Wyoming LiDAR Findings (New WY 13er!)

[Eli Boardman]

I finished processing all of the soft-ranked peaks in Fremont County today (just submitted the new results to John). Barring any new surprises like Sharks Nose, it looks like Fremont County gains a total of 20 new peaks. I'll probably tackle demotion candidates after I finish processing the rest of the WY soft ranked peaks that have LiDAR coverage.

[bdloftin77]

Thanks for your work! How many soft-ranked WY peaks are there? Hopefully less than the 603 in Luke Plumley's CO list...

[Eli Boardman]

Thanks for your work! How many soft-ranked WY peaks are there? Hopefully less than the 603 in Luke Plumley's CO list...

It seems like there were originally 413. However, a lot of these are in areas without LiDAR coverage--most of the Absarokas, a lot of the Gros Ventre, and most of the southeast part of the state. It's also worth noting that some of the most interesting promotions so far have been in the 270-280 ft. prominence range: Miriam, Nebraska Point, Bondage, etc.

[Eli Boardman]

Here's my best estimate of the final LiDAR-informed Wyoming 12ers list, to compliment the LiDAR-informed Wyoming 13ers list.

Wyoming gains 10 new 12ers, 8 based on increasing prominence and 2 based on increasing elevation. Note, of course, that Wyoming additionally gains 1 new 13er based on increasing prominence.

Several points worth noting:

1. All but two of the soft-ranked 12ers have LiDAR coverage and their final elevations/prominences are based on that data. I've also analyzed several peaks that were almost soft-ranked and promoted several (notably Nebraska Point and Bondage Peak). For the remaining two peaks, I used the USGS 3DEP 1/3 arc-second DEM to estimate summit and saddle elevations. This approach is not nearly as precise as LiDAR, and will always underestimate the peak's summit elevation (the col could be over- or under-estimated depending on the shape of the topography). However, I am fairly confident based on the DEMs and Google Earth analysis that UN Point 12026 is ranked (P~319 ft.) and UN Point 12140 is not ranked (P~289 ft.). I will submit these results to John, but he may not want to publish them until we have LiDAR data for those peaks.

2. I checked several demotion candidates and all of the 12ers I checked remain ranked so far, but there is not yet LiDAR coverage for several of the least-prominent 12ers. So, it's quite likely that the list could lose a few peaks, but it's unlikely to gain any more.

3. I also investigated some of the highest 11ers, including soft-ranked peaks. UN Point 11980 in the Wind River Range is not a 12er, and in fact, gets demoted with 292 ft. of prominence. Willow Benchmark is barely but definitely a 12er. UN Point 11980 in the Big Horn Range is a weird case--it doesn't have LiDAR coverage yet, and the DEM shows that the summit is at least 12,002 ft., but based on the 10-m DEM it only has 297 ft. of prominence. Based on inspecting it in Google Earth, I have a hunch that it will remain unranked, but it could theoretically go either way. Finally, and most surprisingly, the summit of Haystack Mountain is almost a half-mile farther south on the summit ridge than the current LoJ marker, and depending on the interpretation of the points right at the summit, it is probably (?) a 12er. There is huge variation between nearby points at the summit because it consists of huge boulders with deep gaps between them perched next to a thousand-foot cliff, and the highest point is actually the 1st of 2 returns. Several nearby points are in the 11,999 ft. range, but only the highest return rounds from 11,999.8 to 12,000. The point density is too low to make a conclusive determination, but I suspect that the multiple returns are indicative of a LiDAR point hitting the edge of a sharp boulder and reflecting off the boulder's top and the ground next to it. Thus, I am fairly sure that Haystack is a 12er, but I can't prove it per se.

[Eli Boardman]

Finished processing the 13ers where LiDAR coverage exists. All 13er summits except Francs have LiDAR elevations, and all 13er cols except Gannett, Cloud, and Francs have LiDAR elevations. I'll submit the latest round of results to John tomorrow and it'll be on the website at some point.

For now, here's the (mostly) final Wyoming 13ers rankings. The biggest changes are the addition of Miriam Peak and the significant increase in elevation for Twin Peaks, Split Mountain, and Knife Point Mountain. Black Tooth Mountain is now the lowest WY 13er and barely remains on the list. Note that some ambiguity remains in the relative ranking of Helen and Turret--the latter has returns about 1 ft. higher, but also has a sharp cairn about 1-2 ft. tall which may or may not be showing up in the LiDAR returns. Also note that ambiguity remains in whether the East Twin or West Twin is higher since the West Twin's sharp summit block is only represented by a single return (see accuracy considerations in "what it takes" thread).

Wyoming 13er List with LiDAR Elevations:

1. Gannett Peak, 13811
2. Grand Teton, 13775
3. Fremont Peak, 13754
4. Mount Warren, 13743
5. Turret Peak, 13626
6. Mount Helen, 13625
7. Mount Sacagawea, 13571
8. Jackson Peak, 13523
9. Mount Woodrow Wilson, 13512
10. Bastion Peak, 13490
11. Mount Febbas, 13458
12. Sunbeam Peak, 13455
13. Flagstone Peak, 13445
14. Pinnacle Ridge, 13378
15. Downs Mountain, 13356
16. Mount Koven, 13293
17. The Sphinx, 13277
18. Spearhead Pinnacle, 13225
19. Twin Peaks (13216 East, 13214+ West)
20. Bete Noire, 13213
21. American Legion Peak, 13205
22. Wind River Peak, 13200
23. Unnamed Point 13180, 13184
24. Split Mountain, 13174
25. Cloud Peak, 13169
26. Desolation Peak, 13158
27. Francs Peak, 13153 (elev. from map)
28. Miriam Peak, 13136
29. Henderson Peak, 13124
30. Klondike Peak, 13120
31. Unnamed Point 13062, 13057
32. Harrower Peak, 13054
33. Knife Point Mountain, 13038
34. Bow Mountain, 13027
35. Mount Whitecap, 13023
36. Black Tooth Mountain, 13002