Minarets (California)

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Clyde Minaret

The Minarets from Minaret Lake
Elevation 12,264 ft (3,738 m)[1]
Prominence 1,152 ft (351 m)[1]
Parent peak Mount Ritter[2]
Listing SPS mountaineer's peak[3]
Location
Location Madera County, California, U.S.
Range Ritter Range, Sierra Nevada
Coordinates 37°39′43″N 119°10′41″W / 37.6618792°N 119.1781938°W / 37.6618792; -119.1781938Coordinates: 37°39′43″N 119°10′41″W / 37.6618792°N 119.1781938°W / 37.6618792; -119.1781938[4]
Topo map USGS Mount Ritter
Geology
Type Metamorphic rock
Age of rock Mid-cretaceous
Climbing
First ascent 1928 by Norman Clyde[5]
Easiest route Rock climb class 4[3]

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. They are easily viewed from Minaret Summit, which is accessible by auto. The peaks bear a certain resemblance to the minarets of Islamic mosques. Collectively, they form an arête, and are a prominent feature in the Ansel Adams Wilderness which was known as the Minaret Wilderness until it was renamed in honor of Ansel Adams in 1984.

The peaks were named in 1868 by the California Geographical Survey, 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.'"[6] Seventeen of the Minarets have been given unofficial names, including Michael Minaret, Adams Minaret, Leonard Minaret, and Clyde Minaret. Clyde Minaret, named after Norman Clyde, is the tallest of the spires. The Southeast Face Route of Clyde Minaret is a technical rock climb featured in Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.[7]

The area is notable for two fatalities:

  • 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 the northwest face of Michael Minaret in 1933.[8][9][10]
  • Steve Fossett, an American aviator and adventurer, died in a plane crash near the Minarets in 2007.[11]
The Minarets as seen from Mammoth Mountain in March 2009

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Clyde Minaret, California". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
  2. ↑ "Clyde Minaret". ListsOfJohn.com. Retrieved 2012-04-01. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Sierra Peaks Section List". Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club. http://angeles.sierraclub.org/sps/spslist.pdf. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  4. ↑ "Minarets". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2009-08-10. 
  5. ↑ Roper, Steve (1976). The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. p. 337. ISBN 0-87156-147-6. 
  6. ↑ Browning, Peter (1986). Place Names of the Sierra Nevada. Berkeley: Wilderness Press. ISBN 0-89997-047-8. 
  7. ↑ Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. ISBN 0-87156-292-8. 
  8. ↑ "Michael Minaret". SummitPost.org. http://www.summitpost.org/page/151835.
  9. ↑ "The search for Peter Starr". Traditional Mountaineering. 
  10. ↑ Alsup, William (2001). Missing in the Minarets: The Search for Walter A. Starr, Jr. The Yosemite Association, El Portal California. pp 105-107+116. ISBN 978-1-930238-18-3.
  11. ↑ Fagan, Kevin (October 3, 2008). "Plane wreckage Fossett's - bone fragment found". San Francisco Chronicle. 

External links

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