The range's broad southern end is near the community of Big Pine, where Westgard Pass and Deep Springs Valley separate it from the Inyo Mountains.

Ecologically, the White Mountains are like the other ranges in the Basin and Range Province; they are dry, but the upper slopes from 9,200 to 11,500 ft (2,800 to 3,500 m) hold open subalpine forests of Great Basin bristlecone pine on permeable dolomite and certain granite substrates and limber pine on less permeable rocky substrates.

A bristlecone pine, named Methuselah, located within the mountain range is the oldest known, verified living tree in the world, at 4,856 years old.

Before European colonization of surrounding valleys in the mid 19th century, Paiute Indians occupied summer hunting camps up to about 13,100 ft (4,000 m), leaving ruins of archeological interest.

North of White Mountain Peak, two sharp arêtes alternate along the crest with the broad "whalebacks" plateau of Pellisier Flats with about six more summits over 13,000 ft (4,000 m).

Pellisier Flats is a wide sloping bench at the 13000 foot level with rocky fields and short alpine vegetation.

It has views directly down into valleys to the west, north and east that are hidden by the increasing width of the high plateau to the south.

Eastern slopes are somewhat gentler and have numerous cirques left by Pleistocene glaciers and even a few snowfields persisting through most summers.