Split Mountain (California)

---

title: "Split Mountain (California)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["fourteeners-of-california", "mountains-of-kings-canyon-national-park", "mountains-of-the-john-muir-wilderness", "mountains-of-fresno-county,-california", "mountains-of-inyo-county,-california", "mountains-of-northern-california"] description: "Mountain of the Sierra Nevada in California, United States" topic_path: "general/fourteeners-of-california" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_Mountain_(California)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mountain of the Sierra Nevada in California, United States ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

Field	Value
name	Split Mountain
photo	Split_Mountain.jpg
photo_caption	Sunrise on Split Mountain's east face, September 2004.
elevation_ft	14064
elevation_ref
prominence_ft	1525
prominence_ref
parent_peak	North Palisade
map	California
map_caption	none
map_size	200
label_position	left
listing	{{ubl
California fourteeners 8th<ref name	"pbl"/
Emblem peak<ref name	"SPS"
Vagmarken Club Sierra Crest List<ref name	"vagmarken"
Western Climbers Star peak<ref name	"wsc" }}
location	FresnoInyo counties, Calif., U.S.
range	Sierra Nevada
coordinates
coordinates_ref
topo	USGS Split Mountain
type	granite
first_ascent	1887, Frank Saulque and party
easiest_route	North slope, scramble ()
::

::callout[type=note] the mountain in the U.S. Sierra Nevada ::

| name = Split Mountain | photo = Split_Mountain.jpg | photo_caption = Sunrise on Split Mountain's east face, September 2004. | elevation_ft = 14064 | elevation_ref = | prominence_ft = 1525 | prominence_ref = | parent_peak = North Palisade | map = California | map_caption = none | map_size = 200 | label_position = left | listing = {{ubl | California fourteeners 8th | SPS Emblem peak | Vagmarken Club Sierra Crest List | Western Climbers Star peak }} | location = FresnoInyo counties, Calif., U.S. | range = Sierra Nevada | coordinates = | coordinates_ref = | topo = USGS Split Mountain | type = granite | first_ascent = 1887, Frank Saulque and party | easiest_route = North slope, scramble ()

Split Mountain is a fourteener in the Sierra Nevada of the U.S. state of California, near the southeast end of the Palisades group of peaks. It is the only fourteener in the watershed of the South Fork Kings River, and it rises to 14064 ft,

Geography

Split Mountain's twin summits lie on a north–south running section of the Sierra Crest. This same line of ridges divides Fresno County and Kings Canyon National Park to the west, from Inyo County and the Inyo National Forest to the east. Precipitation falling on the Crest drains to the Kings River to the west, and the Owens River to the east.

Geology

The two-toned appearance of the mountain's eastern face is created by a roof pendant of darker colored granodiorite atop a lighter colored body of leucogranite.{{cite web | url = https://www.geosociety.org/fieldForums/reports/05rpt01.htm | title = GSA Field Forum - Rethinking the Assembly and Evolution of Plutons | work = Geological Society of America website | access-date = 2008-09-08 | archive-date = 2012-05-02 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120502233600/http://geosociety.org/fieldForums/reports/05rpt01.htm | url-status = live

History

The name Split Mountain, inspired by the shape of its double summit, was first coined by artist and mountaineer Bolton Brown in 1896. The Wheeler Survey called the mountain Southeast Palisade and other parties called it South Palisade, but Split Mountain is not properly part of the Palisade mountains group to the north.

The first ascent of the peak was made by Frank Salque and his companions by an unknown route in 1887. Joseph LeConte, Helen LeConte, and Curtis M. Lindley are sometimes credited instead, having summited in 1902 from the west side.

Recreation

Split Mountain is one of the easier California fourteeners to climb. The least technical route is the class 2 north slope, which can be approached from the west—where the slope is accessible from the John Muir Trail as it descends from Mather Pass—or the east. Joseph LeConte, Helen LeConte and Curtis Lindley took the simple western approach from Upper Basin when they climbed Split Mountain on July 23, 1902. A more common route to the north face is from the east, by way of Red Lake. Starting at the Red Lake trailhead, this trail covers 6 mi with 4000 ft of elevation gain one way to the lake. From here, another 3500 ft of cross-country climbing, including a short class 3 ridge traverse, leads to the summit.

There are many more technical routes up both the north and south peaks of Split Mountain.

Split Couloir, a steep couloir dividing the north and south peaks of Split Mountain on its eastern side, is included in the book Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America, published in 2010.

References

References

1. {{cite ngs
2. {{cite peakbagger
3. {{cite peakbagger
4. {{cite sps
5. {{cite vagmarken
6. {{cite wsc
7. {{cite Secor
8. making it the eighth-highest peak in the state.{{cite peakbagger |lid=21319 |name=California 14,000-foot Peaks |access-date=2012-11-07}}
9. "Split Mountain".
10. Farquhar, Francis P.. (1926). "Place Names of the High Sierra". [[Sierra Club]].
11. (2010). "Fifty Classic Ski Descents of North America". [[Capitol Peak Publishing]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::