Mount Lyell | |
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Highest point | |
Elevation | 13,120 ft (3,999 m) NAVD 88[1] |
Prominence | 1,927 ft (587 m)[2] |
Parent peak | Mount Ritter[2] |
Listing |
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Coordinates | 37°44′22″N 119°16′18″W / 37.739424367°N 119.271568894°W[1] |
Geography | |
Location | Madera and Tuolumne counties, California, U.S. |
Parent range | Cathedral Range, Sierra Nevada |
Topo map | USGS Mount Lyell |
Climbing | |
First ascent | August 29, 1871 by John Boies Tileston[6] |
Easiest route | Exposed scramble, class 3[4] |
Mount Lyell is the highest point in Yosemite National Park, at 13,114 feet (3,997 m). It is located at the southeast end of the Cathedral Range, 1+1⁄4 miles (2 kilometers) northwest of Rodgers Peak. The peak as well as nearby Lyell Canyon is named after Charles Lyell, a well-known 19th century geologist.[7] The peak had one of the last remaining glaciers in Yosemite, Lyell Glacier. The Lyell Glacier is currently considered to be a permanent ice field, not a living glacier. Mount Lyell divides the Tuolumne River watershed to the north, the Merced to the west, and the Rush Creek drainage in the Mono Lake Basin to the southeast.