Topographic relief is significant as it rises approximately 1,800 feet (550 meters) above Iridescent Lake in one-half mile.

[6] Most weather fronts originate in the Pacific Ocean, and travel east toward the Sierra Nevada mountains.

As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks, causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range (orographic lift).

The mountain known today as Mount Langley was named Mount Corcoran in 1868 by artistic painter Albert Bierstadt in honor of William Wilson Corcoran (1839–1923), an American banker, philanthropist, and art collector.

A 1968 board decision officially applied the Mount Corcoran name to the highest and northernmost of four pinnacles on the ridge immediately south of Mount Le Conte and north of Mt.