Mount Whitney Survey

Mount Whitney and Mount Muir Surveys

May 9, 2026

Eric Gilbertson

3am – 5pm, 18 miles, 650oft gain

Results:

Mt Whitney – 14,500.70ft +/-0.04ft NAVD88

Mt Muir – 14,028.4 ft +/-0.2ft NAVD88, prominence 318.6ft

Mount Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48 states and is located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Interestingly, there appeared to be uncertainty in the elevation of Whitney even now in 2026, with different sources currently giving values anywhere between 14,491ft – 14,508ft.

Surveying History of Mt Whitney

The first documented ascent of Mt Whitney was on July 27, 1873 by Charles Begole, Albert Johnson and John Lucas. At that time it was suspected to be the highest peak in the contiguous US, but not known for sure. In Sept 1873 Carl Rabe of the State Geological Survey brought a barometer to the summit and measured 14,898.5ft.

Later, the Wheeler Survey of 1875 measured 14,471ft, showing Whitney was taller than Mt Langley, previoulsy thought to be the highpoint of the continguous US. Later, McAdie adn LeConte in 1903 measured 14,515ft.

In 1905 USGS surveyors used standard leveling techniques to measure an elevation of 14,501.976ft, and they installed a monument labeled “14502” on the highest point of the summit. This was in the ADJ 1903 datum, which is different than the current datum used today. This was later adjusted to 14,500.695ft in the ADJ 1903 datum.

The US Coast Guard and Geodetic Survey (later renamed the National Geodetic Survey), took new measurements of the 14502 monument in 1925 and 1928, and installed two additional monuments nearby, called BM U43 1925 and BM K72 1928. These were slightly lower than the highest rock.

Based on these updated measurements, on Sept 5, 1930 the National Park Service placed a plaque on the summit reading “Mount Whitney Elevation 14,496.811ft.” By this time another new datum had come out, NGVD29, so this number was in the NGVD29 vertical datum. Between 1930 – 1950 two other monuments (Whitney and Whiteny Cairn) were installed near the summit.

In 1950 USGS surveyors returned to Mt Whitney and installed another monument near the summit, labeled “Mt Whitney 1950.” This was the sixth monument in the general area of the summit, which is very unusual. Most peaks in the US do not have any monuments on or near the summit, and a very significant peak might have at most one monument. Perhaps Mt Whitney is so significant as the highest peak in the contiguous US that this explains the many different monuments all within about 20ft horizontal of each other.

The 1950 monument was surveyed with the highest accuracy of all six monuments, and its elevation was used on subsequent quads. However, this has led to some confusion with elevations. The Whitney 1950 monument was set approximately 3 feet below the highest rock (according to the field notes), and measured at 14,491ft (NGVD29 datum).

The USGS quad published in 1994 put this elevation, 14,491ft, on Mt Whitney on the map. This was meant to show the elevation of that monument, but was sometimes misinterpreted as the elevation of the summit. Some sources would later add 3 ft to this number to cite the summit elevation of 14,494ft (NGVD29).

In 1988 the US established another, more accurate vertical datum, called NAVD88. When the 1950 surveyed height 14,494ft for the summit is converted from NGVD29 to NAVD88, it becomes 14,500.2ft, which is cited by some sources.

By the late 1980s GPS technology was accurate enough and light enough to start being used to measure mountain elevations. One of the first mountains in the world to be surveyed with GPS technology was Mt Rainier, measured in 1988.

In 1996 Robert Nielsen, a student at California State University Fresno, attempted to bring GPS equipment to the summit of Mt Whitney, but did not end up reaching the summit.

In 2006, according to NGS datasheets (https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=GT1810), surveyor JER brought GNSS equipment to the summit and measured the 14502 monument and Whitney 1950 monuments. The reported results were “4422. m” “14508. ft” for the 14502 monument, with the notes “The orthometric height was scaled from a topographic map”. The fact that the numbers were rounded to the nearest meter or foot and did not include decimals, coupled with this note, added significant uncertainty to the results. But this result is where the 14,508ft number found on t-shirts at the Whitney Portal visitors center comes from.

The 2006 survey for the “Whitney 1950” monument (https://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_mark.prl?PidBox=GT1811 ) found an elevation “14505. ft” for that monument, with the field notes “A U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY ALUMINUM PLAQUE IS SET FLUSH WITH THE HIGHEST POINT OF A LARGE BOULDER. IT IS 0.91 METERS HIGHER THAN THE STATION MARK.” This implies 0.91m (3ft) should be added to the 14505 number to get the height of the highest point on Mt Whitney. This is consistent with the 14508ft result from the other surveyed monument. However, the fact that the result is written as “14505. ft” rounded to the nearest foot with no decimals, and exactly 3ft should be added to the result to get the summit elevation, suggests there was significant rounding in the results, and potential error.

The 14,505ft number from this survey is often quoted in many current online sources as the elevation of Mt Whitney. However, this was the measurement for a monument below the summit, not for the highest ground.

In October 2024 LiDAR data was published for Mt Whitney from airplane-based measurements commissioned by USGS (available here: https://apps.nationalmap.gov/downloader/ ) I analyzed the data using QGIS surveying software and found the highest return was 14,500.5ft (NAVD88) near the 14502 monument. Another return at a boulder west of the monument was 14,500.4ft. I’ve found through my research that LiDAR can have errors +/-1.7ft vertical in terrain like this.

So the LiDAR data showed two interesting results, that the boulder might be higher than the monument, and that the 2006 measurement was likely erroneous by about 7 ft. I suspected the surveyor may have forgotten to subtract off the antenna rod height from the final measurements, since this would lead to an error about that amount. It seemed like additionally the data itself may have had high errors, which is why it was rounded to the nearest foot or meter.

