El Capitan
| El Capitan | |
|---|---|
Southwest face of El Capitan from Yosemite Valley
|
|
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 7,573 ft (2,308 m) NAVD 88 |
| Prominence | 9 feet (3 m) |
| Isolation | 1.5 miles (2 km) |
| Coordinates | 37°44′03″N 119°38′16″W / 37.73417°N 119.63778°WCoordinates: 37°44′03″N 119°38′16″W / 37.73417°N 119.63778°W |
| Naming | |
| Translation | "the captain", "the chief" |
| Pronunciation | el-KAP-i-TAN |
| Geography | |
 El Capitan
Location of "El Capitan" in Yosemite National Park, California
|
|
| Location | Mariposa County, California, U.S. |
| Parent range | Sierra Nevada |
| Topo map | USGS El Capitan |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | Cretaceous |
| Mountain type | Granite rock |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | November 12, 1957 by Warren Harding, George Whitmore, and Wayne Merry |
| Easiest route | Hike |
El Capitan (Spanish for The Captain, The Chief) is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, located on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith extends about 3,000 feet (900 m) from base to summit along its tallest face and is one of the world's favorite challenges for rock climbers and BASE jumpers.
The formation was named "El Capitan" by the Mariposa Battalion when they explored the valley in 1851. El Capitan ("the captain", "the chief") was taken to be a loose Spanish translation of the local Native American name for the cliff, variously transcribed as "To-to-kon oo-lah" or "To-tock-ah-noo-lah". It is unclear if the Native American name referred to a specific tribal chief or simply meant "the chief" or "rock chief". In modern times, the formation's name is often contracted to "El Cap", especially among rock climbers and BASE jumpers.
The top of El Capitan can be reached by hiking out of Yosemite Valley on the trail next to Yosemite Falls, then proceeding west. For climbers, the challenge is to climb up the sheer granite face. There are many named climbing routes, all of them arduous, including Iron Hawk and Sea of Dreams, for example.
El Capitan is composed almost entirely of granite, a pale, coarse-grained granite emplaced approximately 100 mya (million years ago). In addition to El Capitan, this granite forms most of the rock features of the western portions of Yosemite Valley. A separate intrusion of igneous rock, the Taft Granite, forms the uppermost portions of the cliff face.
...
Wikipedia