A huge and picturesque mountain visible for miles along hwy 395, Lone Pine Peak has at times been mistaken for Mt Whitney (which it screens, especially when coming from the south).
Although the North Ridge is by far the most popular route on the mountain, all three ridges offer excellent alpine adventures. All three ridges have also received winter ascents, although they become far more serious undertakings in winter conditions. The south face also hosts one of the largest single cliff faces in the Sierra Nevada.
Because of its favourable position looming over the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine Peak appears often in popular culture, from numerous advertisements to famous landscape photos (including the default background for macOS Sierra).
From the summit, the regular descent is directly off the back (approximately towards Mt Mallory), across the broad sandy summit plateau, and then as the ridge starts to narrow, keep a lookout for cairns on the right (northern) side of the ridge. These traverse the top of the north-facing slope and eventually head down the second gully (the first ends up in hanging cliffs - be especially careful if descending at night), which involves descending a long boulder / scree field towards Grass Lake. Near Grass Lake join the obvious Meysan Lakes trail back to Whitney Portal (the hike is 2-3 hours from this point).
Wilderness permits (available from the Mt Whitney Ranger Station in Lone Pine) are required for any/all overnight stays.
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theCrag.com is a free guide for rock climbing areas all over the world, collaboratively edited by keen rock climbers, boulderers and other nice folks.You can log all your routes, connect and chat with other climbers and much more...» go exploring, » learn more or » ask us a questionAuthor(s): Chris McNamara and McKenzie Long
Date: 2013
ISBN: 9780983322535
Author(s): Kimbrough Moore, Shannon Joslin, Leo Popovic
Date: 2022
ISBN: 9798218007959
Author(s): Toby Evans
Date: 2021
ISBN: 9781493045464
5.4 III | ★★ North Ridge |
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