Mount Ritter is located in the Sierra Nevada, in Madera County

Madera County, California

Madera County is a county of the U.S. state of California, located in the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada north of Fresno County. It comprises the Madera-Chowchilla, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census the population was 150,865...

 of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, in the Western United States

Western United States

.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...

. It is in the Ansel Adams Wilderness

Ansel Adams Wilderness

The Ansel Adams Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Sierra Nevada of California, USA. The wilderness is part of the Sierra and Inyo National Forests. The wilderness spans...

 of the Inyo

Inyo National Forest

Inyo National Forest is a federally administered forest in the United States. The forest covers parts of the eastern Sierra Nevada of California, and the White Mountains of California and Nevada. It contains two wilderness areas: the John Muir Wilderness and the Ansel Adams Wilderness...

 and Sierra National Forest

Sierra National Forest

Sierra National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located on the western slope of central Sierra Nevada in the state of California. The forest is known for its mountain scenery and natural resources. Forest headquarters are located in Clovis, California...

s. Mount Ritter is the 16th highest mountain peak of California

Highest mountain peaks of California

The following sortable table lists the 16 mountain peaks of the U.S. State of California with at least 4000 meters of topographic elevation and at least 500 meters of topographic prominence....

.

Geography

Mount Ritter is made of a strikingly dark rock, and is quite prominent due to its height (over 13,000 ft) and isolation. It is in the middle of the Ritter Range

Ritter Range

The Ritter Range is a small mountain range within California's Sierra Nevada. Most of the mountain range lies within the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The Range is easily viewed from Minaret Summit, which is accessible by auto. The Ritter Range is most easily accessible from Mammoth Lakes, where hiking...

, which includes Banner Peak

Banner Peak

Banner Peak is the second tallest peak in the Ritter Range of California's Sierra Nevada. The mountain is 12,936 feet tall and there are a few glaciers on its slopes. It lies within the boundaries of the Ansel Adams Wilderness; at the foot of the peak lie Garnet Lake, Lake Ediza, and the famous...

 and the Minarets

Minarets (California)

The Minarets are a series of jagged peaks located in the Ritter Range, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the state of California. They are easily viewed from Minaret Summit, which is accessible by auto. The peaks bear a certain resemblance to the minarets of Islamic mosques...

. The prominent and memorable shape of the Ritter-Banner pair is visible from high elevations far to both north and south along the Sierras.

The mountain is named for Carl Ritter

Carl Ritter

Carl Ritter was a German geographer. Along with Alexander von Humboldt, he is considered one of the founders of modern geography. From 1825 until his death, he occupied the first chair in geography at the University of Berlin.-Biography:Ritter was born in Quedlinburg, one of the six children of a...

, who had been a teacher of Josiah Whitney

Josiah Whitney

Josiah Dwight Whitney was an American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University , and chief of the California Geological Survey...

, chief of the California Geological Survey

California Geological Survey

Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to the California Geological Survey, was established, the "roots" of California's state geological survey date to an earlier time...

, when he was a student in Berlin during the 1840s.

See also

• Ritter Range
  Ritter Range
  The Ritter Range is a small mountain range within California's Sierra Nevada. Most of the mountain range lies within the Ansel Adams Wilderness. The Range is easily viewed from Minaret Summit, which is accessible by auto. The Ritter Range is most easily accessible from Mammoth Lakes, where hiking...
  
  
• California 4000 meter peaks
• List of highest points in California by county
• Mountain peaks of California
  Mountain peaks of California
  This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaks of the U.S. State of California.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...
  
  
• 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...
  
  
• Thirteener
  Thirteener
  In mountaineering in the United States, a thirteener is a mountain that exceeds above mean sea level, similar to the more familiar "fourteeners," which exceed...