Mount Winchell is a prominent high peak in California’s Palisades on the Sierra Crest, where it marks both the Inyo–Kern county line and a divide between major watersheds. Its west slopes lie in Kings Canyon National Park and drain toward the Kings River, while its east side is in the John Muir Wilderness and drains toward Big Pine Creek. The mountain’s name shifted over time: in the 1870s it referred to two nearby summits before the U.S. Geological Survey applied it to the present peak. The first recorded ascent came in June 1923, and the first known winter ascent followed in January 1938.