Desolation Wilderness: Pyramid Peak

Viele von Euch haben es bemerkt… ich war 1 1/2 Monate lang alpinistisch untätig. Dies hat einen tieferen Grund, denn mein Lebensmittelpunkt hat sich seit meiner letzten Tour geographisch um fast 10'000km gegen Westen und knapp 1'000km gegen Süden verschoben. Die CH-Alpen sind nun nicht mehr mein Haupt-Gipfel-Jagdgebiet, sondern neu sind dies die Berge Kaliforniens.

Das hikr-Publikum interessiert sich wohl nur bedingt für Kaliforniens Berge, denn hikr scheint mir momentan vor allem Alpen-fokussiert zu sein. Für die Sierra Nevada und andere Berge in Kalifornien scheint summitpost.org die Internet Bergsport Platform der Wahl zu sein. Nun denn, da ich mit hikr "gross geworden" bin und momentan sonst etwas viel Veränderung durchstehen muss, mache ich vorläufig mal hier weiter. Mal schauen wie sehr die hikr Comunity sich über Touren in Kalifornien langweilt.

(Da das Interesse dieser Gipfel wohl vorwiegend in der Englisch sprechenden Welt liegt, oder zumindest bei Alpinisten, die des Englischen mächtig sind, werde ich für meine Berichte die Publikationssprache dementsprechend anpassen.)



Pyramid Peak is the highest mountain of the Crystal Mountains in the Desolation Wilderness. Even though it's a few meters shy of 10'000ft, it is a very popular and often visited mountain, in particular in the summer time. It is a prominent landmark in the Tahoe area and on a clear day it can be seen from as far as Sacramento, which is almost 100 miles away. I saw it the first time from Fair Oaks down at the American River the other day and immediately declared it as my goal for today.

My starting point for this hike is the Pyramid Creek & Horsetail Falls parking lot on the north side of US50 shortly before Twin Bridges (when traveling east). A 5$ daily fee is required for parking here. From there I follow the Pyramid Creek trail towards the Horsetail Falls. In order to enter the Desolation Wilderness one is required to get a (free) wilderness permit. To obtain the day use permit I have to self-register at the wilderness boundary.  

The path to the Horsetail Falls is quite scenic and takes me through very unique granite landscapes - geologists consider these granite cliffs surrounding Pyramid Creek to be among the best examples of Pleistocene glaciation in the Sierra Nevada. The trail follows more or less the west side of Pyramid Creek and stays rather close to the river all the time. The Horsetail Falls and the creek don't have very much water at this time of the year and are not much more than a little streamlet. Shortly before the falls the most difficult part of the hike (T4, I) comes up. On the left side of the falls, I have to scramble a little bit in order to get up to the first lake at around 7600 ft. Nothing too serious and there are probably many different possibilities to get up there.

The scenery here is quite unique, the granite sets the tone and together with the numerous beautiful little lakes and some sporadic pine trees everything looks like on a different planet to me. At around 7600 feet, the Pyramid Peak finally comes in site, the terrain is almost flat and I walk along the different lakes up to Pyramid Lake which is pretty much east of the peak. From there I then hike up to the base of the East flank of pyramid peak along the obvious groove there. To avoid the steepest and probably quite difficult part of the flank I take a slight detour (south) and get to the summit in relatively steep rubble. The view up here is amazing. Due to some haze I can't see all the way to Sacramento, but the surrounding Tahoe mountains and of course all the big and small lakes look very impressive.

For my way back down I decided to take a different route than for my way up: the south ridge and then back to US50 via Rocky Canyon. From the summit I first follow the south ridge (rather large rocks, T3+) to about 9500 ft. From there the path becomes very obvious and is marked with cairns every 50 yards or even more. It first follows the western side of the canyon, at approximately 7600 ft crosses the creek to the other side and ends at the highway about 50 yards east of the creek. In order to get back to my car I finally follow the Highway on it's southern side.


Conclusion:

• I still have to get used to the feet instead of the meters and the non-Swiss topographical maps
• I definitely have to get used to driving the car instead of taking public transportation to the starting point of my hikes. Unfortunately public transportation is not exactly the strength of this country...
• The Sierra Nevada made a good impression to me and seems endless - I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship ;-)