continued... I didn't sleep much in my tent that night. Not because I wasn't tired, just because the wind was shaking my tent all night long. A few times I was afraid that it might not hold up against it. At around 5 AM I decided it didn't make sense any more to keep laying awake in my sleeping bag but get up and do something....

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...

After my "long" hike to Freel Peak a little less than a year ago, I knew I "had" to come back to also bag the close-by Jobs Peak and Jobs Sister. In addition I also still wanted to try the southern access to the 3 highest CA mountains around Lake Tahoe from Horse Meadow. When I saw the report from the "Mountainhiker" to...

During my hike to Hawkins - and Pickett Peak, I saw a very interesting looking mountain somewhat south of me. At home I checked out udeuschle and found out that my newly declared goal was Reynolds Peak. After checking Bob Burds pages, I knew it would be an interesting scramble, in particular the last part all the way to the top....

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...

My fitness has somewhat suffered since I moved to California (I sit in cars too often ;-). So for my first hiking day on this extended WE near Bishop, I put something not too strenuous on my want-to-climb list. It should also help to acclimatise to the altitude for the main course on the next day. Today I wanted to climb Hurd Peak...

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...

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...

The Californian friend X. was interested to do a hike with me which included some scrambling in the Sierra Nevada. Since she didn't have any experience in "interesting" and only little in "regular" hiking I planned something which wouldn't be too difficult but offered the possibility to get a feeling of how some hands on the rock...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Hidden Falls Regional Park is a popular local recreation area. It offers 30 miles of natural surface trails suitable for hiking, running, biking and horseback riding. I explored about a third of the trails on this rainy day in Northern California and saw lots of beautiful flowers and wildlife. The Park Map at the parking lot shows...