California Fourteeners

There are twelve Californian peaks with an elevation of 14000 feet or more and having at least 300 feet of prominence (rising 300 feet above any saddle connecting it to anything higher). Three additional peaks with elevations above 14000 feet have attracted significant climber interest. These fifteen peaks are listed below and marked on the following map. All but two are in the Sierra Nevada.

I first visited the Sierra Nevada in 1986 when I hiked up the Mount Whitney Trail. I returned to the Sierra Nevada several times alone and with different partners to climb other peaks. During this time most climbers considered these fifteen peaks to be the California Fourteeners. Eventually I accepted the challenge of climbing all of the California Fourteeners. Keith Garlinghouse joined me in this challenge in later years and provided essential encouragement for me to complete it.

"... Then it seemed to me that the Sierra should be called, not the Nevada or Snowy Range, but the Range of Light. And after ten years of wandering and wondering in the heart of it, rejoicing in its glorious floods of light, the white beams of the morning streaming through the passes, the noonday radiance on the crystal rocks, the flush of the alpenglow, and the irised spray of countless waterfalls, it still seems above all others the Range of Light."

- John Muir

California Fourteeners

I use peak data from peakbagger.com. If you hover over a peak map marker the name of the peak should appear. If you click a marker a new browser tab should open displaying the description page for that peak on peakbagger.com.

The Peaks

Peak	Elevation (feet)	Prominence (feet)	Range	Year
Mount Whitney	14499	10079	Sierra Nevada	1986
Mount Williamson	14379	1721	Sierra Nevada	1998
White Mountain Peak	14246	7196	White Mountains	1988
North Palisade	14242	2894	Sierra Nevada	1990
Starlight Peak	14198	124	Sierra Nevada	2007
Mount Shasta	14162	9762	Cascade Range	1986
Mount Sill	14153	402	Sierra Nevada	1990
Polemonium Peak	14104	204	Sierra Nevada	2001
Mount Russell	14089	1105	Sierra Nevada	1988
Split Mountain	14060	1535	Sierra Nevada	2007
Middle Palisade	14037	1158	Sierra Nevada	1988
Mount Langley	14033	1184	Sierra Nevada	2006
Mount Muir	14026	316	Sierra Nevada	1988
Mount Tyndall	14023	1113	Sierra Nevada	2006
Thunderbolt Peak	14003	275	Sierra Nevada	1990

Individual Story

View from the top: Keith Garlinghouse fulfills quest to summit the ‘14ers’

General Information

Peakbagger.com: Paul's California 14,000-foot Peaks

References

1. Holmes, Don, Highpoints of the United States, Second Edition, University of Utah Press, 2000.
2. Moynier, John and Claude Fiddler, Sierra Classics: 100 Best Climbs in the High Sierra, Chockstone Press, 1993.
3. Porcella, Stephen F. and Cameron M. Burns, California's Fourteeners, Palisades Press, 1991.
4. Porcella, Stephen F. and Cameron M. Burns, Climbing California's Fourteeners, The Mountaineers, 1998.
5. Secor, R. J., The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails, The Mountaineers, 1992.