As of May 2026, it appeared the 14,408ft elevation was still the accepted elevation by mountaineers in California (see this forum post: https://www.mountwhitneyforum.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=75950 ). The t-shirts sold at the Whitney Portal trailhead all listed the elevation as 14,408ft.

2026 Measurements

I suspected the true elevation was slightly higher than the LiDAR elevation, since LiDAR measurements tend to miss sharp summits and underestimate elevations. So I suspected it was closer to 14,501ft. Interestingly, that is a number not cited in any source for the elevation of Mt Whitney. I decided to take an updated GNSS measurement to verify the true elevation. I have GNSS equipment (several Trimble DA2 units) capable of 0.1ft vertical accuracy or better.

My plan was to mount one unit on the 14502 monument, stated to be the highest ground on the mountain. I would then mount a second receiver on the boulder and measure its elevation. I know surveyors don’t always put monuments on the exact highest point, so I suspected the boulder might be the true summit. I would bring a surveying sight level to get corroborating measurements of which point was highest.

I planned to take measurements for at least 2 hours, to meet minimum NGS bluebooking requirements. I could then submit my results to NGS to update their datasheets so the number got more widely recognized.

I’d previously climbed Mt Whitney with Matthew in July 2005 while working on trail crew in the Sierras. Back then no permit was needed if climbing as a day trip via the mountaineers route. I think Whitney has gotten a lot more popular since then, though. Now permits are required for all routes, and you need to enter a lottery in February to get a summer permit.

Dylan was interested in joining and took care of permit logistics. We entered the lottery in February and got the date May 9 for a day trip up the regular trail. It ended up that only I could make it in the end, so I planned to fly in to Los Angeles, rent a car, then drive up to the hike.

Friday evening May 8 after work I flew to Los Angeles, and started driving north around 10:30pm. By 2:45am I reached the Whitney Portal trailhead and was hiking up by 3am.

The trail started out dry but after a few miles I reached intermittent snow. By about 10,000ft it became continuous. I continued in hiking boots up to the base of a steep face at 11,000ft at sunrise. There I put on crampons and marched straight up to the trail crest. There the trail switched to the west side of the ridge and got melted out, so I continued with bare boots.

I reached the summit around 8am and quickly set up the tripod, 2m antenna rod, and DA2 unit on the 14502 monument (also referred to with the label GT1810). I then moved over to the boulder to the west and mounted the second unit on a 1.0ft antenna rod. It was a little challenging to fit the tripod over the big boulder, but it helped just having the mini antenna rod. Amazingly there was essentially no wind, which is great for my big tripod to not get blown over.

I then used the sight level to measure the height difference, and found them the same elevation within the resolutioon of the device, meaning at that distance they were likely within about 1 inch of the same elevation. So I was happy to be measuring them both with the GNSS equipment.

A few other groups came up from the mountaineers route and the trail, but it wasn’t very crowded. I think it was still early season for a lot of people, with a lot of remaining snow cover. Supposedly the quota is 100 people per day on the trail and more permits for the other routes, so it can still get crowded.

There’s  metal sign up there people can hold for summit pictures, and it says “Mt Whitney 14,505ft.” I held it up for one picture, but covered up the elevation with my hand.

After 3 hours I packed up the equipment and headed down around 11:30am. I had one other set of measurements on the agenda, and that was for Mount Muir. Based on the quads Mt Muir is a 14er with slightly under 300ft of prominence. In California a peak needs 300ft of prominence to be considered a ranked 14er, but Mt Muir was still lumped in since it was close. Based on LiDAR data, though, it had slightly over 300ft of prominence. I wanted to measure the elevation and prominence to be certain it counted as a ranked 14er.

I stopped at the Muir-Whitney col, next to the trail, and took a one hour measurement there. Then I continued down the trail and scrambled up Mt Muir on the side, and took another 1 hour measurement on top. For that summit I used my small gorilla-pod style tripod, since the big one wouldn’t fit on the tiny exposed summit block. I was ok with just a one-hour measurement since it could still get about 0.1ft to 0.2ft vertical accuracy, which was likely good enough to see if Muir  was ranked.

By 2:30pm I was heading back down. I had a fun glissade back down the east face to 11,000ft, then hiked out to the trailhead by 5pm. That evening I drove north to San Jose by 1:30am, so I could make it to my 7-year-old niece’s birthday party Sunday before flying home.

I processed the data with OPUS and found the Mt Whitney GT1810 monument on the summit is 14,500.70ft +/- 0.04ft NAVD88. The boulder is 14,500.50ft +/-0.02ft. (The errors I’m listing are from measurement error, not geoid error). This means the monument is on the true summit of Mt Whitney, and Mt Whitney has elevation 14,500.7ft.

This is slighlty higher than the LidAR measurement as expected, since the LiDAR measurement likely missed the top of the highest point. The 2006 measurement was indeed erroneous.

The 1950 measurement of the Whitney 1950 monument plus the height up to the true summit gave a NAVD88 value within 1ft of the correct summit elevation. Though that value rounds down to 14,500ft while the true elevation rounds up to 14,501ft, so the difference is still significant. Interestingly, the adjusted 1905 measurement in the ADJ 1903 datum is pretty much identical to the 2026 measurement in NAVD88 datum. However, it’s not really possible to directly compare them without converting to a common datum. So the 1905 measurement could still have significant error.

For Mt Muir I measured the height 14,028.4 ft +/-0.2ft NAVD88, with prominence 318.6ft+/-0.6ft. So Muir is definitely a ranked 14er in California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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