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...

The previous week my wife and I spent some time at Loon Lake, a wonderful place in the boonies on the north side of the lake. I did a little stroll then and saw a peak at the east end of the lake which looked interesting and decided to try to climb it during this weeks outing. After looking at a map at home, I found out that this...

In Northern California we had an unusually long lasting period of very hot weather for more than a week now. The high temperatures were up to 110°F (43°C)! Luckily where we live, we have two options to flee the heat, we either go to the Pacific Coast where temperatures are always cool even during the hottest days in the summer,...

I actually wanted to do another ski tour on this day, but the weather forecast predicted snow fall for the Sierra Nevada over night and cloudy skies until noon. Therefore, I decided to do something in a coastal mountain range instead, where the weather was supposed to be very sunny. I didn't have much time to prepare a hike and...

By now you've probably heard or read that California's Sierra Nevada got a lot of snow this winter. The Squaw Valley ski resort officials already decided that their ski lifts will stay open until the Fourth of July weekend. No wonder, because their cumulative total snow fall this season currently is at 623 inches (15.8 meters)!...

What's special about 10935 feet? Nothing really, except if you convert it to meters, you end up with the "pretty number" 3333. Well that's the height of Highland Peak, my goal for the day. This peak also has a pretty high prominence of 2456 ft, so the view up there is expected to be quite impressive. One more time, the...

Last week I added a mountain to my Sierra to-do list. Looking west from the top of Donner Peak, Devils Peak caught my attention. This week I can report that this to-do is already completed. After searching the net about Devils Peak, I found out on Bob Burd's site and on summitpost.org, that climbing this mountain was...

My main goal for the day was Needle Peak. Well, I saw Needle Peak today, but didn't even get close to it. The reason for not reaching my goal on this day was a mix of unexpected rain and disappointment/frustration about a prime example of how nature can be destroyed by the installation of ski lifts. The name of the mountain I...

After my last weeks outing in the Carson Pass area, I was hoping for a little more snow on the north facing slopes in the Tahoe region, maybe even enough for a ski tour. However, due to the absence of the white stuff up to almost 8000 ft, I had to leave the skis in the car and took my snowshoes along instead. For my goal today I...

After a long abstinence from the mountains (for several reasons), I finally was able to get back to the beloved mountains. The California Sierras haven't gotten a lot of snow yet this winter, but with a big storm passing by last week I was hoping for enough of the white stuff to take my snowshoes out before it's summer again here....

Originally Vauacht and I had planned to pay a visit to Mount Lyell and Mount Mclure on this weekend. However, several constraints were not fulfilled (in particular the fact that an overnight stay of any kind at the Tuolumne Meadows is not really feasible any more after October 15) and therefore these plans had to be put to its...

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...

When I stood on Round Top and looked down towards Caples Lake I saw this interesting little volcanic fellow. At home I looked up what it was and immediately put "Black Butte" on my wish list. It would perfectly do for a short little scramble when I didn't have a full day for hiking at my disposal. On the webpages of Bob Burd I...

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...

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...

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...

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...

As Delta showed not too long ago the Mono Lake Basin is definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in California. It was on my to-do list even before I moved here. As a "local" it is now "just around the corner" (for US standards only!). On this weekend I combined the trip to Mono Lake with a hike to the nearby Robinson Peak and...

Mount Tamalpais (the locals call it Mount Tam) is probably one of the most popular outdoors playground in the San Francisco Bay Area, not just for hikers but also mountain bikers. Due to it's steep slopes on all sides it offers spectacular views over the surrounding cities, the rolling hills, the Pacific Ocean and the bay with all...