Minarets (California)
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| Minarets | |
|---|---|
 The Minarets from Minaret Lake |
|
| Elevation | 12,255 feet (3,735 metres) |
| Location | Madera County, California, USA |
| Range | Sierra Nevada |
| Coordinates | |
| Topo map | USGS Mount Ritter |
| Type | Metamorphic rock |
| Age of rock | mid-Cretaceous |
| First ascent | 1928 by Norman Clyde |
| Easiest route | rock climb |
- For the building, see Minaret.
The Minarets are a series of jagged peaks located in the Ritter Range, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the state of California. Collectively, they form an arête and are a prominent feature in the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The peaks were named by the California Geographical Survey in 1868, which reported: "To the south of Mount Ritter are some grand pinnacles of granite, very lofty and apparently inaccessible, to which we gave the name of 'the Minarets.'"[1]
Seventeen of the Minarets have been given unofficial names, including Michael Minaret, Adams Minaret, Leonard Minaret, and Clyde Minaret. Walter A. Starr, Jr., author of Starr’s Guide to the John Muir Trail and the High Sierra Region, fell to his death while solo-climbing Clyde Minaret in 1933.
Until 1984, the Ansel Adams Wilderness was named the Minaret Wilderness after these jagged peaks.
[edit] References
- ^ Browning, Peter (1986) Place Names of the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley: Wildnerness Press. p. 147.
[edit] External links
- Clyde Minaret on Summitpost.org
- Michael Minaret on Summitpost.org
- QTVR for Lake Ediza, at the base of the Minarets
- Minarets (California) is at coordinates Coordinates:
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