California Thirteeners

The Official Vulgarian Ramblers List

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What Counts as a 13,000 Footer?

Compiling a list of 13,000 foot peaks is a bit more complicated than simply listing all summits rising above 13,000 feet, for not all of those peaks could seriously be considered separate mountains. Suppose you're walking up a ridge toward the summit of some 14,000 foot peak. Once you pass the 13,000 foot level, every rock or boulder on the ridge crest rises above everything in its immediate vicinity, but would you call it a mountain? You need objective criteria for deciding which are the mountains, and which are just bumps on the ridge, sub-summits, etc.

Other list compilers have required that the summit have an official (or unofficial) name, but in my view this unduly favors the more well-known and easily accessible mountains over their distant, more exotic cousins. The convention used for the compilation of the Colorado Fourteeners, 100 Highest, etc. is that the summit must stand 300 feet above all saddles connecting it to higher peaks. Like the summit height criterion, I admit that the 300 foot saddle depth criterion is fairly arbitrary. However, I think it comes closest to representing what it means to be a mountain. I've therefore decided to adopt it for the Official VRMC California Thirteeners List.

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What Happened to Mt. Muir?

Unfortunately, the saddle criterion eliminates four peaks appearing in Stephen F. Porcella and Cameron M. Burns's Climbing California's Fourteeners: The Route Guide to the Fifteen Highest Peaks (Mt. Muir, Thunderbolt, Starlight, and Polemonium Peaks). I certainly don't limit my mountaineering to official Thirteeners; I've done Muir, Thunderbolt and Polemonium and highly recommend these climbs. Some day I plan to wrestle my way up the "milk bottle" atop Starlight as well (we turned back from the West Face route in 1993.) I also recommend Burns & Porcella's guidebook, which includes excellent route descriptions. That said, what right does "Starlight Peak" (14,200' high with a 79' saddle) have to claim Fourteener status over Keeler Needle (14,239' with a 210' saddle)? Rather than make subjective decisions for the entire climbing community, I favor consistent, objective criteria, and the four peaks mentioned above from Porcella & Burns's list simply don't cut it.

The closest of the four is Mt. Muir. On 22 July 2000, we measured the saddle depth with several altimeters, and it came in at 276(+/-20) feet. I hope this encourages somebody out there to lug a transit up the Mt. Whitney trail so we can answer this question once and for all. I certainly hope it comes in over 300 feet - I love climbing this mountain (four times and counting).

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Keep Track of your Progress via QuickBase!

I've developed an online database via Intuit's QuickBase service where I keep track of my progress climbing the California Thirteeners. If you're interested, I also have an empty version (no climbs completed) that you can clone to keep track of your own climbs.

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Some Notes on Data Accuracy

Although the accuracy of the source data is insufficient to conclusively determine the status of several peaks near the summit/saddle criteria, I've decided to make the official determinations based on the best available data. When better data become available (such as updated DEMs) and/or somebody adds a rock to the cairn atop UTM680608, I have the tools to update these designations. I've also included a separate list of all peaks failing my criteria which are still at least 3950 meters (12,959 feet) tall and are either named or have saddles at least 80 meters (262 feet) deep. This should allow others to apply their own summit/saddle criteria, including margins for error if so required.

I welcome information about summit and/or saddle elevations, but please study the notes in the Column Descriptions and Technical Information sections first so you know where my data come from. If you notice a mistake I've made (such as an incorrectly listed map elevation) or have accurate survey data for a summit or saddle, please send an email to me at: schmed@transpac.com.

