The range was first sighted and photographed from the air on November 23, 1935, by Lincoln Ellsworth who in naming it recognised its prominent position as a landmark on an otherwise featureless ice surface. The range was first visited and partially surveyed in January 1958 during the Sentinel Mountains Traverse led by Charles R. Bentley. The entire range was subsequently mapped by USGS from aerial photography taken by the U.S. Navy, 1958-61.[1][2]