Mount Conness, California, USA
Photo copyright Craig Adkins, used by permission. (fair use policy)
Mount Conness is in the Sierra Nevada, on the eastern edge of Yosemite National Park. This view is looking north, across a large cirque to the mountain's vertical south face. Behind the peak is another cirque with a living glacier in it, the second largest in the Sierra.
The peak was named in 1863 by the Wheeler Survey for California's senator John Conness, the prime mover behind the legislation that established the Geological Survey of California. It was also Conness who introduced the bill granting Yosemite Valley to the state, the first time the federal government had set aside land to preserve it for public enjoyment. Climbers of all abilities enjoy the varied routes on this peak.
