When is a Peak a Peak? ("Elevating" Shirley Peak)

[Hikin_Jim]

When is a Peak a Peak? I mean, what exactly constitutes a peak as opposed to just a bump on a ridge?

I go into what constitutes a peak and attempt to justify "elevating" Shirley Peak (seen at left in the photo below) to the list of peaks over 10,000' in elevation in Southern California in my latest blog post. Have a read if you like.



HJ

[KathyW]

I believe the Federal government has to approve a name to make it official, and I think a person has to die before a mountain can officially be named in honor of the person. If Shirley is dead, you can submit to have her mountain made official.

Here's how you propose a name:

http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic ... 8509::NO:::

Some countries use prominence to determine if a peak should be named, but I don't believe this country uses anything logical like prominence.

[Hikin_Jim]

Shirley is a purely local name. I have no idea who "Shirley" was or if she had a particular connection to the San Jacintos.

On my blog, I'm not proposing that the USGS make any local names official. I'm just making note of what the local names are.

None of these are "official" names, but they are "names of common use" and help us communicate:
Sid Davis Route
Miller Saddle
Grubbs Notch
Bed Springs
etc.

In a way, I'm just facilitating a common language.

HJ

[Hikin_Jim]

Some countries use prominence to determine if a peak should be named, but I don't believe this country uses anything logical like prominence.

Be careful of prominence. By any standard I've seen interesting peaks like Ten Thousand Foot Ridge cannot be considered a peak (only 94' of prominence).

The most common number I've heard for prominence is 250'. If one uses 250' as the standard, there is only one 10,000' peak in the San Jacintos (San Jacinto Peak) and only five in the San Bernardinos (San Gorgonio, Bighorn, Anderson, Grinnell, and Lake).

HJ

[KathyW]

A lot of the local peaks are really just bumps on ridges without much prominence. As I said, they don't use prominence as a guide when naming the peaks in this country. That would make too much sense.

[Hikin_Jim]

Here's what made me finally put it on my list:


That photo was taken from 95 miles away.  If a peak can be seen as a distinct landmark from 95 miles away, then it deserves to be listed.

HJ