Update October 23, 2020 see below* June 24, 2016: During my hike last week I saw a mountain which caught my attention. To my surprise, after consulting the USGS topo map, I found out that it didn't have a name on any map, even though it is quite a prominent peak with a topographical prominence to its neighbor (Mount Agassiz)...

Pyramid Peak was the first peak I visited after moving to California, almost 3 years ago. Looking for some more workout with quite some altitude gain, I decided to go back and pay it another visit. This time I decided to walk up via Rocky Canyon (my way down the last time) and check out the north ridge for my way down and later...

My Swiss hiking projects typically didn't have the same starting and end point, because I was almost exclusively traveling with public transportation and I would often choose to end my hike at a different train station or bus stop than the beginning of my hike. Here in California public transportation is basically non-existent, in...

Dicks and Jacks Peak have caught my attention on many of my hikes in the Tahoe area already. These two mountains are both quite high (almost 10K ft) and stick out. You see them from many other peaks in the area. However, a day hike to these two peaks is about 14 miles long with an altitude gain of more than 4000 ft, no matter from...

After my first outing after moving to California to Pyramid Peak, I already new I would come back and revisit the Crystal Range in the Desolation Wilderness. The view from Pyramid Peak to Mount Agassiz and Mount Price (here) sparked my interest. Friends who visited from Switzerland wanted to go and do some scrambling in the...

When I left the house in the morning my plan was to do a ski tour to Ralston Peak. However, on site the avalanche conditions on the Northern slopes of Ralston Peak seemed unsafe. Therefore, I decided to visit Echo Peak instead. The danger for avalanches was predicted to be "Moderate", but after I saw a small avalanche, it didn't...

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,...