Which mountain is the highest peak in the contiguous United States outside Alaska?

Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States outside Alaska.

It rises to 4,421 metres in California’s Sierra Nevada, on the boundary of Sequoia National Park and the Inyo National Forest. The summit is east of the city of Visalia and west of the Great Basin.

Mount Whitney was named for Josiah Whitney, California’s state geologist in the nineteenth century. The first recorded ascent was made in 1873 by three fishermen from Lone Pine, although Native American communities had long known and used the surrounding region.

The standard Mount Whitney Trail begins near Lone Pine and requires a permit. Despite being lower than Alaska’s Denali, Whitney’s elevation and rapid ascent from the Owens Valley create significant altitude effects.