Pivot Peak is a prominent conical peak

Summit (topography)

In topography, a summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a local maximum in elevation...

, 2,470 m, distinguished by a large northeast cirque and as the highest point in Wilkniss Mountains

Wilkniss Mountains

Wilkniss Mountains is a prominent group of conical mountains, 10 miles long running north-south, located 9 miles east-southeast of Mount Feather, Quartermain Mountains, in Victoria Land, Antarctica. The mountains are 3 miles wide in the north portion where Mount Blackwelder and Pivot Peak ...

, Victoria Land

Victoria Land

Victoria Land is a region of Antarctica bounded on the east by the Ross Ice Shelf and the Ross Sea and on the west by Oates Land and Wilkes Land. It was discovered by Captain James Clark Ross in January 1841 and named after the UK's Queen Victoria...

. The New Zealand Northern Survey Party of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition

The 1955–58 Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition was a Commonwealth-sponsored expedition that successfully completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, via the South Pole...

 (1956–58) established a survey station on its summit on January 21, 1958. So named by them because its prominent appearance and location make it the focal point of the topography in that area.