Granite Peak, at an elevation of 12807 feet (3,903.6 m) above sea level, is the highest natural point in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

, and is the tenth highest state high point in the nation. It lies within the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness

Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness was created from existing National Forest lands in 1975 and is located in Montana and Wyoming, United States. The wilderness is partly in Gallatin, Custer and Shoshone National Forests and is composed of . The wilderness encompasses two distinct mountain ranges, namely...

, in Park County

Park County, Montana

Park Counties in Montana and Wyoming are among the very few pairs of counties in the United States with the same name to border each other across state lines.-National protected areas:* Custer National Forest * Gallatin National Forest...

 very near the borders of Stillwater County and Carbon County

Carbon County, Montana

-National protected areas:* Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area * Custer National Forest * Gallatin National Forest -Economy:During the early history of Carbon County, coal mining was the predominant industry...

. Granite Peak is 10 miles (16 km) north of the Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 border, 45 miles (72.4 km) southwest of Columbus, Montana

Columbus, Montana

Columbus is a town in and the county seat of Stillwater County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,748 at the 2000 census.-History:The community originated as a stagecoach station on the Yellowstone River....

.

Granite Peak is one of the most difficult U.S. state highpoint ascents, due to technical climbing, poor weather, and route finding. Granite Peak’s first ascent was made by Elers Koch, James C. Whitham and R.T. Ferguson on August 29, 1923 after several failed attempts by others. It was the last of the state highpoints to be climbed. Today, climbers typically spend two or three days ascending the peak, stopping over on the Froze-to-Death Plateau, although some climbers choose to ascend the peak in a single day.

See also

• Mountain peaks of North America
  Mountain peaks of North America
  This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaks of greater North America.This article defines greater North America as the portion of the continental landmass of the Americas extending northward from Panama plus the islands surrounding that landmass...
  
  
• Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains
  Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains
  This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains of North America.Topographic elevation is the vertical distance above the reference geoid, a precise mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface...
  
  
• Mountain peaks of the United States
  Mountain peaks of the United States
  This article comprises three sortable tables of the major mountain peaks of the United States of America.Topographic elevation is the vertical distance above the reference geoid, a precise mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface...
  
  
• Rocky Mountains
  Rocky Mountains
  The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
  
  

External links

• "Granite Peak". United States Forest Service.
• Friends of Granite Peak, an organization dedicated to preserving the natural beauty of Granite Peak in Montana