Mount Ritter | |
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Mount Ritter (on the left) from the John Muir Trail
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Highest point | |
Elevation | 13,149 ft (4,008 m) NAVD 88 |
Prominence | 3,957 ft (1,206 m) |
Parent peak | Red Slate Mountain |
Listing |
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Coordinates | 37°41′22″N 119°11′57″W / 37.689378°N 119.1990298°WCoordinates: 37°41′22″N 119°11′57″W / 37.689378°N 119.1990298°W |
Geography | |
Location |
Ansel Adams Wilderness, Madera County, California, U.S. |
Parent range | Sierra Nevada, Ritter Range |
Topo map | USGS Mount Ritter |
Geology | |
Age of rock | Cretaceous |
Mountain type | Metavolcanic rock |
Climbing | |
First ascent | 1872 by John Muir |
Easiest route | Snow/rock scramble |
Mount Ritter is located in the Sierra Nevada, in Madera County of California, in the Western United States. It is in the Ansel Adams Wilderness of the Inyo and Sierra National Forests. Mount Ritter is the 15th highest mountain peak of California.
Mount Ritter is made of a strikingly dark rock, and is quite prominent due to its height (over 13,000 ft) and isolation. It is in the middle of the Ritter Range, which includes Banner Peak and the Minarets. The prominent and memorable shape of the Ritter-Banner pair is visible from high elevations far to both north and south along the Sierra Nevada.
The mountain is named by Josiah Whitney, chief of the California Geological Survey, for Carl Ritter, who had been a teacher of his when he was a student in Berlin during the 1840s.