West Buffalo Peak Naming History?

[Tornadoman]

Upon reaching the summit of West Buffalo on Saturday, my group came upon a benchmark with the name "Marmot Peak" from 1951. Looking at Caltopo, I see that the peak is labeled as both West Buffalo Peak and Marmot Peak. Does anyone know the naming history of this peak, and are both still considered correct names?

[davebobk47]

I saw that as well. Don't really know the history however there is a Marmot Peak just south of the Buffalo Peaks: http://listsofjohn.com/peak/1941

LoJ also lists Marmot Peak BM as an alternate name and that BM does appear on the USGS quad map. (http://listsofjohn.com/peak/463)

USGS only has the West Buffalo name listed: http://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=gnisp ... FID:189258

I would be curious if anyone knew any more history about this peak.

[Jim Davies]

FWIW, here's what's in the USGS data sheet for that location, but without saying there's a marker other than a cairn. They say the peaks are "locally known" as Buffalo Peaks, and are in the Marmot Peak quad, but call it "Buffalo West Peak". Maybe somebody mis-read the data sheet when they made up the marker.

JL0653 ***********************************************************************
JL0653 DESIGNATION - BUFFALO WEST PEAK CAIRN
JL0653 PID - JL0653
JL0653 STATE/COUNTY- CO/CHAFFEE
JL0653 COUNTRY - US
JL0653 USGS QUAD - MARMOT PEAK (1982)
JL0653
JL0653 *CURRENT SURVEY CONTROL
JL0653 ______________________________________________________________________
JL0653* NAD 83(1992) POSITION- 38 59 30.13220(N) 106 07 29.60545(W) ADJUSTED
JL0653* NAVD 88 ORTHO HEIGHT - **(meters) **(feet)
JL0653 ______________________________________________________________________
JL0653 GEOID HEIGHT - -13.348 (meters) GEOID12B
JL0653 LAPLACE CORR - 7.82 (seconds) DEFLEC12B
JL0653 HORZ ORDER - THIRD
JL0653
JL0653.The horizontal coordinates were established by classical geodetic methods
JL0653.and adjusted by the National Geodetic Survey in January 1993.
JL0653.
JL0653.Significant digits in the geoid height do not necessarily reflect accuracy.
JL0653.GEOID12B height accuracy estimate available here.
JL0653
JL0653.The Laplace correction was computed from DEFLEC12B derived deflections.
JL0653
JL0653. The following values were computed from the NAD 83(1992) position.
JL0653
JL0653; North East Units Scale Factor Converg.
JL0653;SPC CO C - 433,573.993 860,267.298 MT 0.99993772 -0 23 38.8
JL0653;SPC CO C - 1,422,484.01 2,822,393.63 sFT 0.99993772 -0 23 38.8
JL0653;UTM 13 - 4,316,457.664 402,581.075 MT 0.99971686 -0 42 28.2
JL0653
JL0653_U.S. NATIONAL GRID SPATIAL ADDRESS: 13SDD0258116457(NAD 83)
JL0653
JL0653 SUPERSEDED SURVEY CONTROL
JL0653
JL0653 NAD 83(1986)- 38 59 30.12650(N) 106 07 29.60782(W) AD( ) 3
JL0653 NAD 27 - 38 59 30.14300(N) 106 07 27.54200(W) AD( ) 3
JL0653
JL0653.Superseded values are not recommended for survey control.
JL0653
JL0653.NGS no longer adjusts projects to the NAD 27 or NGVD 29 datums.
JL0653.See file dsdata.txt to determine how the superseded data were derived.
JL0653
JL0653_MARKER: 72 = CAIRN
JL0653
JL0653 HISTORY - Date Condition Report By
JL0653 HISTORY - 1951 FIRST OBSERVED CGS
JL0653
JL0653 STATION DESCRIPTION
JL0653
JL0653'DESCRIBED BY COAST AND GEODETIC SURVEY 1951 (WRH)
JL0653'THE STATION IS LOCATED ABOUT 10-1/2 MILES AIRLINE NORTH OF BUENA
JL0653'VISTA, 10-1/2 MILES AIRLINE NORTHWEST OF ANTERO JUNCTION,
JL0653'AND 5-1/2 MILES EAST OF U.S. HIGHWAY 24, ON THE WESTERLY PEAK
JL0653'OF TWO PROMINENT PEAKS LOCALLY KNOWN AS BUFFALO PEAKS.
JL0653'
JL0653'THE STATION IS A CAIRN 3 FEET IN HEIGHT WITH A POLE IN THE
JL0653'CENTER. THE POLE WAS INTERSECTED.

[TravelingMatt]

Don't know about the history, but it's common for benchmark names to differ from mountain names. For example, North Eolus (which is its formal USGS name) is Basin Benchmark.

[Oman]

Don't know about the history, but it's common for benchmark names to differ from mountain names. For example, North Eolus (which is its formal USGS name) is Basin Benchmark.

More evidence that North Eolus is not a mountain.

[TravelingMatt]

More evidence that North Eolus is not a mountain.

While I agree, that just happened to be the first one I came across.

A ranked 13er example is Twining Peak north of Independence Pass, which is Blue Benchmark. Both are official names.

[Trotter]

Its called West Buffalo Peak because its west of East Buffalo Peak.

Thank you, I'll be here all week


The traverse between them should be called "Snowmass Junior" for its looseness

[CreekRunner]

The traverse between them should be called "Snowmass Junior" for its looseness

Pretty much everywhere I read it says that its loose, but I hiked them this year, and ran into no problems with looseness. If any section was loose, it was ascending east buffalo. Otherwise, it was a very relaxing hike. I get more and more confused each time now. Is there a specific part that everyone refers to?

[TravelingMatt]

Its called West Buffalo Peak because its west of East Buffalo Peak.

Shouldn't it be called West East Buffalo Peak then?

I recall the traverse being pretty easy, but get into the 300s on the 13ers and your idea of what counts as a hard traverse changes.