Mount Lyell (California)

Mount Lyell
Mount Lyell from Donahue shoulder
Highest point
Elevation13,120 ft (3,999 m) NAVD 88
Prominence1,927 ft (587 m)
Parent peakMount Ritter
Listing
Coordinates37°44′22″N 119°16′18″W / 37.739424367°N 119.271568894°W / 37.739424367; -119.271568894
Geography
Mount Lyell
Mount Lyell
LocationMadera and Tuolumne counties, California, U.S.
Parent rangeCathedral Range, Sierra Nevada
Topo mapUSGS Mount Lyell
Climbing
First ascentAugust 29, 1871 by John Boies Tileston
Easiest routeExposed scramble, class 3

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+14 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. 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.