Mount Agassiz - Main course in the Palisades

An altitude of 4000m is not really something which is important in a country where people measure the height of the mountains in feet. Who cares if a mountain is more or less than 13123.36 feet? According to this list California has 123 peaks with a prominence >300 feet, which are above 4000m, more than the Alps. And who wants to climb 122 peaks, just to say I stood on top of all California 4Ks, probably not even me... The "magic" number here is 14000 feet. According to most of the lists, California has 15 of those 14-er and this guy recently climbed all of them within 9 days 20 hours and 41 minutes, all human powered of course! My goal for the day was a little less ambitious a "lousy" 4K, not a 14-er, but at least it ranks in the top 20 of California's highest mountains: Mount Agassiz, named after Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), a naturalist, geologist, and teacher who was born in Switzerland and came to the United States in 1846.

This California peak has actually already been described on hikr by Basti here. I probably took a similar route like he did.

I start my hike at around 5:30 AM at the South Lake trail head and walk along the well maintained trail up to Bishop pass. This trail is very popular for a good reason: it is absolutely beautiful, wanders along beautiful forests, lakes, meadows and rock formations. It offers some beautiful impressions and glimpses into the the High Sierra. After a little more than 3h (including the breaks), I reach the Bishop Pass which is at an elevation of approximately 11960 ft (3650m). I actually don't walk all the way to the pass but leave the trail somewhat before it and head to the base of the NW flank of Mount Agassiz close to the little lake there.


My routes up and back down are shown in this picture (red=ascent, yellow=descent), it probably helps much more than a thousand words. The most popular route up to Mount Agassiz seems to be the one I took on my way down. I found quite a few cairns in the route and sometimes clear path traces, it is easier (L) than my way up (WS-). The chute I chose to get to the top is slightly south of the normal route. No matter which one you take, the first half is rather tedious with lots of loose rocks and talus. In both routes one needs to scramble a little bit, only for a short time in the yellow route (and easier) and a little more serious in the red one. Unlike Basti I didn't feel uncomfortable in the descending route and can not 'not recommend' it.

As you can see in the 360 panorama from up there, the view is magnificent, no wonder one is at an altitude of 4236m, sorry 13893 feet. Despite the rather chilly temperatures (I was glad I brought my hat and gloves along), I spent quite some time up there, not just to enjoy the view & the wonderful High Sierra, but also to get my breath back.

As I already mentioned, for the way back to Bishop Pass I took the yellow route and from there walked back along the hiking trail to South Lake.