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Mount Whitney
mountain, California, United States
News •
California hiker killed in ‘traumatic’ fall on Mount Whitney identified
• Oct. 30, 2026, 3:34 PM ET (The Fresno Bee)
Body of missing Mount Whitney hiker recovered from snow after week-long search
• Oct. 26, 2026, 7:11 PM ET (The Fresno Bee)
Fresno County contractor dies while hiking Mount Whitney: ‘Great loss for us all’
• Oct. 26, 2026, 6:50 PM ET (The Fresno Bee)
Deadly stretch in the Sierra Nevada. How adventure outings became tragedies
• Oct. 17, 2026, 6:24 PM ET (The Fresno Bee)
Mount Whitney, highest peak (14,494 feet [4,418 metres] above sea level) in the 48 conterminous U.S. states. It is the culminating summit of the Sierra Nevada. In eastern California on the Inyo-Tulare county line, the peak is at the eastern border of Sequoia National Park, immediately west of the city of Lone Pine. It was named for the geologist Josiah Dwight Whitney, and it was first climbed in 1873 by Albert Johnson, Charles Begole, and John Lucas. Its summit is a gently sloping tablelike surface not yet dissected by erosion; its slopes are lined with avalanche chutes and blocks of granite and are devoid of glaciation. The Kern River canyon is on the west, and precipitous streams enter Owens Valley on the east.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Michele Metych.
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