Mount Conness, a 12,590-foot Sierra Nevada peak in Yosemite National Park near the Inyo National Forest boundary, was named for John Conness, an Irish-born California legislator and U.S. senator who supported the California Geological Survey and related scientific work in the West. Organized by State Geologist Josiah Dwight Whitney after 1860, the survey tied the mountain to a major period of exploration. Geologist Clarence King and James T. Gardiner made the first recorded ascent in 1864, and King later praised the mountain’s square, solid form as fitting its namesake. The peak is also known for alpine climbing, combining hiking, scrambling, and glacier travel.