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Column Descriptions and Color Usage

The following descriptions of the columns in the list may prove useful (I apologize for the verbosity):

• Rank - I've ranked the Official Thirteeners by elevation. This column can also be used to identify the Official VRMC 100 Highest Mountains of California. Thirteeners are sorted by rank.
• Mountain - I list either the official name or a widely accepted unofficial name. If no such name exists, I name peaks using their approximate UTM location in summary format (see Input UTM). Non-Thirteeners are sorted by name, but I group the ones with official names, unofficial names, and no names separately.
• Map Elevation - I use the first available source from the following list:
  1. Published Elevation - from the most recent USGS quadrangle
  2. Previously Published Elevation - where this is consistent with the contour information from the most recent USGS quadrangle
  3. Contour Data - elevation of the highest closed contour surrounding the summit on the most recent USGS quadrangle [a plus sign (+) appears after the elevation in this case]
• Official Elevation - I use the first available source from the list below. In my view, this represents the most accurate estimate of each peak's elevation. I report each elevation in both feet and meters, thus automatically identifying the Official VRMC Fourteeners of California and the Official VRMC 4000'ers of California in addition to the Thirteeners.
  1. Published Elevation (see above)
  2. Previously Published Elevation (see above)
  3. DEM Elevation (see below) - where this is at least as high as the contour information shown on the most recent USGS quadrangle
  4. Contour Data (see above) - where this was higher than the DEM Elevation
• Guidebook Page - I include page references for Steve Roper's The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra and R. J. Secor's The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails (both first and second editions). The second edition page references appearing in green show guidebook references where Secor did not give the peak its own separate listing, but did mention it in the text describing some other peak. For Sierra peaks not mentioned in the second edition, I've included red page references to show where these peaks should appear in the guidebook.
• SPS List - The Sierra Peaks Section publishes a very popular list of important Sierra peaks (with three levels of importance). I've included these designations for those peaks which appear on both of our lists.
• Class - I list the difficulty of the climb via the easiest route (Yosemite scale).
• Principal Map - The name of the USGS 7.5' quadrangle on which the summit appears. An "(m)" is appended to the name of all metric quadrangles. If you click this link, a separate browser window should open to display a 1:100,000 topographic map from TopoZone.com with the peak centered.
• Input UTM - The peak's approximate Universal Transverse Mercator location relative to the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD27) in "summary format". If you click this link, a separate browser window should open to display a 1:25,000 topographic map from TopoZone.com with the peak centered. The first three digits are calculated from the UTM "easting" by applying the following formula: (easting / 100) modulo 1000. The last three digits are calculated from the UTM "northing" by applying a similar formula: (northing / 100) modulo 1000. Note that this reverses the usual convention of listing the latitude (or northing) first, and the longitude (or easting) second. The approximate UTM location was interpolated by locating the peak on the Principal Map to within 100 meters north/south and 100 meters east/west.
• Summit Location - After the summit's Input UTM is fed into RidgeWalker, it searches the DEM data for the highest data point within 100m north/south and 100 meters east/west of this location. This higher-precision location then becomes the official Summit Location.
• DEM Elevation - The elevation in the appropriate USGS 7.5' Digital Elevation Model at the Summit Location.
• Saddle UTM - The approximate UTM location (again, in summary format, relative to NAD27) of the low point in the highest ridge connecting the peak to some higher summit. If all saddles are over 300 meters deep, this will just be an arbitrary location on the closed contour 300 meters below the summit.
• Saddle Depth - The difference in elevation between the peak itself and the low point in the highest ridge connecting it to some higher summit.

The list incorporates the results from my RidgeWalker software, which I used to determine unknown summit and critical saddle elevations. A few notes (not for the faint of heart):

• While RidgeWalker is searching for saddles, it has its own idea of the summit elevations, which I'll call the RidgeWalker Summit Elevations. The RidgeWalker Summit Elevation is defined to be the Map Elevation or the DEM Elevation, whichever is higher.
• To determine the Saddle Elevations, I loaded all the level 2 DEMs into RidgeWalker, temporarily substituted RidgeWalker Summit Elevations for all the DEM summit points, and told it to find the highest saddle connecting each summit in my peak list to some location higher than the summit. Note that RidgeWalker bails out of its critical saddle search when it finds a closed contour over 300m below and completely surrounding the summit. I assumed that no one would require a more stringent saddle depth criterion than 300 meters (984 feet).
• To determine the Saddle Depths, I subtracted the Saddle Elevations from the RidgeWalker Summit Elevations (rather than the Official Elevations). I believe this makes the Saddle Depths more accurate where the DEM Elevations exceed the Map Elevations, especially where the Map Elevations had to come from the Contour Data.
• In order to ensure that I didn't miss any summits, I also loaded all the level 2 DEMs into RidgeWalker, again temporarily substituted RidgeWalker Summit Elevations for all the DEM summit points, and told it to find all summits at least 3950 meters tall with saddles at least 80 meters deep. I then compared the output with that generated from my peak list above, and it agreed.
• The level-2 DEM data sets I used contain integer elevations in meters for locations in a 10 meter by 10 meter grid. The elevations are supposed to be accurate to half a contour, which means something like 6-10 meters (20 to 33 feet).

