[4] 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).

This mountain's name commemorates John Fiske (1842–1901), an American philosopher and historian.

[7] The other five peaks were named after Charles Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, Alfred Russel Wallace, Herbert Spencer, and Thomas Henry Huxley.

[8] The first ascent via the class 2 Southwest Ridge was made on August 18, 1939, by Jack Sturgeon, also of the Sierra Club.