Topographic relief is significant as the summit rises over 5,500 feet (1,700 meters) above Grant Lake in three miles.

This geographical feature was named in 1894 by Lieutenant Nathaniel Fish McClure who prepared a map of Yosemite Park for use by Army troops.

The toponym honors Captain Abram Epperson Wood, 4th Cavalry US Army, the first acting military superintendent of Yosemite National Park from 1891 to 1893, shortly before he died in 1894.

[8] 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 (orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snowfall onto the range.