[2] Topographic relief is significant as the north aspect rises 1,770 feet (540 meters) above Wales Lake in approximately one-quarter mile.

This mountain's name was proposed by the Sierra Club and officially adopted in 1940 by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to honor the eminent American astronomer George Ellery Hale (1868–1938), best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and founder of the Mount Wilson Observatory.

[5] 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).

Precipitation runoff from this mountain drains west to the Kern River via Wallace and Whitney Creeks.