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Revision History

1 January 2007: Moved UTM662058 (aka "SE Polemonium") to the list of peaks passing my criteria. The best available data (a few altimeter measurements before and after the climb) somewhat less than conclusively show that this peak rises some 302' above the saddle connecting it with Polemonium Peak and North Palisade.

30 December 2006: Updated Acknowledgements section to include Scot's contribution.

21 November 2005: Removed links to QuickBase version of SPS List, since I lost my free hosting space there.

2 October 2004: Renamed UTM476416 "Twelve Flags Peak" as this is what Chester Versteeg called it on its first ascent (c. 1942). I also made it a valid 13er, as I measured its saddle depth with my altimeter as 340 feet. Finally, I now know that it's class 2. I also put the altimeter-based estimate of Mt. Muir back in (276 feet).

1 August 2004: The USGS posted revised DEMs employing a 10 meter by 10 meter horizontal resolution (9 times the data in the 30m x 30m DEMs I used for my original analysis). Unfortunately, they also changed the underlying SDTS data transfer format enough to make Eric Rosencrantz's DropDEM-S utility unusable. Instead, I had to rewrite RidgeWalker to incorporate Frank Warmerdam's ISO8211Lib access code. I then processed the new data with my new RidgeWalker software. I fixed a few bugs along the way (height of White Mountain Peak, location of "Mt. Tom Ross", height of Mt. Solomons), and made a few other changes (now list UTM682547 as "Milestone Mesa", now order the failing peaks by name in 3 sections: officially named peaks, unofficially named peaks, and unnamed peaks). One new 13'er appeared on the list: "Squaretop", with a 92m (302') saddle, and a few peaks reaarranged themselves in the ranking. I also decided to add Rodgers Peak and UTM665468 to the failing list, since they turned up in my output as barely meeting my minimum criteria for investigation. For all the gory details of this most recent analysis, click here.

25 June 2004: Updated the links in the Principal Map and Input UTM columns to display large size 1:100,000 & 1:25,000 topographic maps from TopoZone.com.

1 May 2004: Updated links to the Climber.org and Sierra Peaks Section peak list pages.

17 September 2003: Added reference to Aaron Maizlish's High Prominence California Mountains map.

21 July 2003: Fixed several problems with Mt. Dubois and Montgomery Peak, most of which were due to me processing the data without a USGS quadrangle in hand. For one thing, it's Mt. Dubois (not Mt. Duboise). For another, it's Montgomery Peak (not Mt. Montgomery). More importantly, RidgeWalker found the north summit of Dubois, but (as Ken Krugler pointed out) the name is on the south summit and both have the same elevation on the map (13,559' or 4133m, though the DEM data apparently has 4127m for the north summit and 4125 for the south summit - maybe I should climb both?) Finally, the Desert Peaks Section of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club lists both peaks as class 2, so I added that data as well.

8 January 2003: Removed Exact? column, instead listing inexact Map Elevations by appending a plus sign (+). Changed "(>984)" Saddle Depths to "984+" for same reason. Sorted Non-Thirteeners by name. Added notes concerning these conventions to the column descriptions.

18 February 2002: Made a few minor revisions to the Climber.org and Sierra Peaks Section peak list references.

17 December 2001: Cleaned up the column headers so that it's clearer which span multiple columns, and made the non-13'er headers into links to the column descriptions as well. I also created an empty clone of my SPS Climbs QuickBase so that anyone could easily clone it and keep track of theirs.

