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Sierra Club Bulletin 



Mount Lyell is one of the most beautiful of our peaks. As viewed 

 from the north, with the grassy meadow and quiet river in the fore- 

 ground, the symmetrical forested slopes of the canon-walls on each 

 side as a frame, the magnificent sweep of snow-fields up to the rug- 

 ged spire at the summit, it makes a picture which inspires the 

 traveler, no matter how often he has previously beheld the scene. 



The "King and Queen of the Sierra" is the name sometimes given 

 to Mount Ritter and Banner Peak, and well it may be so used! Few 

 of the Sierra peaks rise so high above their surroundings and form 

 so striking a landmark as this beautiful snow-capped pair. Mount 

 Ritter was named in 1863 by the California Geological Survey 

 party after Professor Karl Ritter, the celebrated German geogra- 

 pher.* Clarence King, about 1866, made the first attempt to climb 

 the mountain, but was unsuccessful, f The first ascent was made by 

 John Muir in the early seventies, and a graphic account of the ascent 

 is given in his "Mountains of California."! The second ascent of 

 Mount Ritter, which included on the same day the first ascent of 

 Banner Peak, was made by Willard D. Johnson and John Miller, of 

 the U. S. Geological Survey. About the time of their visit a magnifi- 

 cent cloud-banner was blowing out from Banner Peak, and this gave 

 rise to their name for the latter peak. The height of Mount Ritter is 

 13,153 feet, and that of Banner Peak 12,953 f^^t. 



Southward from the Ritter group there is a broad depression in 

 the crest-line, and no high peaks are encountered until Red Slate 

 Peak is reached. This descriptive name was applied to the general 

 group of slate peaks north of the Mono Trail by the California 

 Geological Survey in 1864, and the principal point in the group is 

 shown as Red Slate Peak on Hoffmann's map. In Brewer's report 

 he says: "Mr. Gardner visited the crimson-colored group mentioned 

 above, . . . The Red Slate Peaks, as they were called, were found 

 to be about 13,400 feet in elevation."§ This would seem to show that 

 Gardner made the first ascent, though it is not so definitely stated. 

 Mr. C. L. Cory and I made the ascent in 1898, and found no indica- 

 tion at that time of any previous occupation. || Brewer's estimate of 

 its height is too large, the actual figures being 13,152 feet. 



♦California Geological Survey. Yosemite Guide Book. Footnote to page lOi. 

 tSame. Page 109. 



XMountains of California. By John Muir. Page 53- 

 §California Geological Survey. Geology, vol. I, pages 396, 397. 



11 "Basin of the South Fork of the San Joaquin River." By J. N. Le Conte. Sierra Club 

 Bulletin, vol. II, No. 5. Jan, 1899, page 251. 



