WHITNEY, MOUNT

highest peak (14,494 ft above sea level) in the 48 coterminous U.S. states. It is the culminating summit of the Sierra Nevada, on the InyoTulare county line, at the east border of Sequoia National Park in eastern California. The peak was named for Josiah D. Whitney, and it was first climbed in 1873 by A.H. Johnson, C.D. Begole, and J. Lucas. Its summit is a gently sloping tablelike surface not yet dissected by erosion; its slopes are lined with avalanche chutes and blocks of granite and are devoid of glaciation. The Kern River Canyon is on the west, and precipitous streams enter Owens Valley on the east.