7 September 2001: Andrew Dearborn noticed that I had the wrong elevation for Mt. Langley, so I changed it to 4275 meters (was 4274 meters).

22 August 2001: Added links to QuickBase databases where I keep track of my progress climbing these mountains (as well as the SPS list).

2 June 2001: Removed links to the Bitlocker database, as Bitlocker has gone on to dot.com heaven (bummer.)

24 March 2001: Added a few extra words to the column headings and dropped non-breaking spaces into all of the empty cells to force (at least) Netscape to complete the cell borders around them.

7 March 2001: Sorted this Revision History by reverse date. Also fixed up the Bitlocker database reference, as I finally got around to updating that with all of these changes.

2 March 2001: Added Ron Karpel's Peak Picture Archive to the Other Sierra Peak Lists section.

17 February 2001: "Balcony Peak" is less than 100m south and less than 100m east of Disappointment Peak, which is taller. Thus, when RidgeWalker looked for the high point in the data within 100m north/south and 100m east/west of the input location for "Balcony Peak", it found Disappointment Peak and used that location. I fixed this the same way that I handled the "Starlight Peak" - North Palisade proximity problem. I had to build a version of RidgeWalker that searched only 50m north/south and 50m east/west, and ran that version against the input location for Balcony Peak. This lowered the official and DEM elevations, moved the summit & saddle locations, and reduced the saddle depth of "Balcony Peak". However, it wasn't a 13'er to begin with, so this change didn't affect the Official List.

14 February 2001: According to R. J. Secor, the "Courte-Echelle" (aka "Bat Pinnacle") is not actually the high point of the ridge near UTM809631 (.75 miles NE of Mt. Keith), so I renamed the peak UTM809631 and colored its Secor 2nd ed page reference red. I also enclosed all of the unofficial peak names in quotation marks and changed Diamond Pk. to Diamond Peak.

13 February 2001: Fixed up Black Mountain (South) and Mt. Mary Austin, which had each other's input UTM. I ran RidgeWalker again just to be sure, but all that changed (other than the summit locations) were the col depths.

26 January 2001: Added an Other Sierra Peak Lists section.

19 January 2001: Fixed the TopoZone links, since they changed the name of the ASP.

16 October 2000: Decided to use unofficial name "Polychrome Peak" for UTM808592, since (according to Gordon J. MacLeod) the 1972 edition of The Mountaineer's Guide to the High Sierra includes a reference on p.303 to it: "Peak 13,040+ (0.6 E of Shepherd Pass) ... Chester Versteeg aptly applied the name Polychrome Peak to this mountain."

28 July 2000: Fixed Bitlocker database reference (again).

27 July 2000: Moved Mt. Muir to the Non-Thirteeners section, as we measured its saddle depth as 276(+/-20) feet on 22 July 2000.

5 June 2000: The Principal Map and Input UTM columns are now clickable links that display 1:50,000 & 1:25,000 topographic maps from TopoZone.com. Ken Krugler showed me how to get this working.

1 June 2000: Ken Krugler noticed that UTM574131 is only class 2, not class 4 as I had reported it. Since I had mistakenly grabbed the classification of the previous unnamed peak listing from Secor (Peak 12,640ft+), I decided to go through all of the unnamed peaks on the list, verifying their classifications. I didn't find any other errors of this kind, but changed my mind about three other peaks: I had listed UTM808592 as class 2, but since no official classification exists, and Roper says "the summit rocks require a bit of scrambling," I decided to change it to class 3. I also downgraded UTM884436 and UTM883438 (both official non-13'ers) from class 4 to class 2. The traverse of Mt. Corcoran's entire south ridge is class 4, and that's probably the way I'd do the climb. Technically, though, I need to list the easiest route for each individual peak.

