There's just one mountain in Northern California. At least one big mountain. The huge volcanic cone of Mt. Shasta can be seen from almost every place between Sacramento and the border to Oregon. Since the Mountain's base is at a mere 1000 m (~3000 ft) any climb on Mt. Shasta is strenuous with a huge height gain. The regular route...

Piwiack Dome is a small, turtle-like rock neighboring Tioga Road. Therefore the approach is very short and inviting for a short try: We weren't sure to find a route to the top which is feasible for us without rope. To our surprise we found a line that offered 5.3/5.4 (UIAA III-IV) friction climbing in perfect rock with some...

Toulumne Meadows is the second climbing gem in the Yosemite National Park. As soon as it gets too hot to climb down in the celebrated Valley, Tuolumne offers cooler spots due to its elevation around 9000 ft (~3000m). The only hard thing about it may be the pronunciation of "Tuolumne", all the rest is pretty easy going: The Tioga...

Drei Tage weg von der Arbeit, drei Tage weg von der Zivilisation, drei Tage ohne Handyempfang, drei Tage nicht duschen, drei Tage in den Bergen sein. Weit weg von zu Hause. Auf dem Weg zum höchsten Berg der Sierra Nevada und dem höchsten Berg der zusammenhänhgenden USA...dem Mount Whitney! Der Mount Whitney ist mit 4421m der...

Mount Whitney is one of the most popular mountains in the US, most likely due to the fact that it is the highest point in the contiguous US and it has some rather easy paths to it's summit. It is so popular that the government decided to regulate the access and only allow a certain number of people per day to climb it. This would...

Lembert Dome is a perfect model for the numerous "Domes" that accompany Tioga Road. These interesting geologic phenomenona formed by glaciers ressemle turtle panzers and are made of compact granite rock. Therefore they are an invitation to parctise friction (slab) climbing. Lembert Domes southface is not too steep allowing several...

Climbing Half Dome is a dream for almost everyone visiting the Yosemite Valley. Once you see that incredible granite monolithe from the right perspective, the question "why?" is already answered. "Climbing" Half Dome means to most people standing in a line for the (in)famous regular route via "the calbes" - if you were lucky...

After my 100k hike I arrived in Yosemite Valley, missing climbing gear as well as a partner. Nevertheless, I got to knew some nice people and I had the chance to do some easy climbing routes like After Six, Snake Dike and the Regular Route at Sunnyside beach. The last is regarded as one of the easiest routes in the Valley and...

First report about the world famous Nose on El Capitan, Yosemite on hikr.org! Basically nothing more to write. I did the first few meters, no kidding, did it, impressive! That should be enough to produce some "alternative facts" like its currently normal in the US, regarding the current Pretender in DC. Stroll around the base...

Originally I wanted to climb the Black Buttes on my way back from Old Man Mountain, about a month ago. However, on that day I ran out of time and had to skip these interesting looking peaks. During the summer, a dirt road - which is not too bad, even for low clearance cars - takes you rather close to the summits of the Black...

Wilderness - the often discussed and disputet term describes "a natural environment that has not been significantly modified by civilized human activity". These areas have been fascinating to me, even more since the Alps don't have any "real" wilderness. To get a taste of the wilderness concept (that goes back to pioneers as the...

Wilderness - the often discussed and disputed term describes "a natural environment that has not been significantly modified by civilized human activity". These areas have been fascinating to me, even more since the Alps don't have any "real" Wilderness areas. To get a taste of the Wilderness concept(that goes back to pioneers as...

Matterhorn Peak was one of the very first mountains which I put on my Sierra Nevada "to-do-list", even before I moved to California. A mountain with such a legendary name is a must for a Swiss and in addition the routes to its top seemed quite interesting. It seems like every mountain range on this planet has to have some peaks...

After Alpin_Rise arrived in California, we (obviously) started talking about potential goals for a hike. His 3 wishes for this weeks Wednesday outing were: 1. to get some scrambling in, 2. not too much of an altitude difference and 3. if possible some snow for sliding down the mountain. Still being a California novice myself, the...

After I looked at Old Man Mountain on the US topo map, I was wondering why there was a "Tunnel" clearly indicated as such in its south flank at an altitude of approximately 6700 ft. After doing some research and asking a friend, all I found out was that it probably is connected to the former mining activity at the Carlisle Mine at...

Last weekend the Sierra Nevada got about 8 inches of fresh snow and even though the past winter had only way below average snow, I fancied doing another ski tour before the snow definitely melts. As my goals I chose a few peaks in the vicinity of the Squaw Valley Ski Resort (which is closed for the season). The fact that the...

On my tour to Thunder Mountain at the beginning of January, I peeked over to Thimble Peak and noted it as an interesting project in this area. After reading up on it on summitpost and Bob Burd's page, I knew that getting to it's highest point wouldn't be easy. After Thimble Peak I also planned to visit the Covered Wagon Peak...

On my hike to Pyramid Peak (my first Sierra hike after moving to California last October) I noticed an interesting looking mountain in direction southeast which looked like a volcanic peak. I asked the person who was on the summit of Pyramid Peak together with me what the name of that mountain was, but he could not tell me. After...

Lochschnee? - Was ist Lochschnee? Lochschnee ist Schnee, der nicht trägt; mal steht rojosuiza beim Schritt oben drauf, mal sinkt er ein bis zum Knie, bis zu der Hüfte; und manchmal steht er ganz unten, mit beiden beiden Beinen tief im Loch... Daher der Name Lochschnee. Lochschnee bietet sich rojosuiza überall auf dieser...

Eine Wanderung ist's nicht geworden. Ein Spaziergang auch nicht. Zur Wanderung fehlte der Abstand, denn vom Ort Bridgeport zu den Thermalquellen von Travertine sind's vielleicht zwei Kilometerchen... Ein Spaziergang auch nicht, denn zum Hinmarsch habe ich mich für barfuss entschieden - was entschieden Vorteile in nassem...