Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Prep hikes in Tahoe area

I'm day-hiking the main trail in August (yes, my group got our permits). Can anyone suggest some prep hikes near Lake Tahoe, preferably on the Nevada side?

Thanks

There are three great hikes in the Tahoe area:

1. Mt. Tallec (10 miles round trip, challenging with very rocky terrain). This is on the CA side, however. Great summit views.

2. Tinkers Knob - 14 miles round trip, pretty challenging, Nevada Side, by Incline Village. Very pretty hike.

3. Mt. Rose - again, the Nevada side, on the road to Reno, but close to Incline Village. Peak is nearly 11,000 feet, a beautiful hike, about 9 miles roundtrip.

If you would do Tallec twice, back to back, in one day, it would pretty much mimic doing Whitney.

You can see photos of these Tahoe hikes at:
http://www.kevingong.com/Hiking/LakeTahoeHikes.html

Judging by your screen name I am assuming that you live in the Gardnerville area. The problem with that is that there isn't much in the way of great hiking in that area of the Eastern Sierra. IMO, the closest hiking opportunities that you will find that will mimc Mt.Whitney will be to go to Monitor Pass. But the problem with that is that there are no big elevation gains. Hiking upto the fire lookout tower is a good hike, do it two or three times.

If you really want to get some good hikes in you are going to have to drive into California.

Mt. Tallac is a good place to start but from where you live is a bit of a drive. Closer hikes would be to Round Top which is near Kirkwood, Freel Peak which is the highest in the Tahoe area at 10,800' . Pyramid Peak which is on 50 near Echo Summit and Ralston Peak which is in the same area are both excellent hikes, but are about 45 minutes from Gardnerville. Mt.Rose aka Slide Peak, is a good climb and only about 200' lower than Freel Peak.

One of my favorite things to do is to go to the ski resorts and hike their slopes(after the ski season ends of course). Mt.Rose and Diamond Peak are really close to you and offer nice graded climbs to the top. My favorite ski resort hike is to do the Mountain Run at Squaw Valley. I hike from the parking lot at 6200' and hike all the way to the top of the Palisades at 10000' and then hike down to High Camp for a swim in the pool and a nice cool beverage. Then you have the option of retracing your steps back to your car or taking the tram down.

My Whitney prep hikes are going to be from easiest to hardest starting in late April/early May, my permit is for late June on the MR.

1. Loch Leven Lakes
2.Castle Peak
3. Round Top
4. Pyramid Peak
5. Freel Peak

Those are good suggestions for getting in shape locally. To top it off on your way to Whitney, turn up toward Yosemite and camp by Tioga (9K feet), and hike up Mt. Dana (13K)in the morning. This will get your acclimation started.

The King for all big gain out of the Carson Valley would be the Ophir Creek Trail linked with the Mt. Rose Trail. Starting at Davis Creek County Park, the Ophir Creek Trail goes some 5-6 miles to the Mt. Rose Highway. Either head cross-country up to the Mt. Rose Trail, or hike up the highway to connect with the Mt. Rose Trailhead, and continue to the summit of Mt. Rose. This all told gives you a gain from about 4,000' elevation to 10,776'. The sum mileage is close to Whitney's 22 miles round trip. And then you would not have to retrace the trails twice. And this is only about 25 miles driving from Gardnerville.

Another obscure hike is to do Mt. Siegel (9,450') from its east side, up Red Creek (Smith Valley), Hike up the 4WD road all the way almost to the ridge headed north for Siegel. This'll be close to 4,500' gain.

I've documented and written up all or most all the major peak climbs out of the Northern Sierra, online at my THOUSAND PEAKS website at http://webs.lanset.com/pyamagata. Read the disclaimer and explanations, and you have a great set of directions for some 84 peaks about the area.

While none are comparable to the Whitney hike, I'd think if you can do, say, 4,000' gain with 15 miles easily enough, you should be able to climb Whitney. Actually, my list of described peaks is a goal in itself. I'm working on doing many of them for a minimal 4X each. I need to finish up with some ten or so more to do, again. The climbing season for many of them is now, with skis or by foot.

There are plenty more peaks with large gain and altitude further south along U.S. 395. Do a double peak climb with Antelope and Fish Valley Peaks, out of about Walker, CA. This is in my Northern Sierra Peaks Guide. Also, climbing the five or so peaks of the Sweetwater Range offers a challenging goal, although most of this is cross-country.

Highland Peak (10,934') is one of my favorites, and doing adjacent Silver Peak, too, provides one with a 4,800' gain, albeit mostly cross-country. These are reached from the Highway 4 trailheads.

Good luck on your conditioning. You shouldn't have to do any single peak twice, just climb two or more of them.

The other peak suggestions are all fine, too, except Tinker Knob is reached from either the Old Donner Pass PCT trailhead, or from the private dirt road from out of Truckee, CA, or even the Olympic resort.

Well! Mr. Pete Yamagata aka 4XSummit,I wish I had known we were in the presence of someone famous earlier. When I went to your website and saw what your name was I thought "where have I heard that name before"? Then it hit me, "The High Sierra Peaks Passes and Trails". I grabbed my copy of the book and sure enough, there is your name in the acknowledgments. And as one reads you will see that the author credits Pete just about as much as Galen Rowell for first ascents. When I first read the book back in the early 90's I was impressed by three things.One was Norman Clyde's first ascents up routes that now are done with ropes, Galen Rowell's first ascents up steep, high altitude rock facesand third, how many times Secor mentions Pete Yamagata with first ascents. You sir should be applauded, you have quite a history.I've heard your name mentioned when talking about Sierra hiking knowledge more than just about anyone else.

As a second suprise, while looking through the acknowledgments in "High Sierra", I came across another familiar name. It was the name of our very own Bob Rockwell. Wow, your the man Bob It's funny, I can't even remember how many times I have looked through this book and seen the names of Pete and Bob mentioned now the names have a meaning. Bravo!

Looks like I know who to ask for advice about Northern and Southern Sierra hikes now.We've got the two authorities on the Sierra on the message board.

Well, now that everyone knows who 4XSummit is, I'll have to change my web alias. It might as well go back to 1000pks. I would be pleased to know who you (SS, Fred) both are, with your personal info that I am so foolish (?) to give away! Or maybe I'll be like Bob R., who everyone also knows is real! And he also has his personal life photos online!

R.J. didn't use many of my photos for his guidebook, and used none for his second edition. I told him, for the first one, the local Northern CA Sierra Club chapter would probably declare a boycott, then, but he used mine the first time. Courageous! Great for R.J. that he shot and used his own photos the second time!

Hey, post a message to climb something besides Whitney. I need a partner to do some snow ascents, probably now pretty good with the prolonged dry spell, and still freezing nights. Skis are fine, too, but I'll wait to go on foot for non-skiers. I've been lying low, waiting for a great peak op. Lots of those around here!

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'm really looking forward to my first Whitney trip. If anyone has further suggestions, please post them.

A while back there seemed to be more juvenile types on this board who would post provocative or insulting messages. I remember some of them suggesting that Bob R. and 1000 peaks were poseurs! Kinda funny when you think of it.

Adrian