Америка Құрама Штаттарының ең биік тауы – Уитни тауы

Highest mountain in the contiguous United States
the mountain

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| map = USA California#USA
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| map size = 200
| label position = left
| range = Sierra Nevada
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| coordinates ref = west northwest of North America's lowest point, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park, at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. The mountain's west slope is in Sequoia National Park and the summit is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail, which runs 211.9 mile (341 km) from Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley. The eastern slopes are in Inyo National Forest in Inyo County. Mount Whitney is ranked 18th by topographic isolation.

Mount Whitney's summit is on the Sierra Crest and the Great Basin Divide. It lies near many of the Sierra Nevada's highest peaks. The peak rises dramatically above the Owens Valley, sitting 10778 feet (3285 m) or just over above the town of Lone Pine to the east, in the Owens Valley. The mountain is partially dome shaped, with its famously jagged ridges extending to the sides. Mount Whitney is above the tree line and has an alpine climate and ecology. Very few plants grow near the summit: one example is the sky pilot, a cushion plant that grows low to the ground. The only animals are transient, such as the butterfly Parnassius phoebus and the gray crowned rosy finch. The granite that forms Mount Whitney is part of the Sierra Nevada Batholith. 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.

Mount Whitney has an alpine tundra climate (ET) under the Köppen climate classification. Summer temperatures are highly variable, ranging from below freezing to highs near during extreme heat waves in the Owens Valley. Based on the range from the highest average high of to the lowest average low of for winter temperatures in the table (December to March), every of liquid precipitation equates to approximately of snow, with lower temperatures producing the greater snow depths. There is no weather station at the summit, but this climate table contains interpolated data for an area below the summit.

In July 1864, the members of the California Geological Survey named the peak after Josiah Whitney, the state geologist of California and benefactor of the survey. On August 18, 1873, Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, and John Lucas, all of nearby Lone Pine, had become the first to reach the contiguous United States' highest summit. As they climbed the mountain during a fishing trip to nearby Kern Canyon, they called the mountain Fisherman's Peak. Accompanying Langley in 1881 was another party consisting of Judge William B. Wallace of Visalia, W. A. Wright and Reverend Frederick Wales. In his memoirs, Wallace wrote, "The Pi Ute [Paiute] Indians called Mount Whitney Too man i goo yah, which means 'the very old man.' They believe that the Great Spirit who presides over the destiny of their people once had his home in that mountain." The spelling Too man i goo yah is a transliteration from the indigenous Paiute Mono language. Another variation is Too man go yah. In 1891, the United States Geological Survey's Board on Geographic Names decided to recognize the name Mount Whitney. Despite losing out on their preferred name, Lone Pine residents financed the first trail to the summit, engineered by Gustave Marsh, and completed on July 22, 1904. Four days later, the new trail enabled the first recorded death on Whitney. Having hiked the trail, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries employee Byrd Surby was struck and killed by lightning while eating lunch on the summit. In response, Marsh began work on the stone hut that became the Smithsonian Institution Shelter, completing it in 1909. A movement began after World War II to rename the mountain for Winston Churchill, but the name Mount Whitney persisted.

The most popular route to the summit is by way of the Mount Whitney Trail, which starts at Whitney Portal, at an elevation of 8360. feet (2548 m), 13 mile (21 km) west of the town of Lone Pine. The hike is about 22 mile (35 km) round trip with an elevation gain of over 6100. feet (1859 m). Permits are required year round, and to prevent overuse the Forest Service issues a limited number of permits between May 1 and November 1. It holds an annual lottery for hiking and backpacking permits on the trail. Applications are accepted from February 1 through March 15. Any permits left over after the lottery is completed typically go on sale April 1. Most hikers plan to stay one or two nights camping along the route. Those in good physical condition sometimes attempt to reach the summit and return to Whitney Portal in one day. A one day hike requires a day use permit that prohibits the use of overnight camping gear (sleeping bag and tent). Day hikers often leave Whitney Portal before sunrise and hike from 12 to 18 hours. The fastest recorded time up this route to the summit and back to the portal is 3 hours 10 minutes, by Jason Lakey of Bishop, California.