11 February 2000: Added two peaks to the list which were hiding near the Nevada border north of White Mountain Peak: Mt. Duboise and Montgomery Peak. I had mistakenly assumed that the high points on this ridge were all in Nevada. However, Joe Kelsey set me straight. Thus there are now 145 Thirteeners instead of 143 and 120 Four Thousanders instead of 118. This change also raised the criterion for the 100 Highest to 13,230 feet.

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Acknowledgements

Several people made significant contributions to the development of this list. Mike Bromberg (unofficial leader of the Vulgarian Ramblers Mountaineering Club and peakpagger extraordinaire) provided the initial incentive, as he wanted to know which California peaks might appear on his 100 Highest of the Contiguous USA list. He also reviewed several early drafts (even finding a bug in the first version of RidgeWalker) and lobbied hard for the 300 foot saddle criterion. My brother Scot Schneider painstakingly read through my copies of Steve Roper's The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra and R. J. Secor's The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails to develop the initial list of named candidate peaks. Ken Krugler set up the (now deceased) Bitlocker online database, reviewed some early drafts, and collaborated on the RidgeWalker algorithm. Joe Kelsey pointed out that I'd forgotten Mt. Dubois and Montgomery Peak. Andrew Dearborn pointed out that I had the wrong elevation for Mt. Langley. Jeff Muss also reviewed drafts of the list. Gordon J. Macleod provided information about the unofficial name "Polychrome Peak". Thanks also to the US Geological Survey, who print the 7.5' topographic maps and publish the DEMs online. Frank Warmerdam's ISO8211Lib access code made it easy for my RidgeWalker program to read this DEM data. Several class designations for fairly obscure peaks came from Steve Roper's The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra.

Last but certainly not least, R. J. Secor's The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails was the source for the original peak list (since extended) as well as the class designations. Secor's work (2nd edition recently published by the Mountaineers) is without question the definitive guidebook for Sierra climbing - don't leave home without it!

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Other Sierra Peak Lists

Although this is (to my knowledge) the most complete list of California 13'ers, perhaps you're also interested in a mountain's character, popularity, or other subjective features (I spend a lot of time climbing non-13'ers too!) Some of the following sites also include trip reports, routefinding info, etc. which can supplement Secor's work.

High Prominence California Mountains - Aaron Maizlish has researched all of the mountains in the USA which rise at least 2000 feet above the surrounding area. There are apparently 169 of these in California. He's currently experimenting with map styles to depict these peaks within their local regions.

Climber.org's Sierra Peaks List - Steve Eckert has put together a superset of the SPS list, including summit register conditions, NAD27 & NAD83 waypoint data, links to Karpel's peak pictures, ranger contact info, and bear box locations. Note that the Climber.org list is restricted to peaks with official or unofficial names, and employs no saddle depth criterion. The Climber.org site also includes related stuff such as peak lists for multiple states, trip report archives, email discussion lists, etc.

Sierra Peaks Section - This group of peakbaggers within the Los Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club maintains by far the most popular list of Sierra peaks. Those little 3-peak scribbles over a number from 1-247 you've been wondering about in the summit registers are all due to these guys. I'm also working on my SPS list, but I prefer to scribble my 13'ers count in a little VRMC champagne glass instead.

Peakbagging.com - Richard L. Carey maintains a list of pointers to interesting peak lists. He's also got trip reports, GPS waypoint info, etc.

Climbing California's Fourteeners: The Route Guide to the Fifteen Highest Peaks - Stephen F. Porcella and Cameron M. Burns's guidebook includes great route descriptions for their list of fifteen 14'ers. Unfortunately, the criteria I use eliminate four of their peaks (Mt. Muir, Thunderbolt, Starlight, and Polemonium Peaks). These are all great climbs, though, and I recommend their book.

Peak Picture Archive - Ron Karpel has been collecting clean pictures of Sierra Nevada Peaks and posting them on his site. His goal is to someday have a picture of every major peak, and he's looking for submissions. He seems to be focusing on the Climber.org list, but maybe he'll eventually incorporate all of the 13'ers as well.

Summitpost.org - A great collection of climber submitted trip reports, peak data and pictures that covers mountains all over the globe.

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And Finally... The Official VRMC California Thirteeners!