Cockscomb Crest ' 25 



For one thing, it must be borne in mind that the pinnacles 

 and crests were not the only summits of the Cathedral Range, 

 nor of the entire High Sierra, that remained uncovered by the 

 ice. There were many larger and more massive summits of 

 varying shapes and designs, and even occasional plateau-like 

 tracts. Only half a mile to the southwest of Unicorn Peak, for 

 instance, stands a massive peak of blunted, pyramidal form 

 (still unnamed, although higher than Unicorn) that rose sev- 

 eral hundred feet above the ice. Parsons Peak and the broad- 

 topped mountain (still unnamed) northeast of Vogelsang Pass 

 are examples of elevated plateaus that remained emergent. 

 Surely no one would think of placing these in the same class 

 with the attenuated crest of Unicorn Peak, the triangular teeth 

 of Echo Peak, or the ethereal spires of the Cathedral. ''Former 

 nunatak" might do in a generic and vague sense for all of them, 

 but there is clearly need of a distinctive term for the more 

 fragile, evanescent forms. What is more, there is need, it 

 seems to the writer, of a term from the Sierra Nevada itself, if 

 possible from the locality where the type is found in its purest 

 form. 



Now, as a matter of fact, neither Unicorn, Echo, nor Cathe- 

 dral represents a ''pure type" of mountain sculpture. In each 

 the paring effect of the ice is somewhat obscured or even out- 

 weighed by other influences, either by the headward gnawing 

 of local cirque glaciers or by peculiarities of the structure of 

 the rock. When closely analyzed each is found to present a 

 rather complex case. But fortunately there are in the same 

 neighborhood three other peaks or crests each of which might 

 well be taken as a type example. 



The first of these is that narrow, linear, bladelike crest 

 southwest of the Cathedral Pass and overlooking Long Mead- 

 ow, which has been aptly named Columbia's Finger. On the 

 topographic map the name is misplaced, and as a consequence 

 there has arisen some confusion as to the identity of the fea- 

 ture to which it is supposed to refer. The writer himself is 

 willing to admit some uncertainty on his own part, but, if form 

 be the main criterion — and it certainly should be in a case of 

 this sort — then the name surely belongs to the crest just men- 

 tioned. For that crest terminates southward in a tall, columnar 



