat Brennan, ''Thor Peak, South Face, Odin's Wrath'', American Alpine Journal, 1997
/ref>

Gallery

File:Thor Peak seen from Outpost Camp.jpg, Thor Peak seen from Outpost Camp along Mt. Whitney Trail File:Thor Peak, Mount Whitney Trail, California.jpg, South aspect File:Lone Pine Lake - Thor Peak.jpg, Thor Peak from Lone Pine Lake along Mt. Whitney Trail File:Road to Whitney Portal, Sierra Nevada 2015 (33308028375).jpg, Thor Peak (center) from Whitney Portal Road File:Mt Whitney, Tallest in Lower Forty-eight, CA 2016.jpg, Thor Peak (left of center) with Mt. Whitney File:Sunrise on Thor Peak from Mt. Whitney Trail.jpg, Sunrise on Thor Peak, from Mt. Whitney Trail File:Thor and Whitney.jpg, Snow-covered Thor, with Mt. Whitney (right) File:Thor Peak, Mount Whitney.jpg, Snow-covered Thor Peak (left), with Mt. Whitney (right) File:Whitney Needles.jpg, Thor Peak in center of photo File:Sunrise over mirror lake mt. whitney wilderness.jpg, Thor Peak above Mirror Lake File:Thor Peak from Whitney Portal.jpg, from Whitney Portal

References

{{reflist

External links

* Weather forecast
Thor Peak
* Thor Peak climbing
Mountainproject.com
Inyo National Forest Mountains of Inyo County, California Three-thousanders of the United States Mountains of Northern California Sierra Nevada (United States) Mountains of the John Muir Wilderness

Climate

Climbing

Gallery

See also

References

External links