Mount Whitney , the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States , towers several thousand feet above this low range , which itself is above the floor of Owens Valley . However , gravity surveys indicate that the Owens Valley is filled with about of sediment and that the Alabamas are the tip of a very steep escarpment . This feature may have been created by many earthquakes similar to the 1872 Lone Pine earthquake which , in a single event , caused a vertical displacement of 15 – 20 feet
1872 Lone Pine earthquake
1872 Lone Pine earthquake
Alabama Hills