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6 unusual facts about Mount Whitney


Mount Whitney

Keeler Needle was named for James Keeler and Day Needle was named for William Cathcart Day.

In 1881 S. P. Langley remained for some time on the summit, making daily observations on the solar heat.

Very few plants grow near the summit: one example is the Sky Pilot, a cushion plant that grows low to the ground.

The name Whitney has remained, resisting a movement after World War II to rename the mountain for Winston Churchill.

In Cretaceous time, masses of molten rock that originated from subduction rose underneath what is now Whitney and solidified underground to form large expanses of granite.

World Access for the Blind

In fact, using this technique, there are a number of successful solo, unguided hikes at the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Mount Whitney, and the Appalachian Trail.


Ferg Hawke

The Badwater Ultramarathon is a 135-mile (217 km) ultramarathon through Death Valley in mid-July, starting at Badwater Basin, the second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere, 282 feet below sea level, and finishing 8300 feet up Mount Whitney.

Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708

Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 was a domestic non-scheduled passenger flight between Hawthorne Industrial Airport, Nevada (HTH) and Hollywood-Burbank Airport, California (BUR/KBUR), that crashed into the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, Mount Whitney, near Lone Pine, on February 18, 1969, killing all 35 passengers and crew on board.


see also

Alabama Hills

In Gladiator, actor Russell Crowe rides a horse in front of the Alabamas, with Mount Whitney in the background, for a scene presumably set in Spain.

Badwater

Badwater Ultramarathon, run between the basin and the slopes of Mount Whitney