Here in Reno, Nevada, a friend of mine and I have been organizing the Yahoo hiking group. Last year we organized a trip to Mount Whitney, which was very successful.

Now, my friend has decided he wants to hike at least two California 14ers this year. He has already done Whitney and White Mountain Peak. I am not recommending Muir or Russell since they are so close to Whitney, and he is familiar with them.

The list of potential hikes are:
Mount Langely
Split Mountain
Tyndall
Mount Sill
Williamson*

*I think Williamson is too dangerous since you can't climb it in August or September.

Maybe Mount Sill is possible, but isn't it harder than Split, Langley, and Tyndall?
Split seems very dangerous, and there is no word on the summitpost site how dangerous the final few hundred yards to the summit are. They seem really nasty!

Can anyone provide insight on what I should suggest?

Regards

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If you consider any CA 14'er that dangerous, you probably shouldn't be doing any. Aside from the two mentioned.

I don't understand. I mentioned way more than 2. Are you saying Langley only?

What I am looking for is opinions from people who have climbed Split, Sill, and Tyndall and what you can tell me about the difficulty and danger.

I don't understand. I mentioned way more than 2. Are you saying Langley only?

The mention I saw was Whitney and White Mtn Peak. Trail or road, all the way.

What I am looking for is opinions from people who have climbed Split, Sill, and Tyndall and what you can tell me about the difficulty and danger.

Those are all or mostly class 3. Many hikers draw the line at class 2, if even that. I see plenty of "good" hikers, by them, refuse even a short off trail jaunt. Then there is weather, you easily will have lightning, rain, snow, wind, and all. No fast escape by running down a trail or calling for a hiker rescue. Helicopters can easily land on both mentioned summits. All others will involve treacherous flying conditions, with hovering and baskets to be lowered.

Tell such people to stick to the trails. Few have the saavy to do anything but trails to the tops, there's enough hikers dying or to be in need of rescue if they cannot read what is stated so clearly, mountain climbing is downright dangerous.

hgrapid wrote:Here in Reno, Nevada, a friend of mine and I have been organizing the Yahoo hiking group. Last year we organized a trip to Mount Whitney, which was very successful.

Now, my friend has decided he wants to hike at least two California 14ers this year. He has already done Whitney and White Mountain Peak. I am not recommending Muir or Russell since they are so close to Whitney, and he is familiar with them.

The list of potential hikes are:
Mount Langely
Split Mountain
Tyndall
Mount Sill
Williamson*

*I think Williamson is too dangerous since you can't climb it in August or September.

Maybe Mount Sill is possible, but isn't it harder than Split, Langley, and Tyndall?
Split seems very dangerous, and there is no word on the summitpost site how dangerous the final few hundred yards to the summit are. They seem really nasty!

Can anyone provide insight on what I should suggest?



Regards

No, Mt. Sill has a class 2 route coming from the west. Lots of talus to cross, but otherwise pretty easy.

No, Mt. Sill has a class 2 route coming from the west. Lots of talus to cross, but otherwise pretty easy.

True, but our diminished MLC SC leader quickly led us off route, and into class 4, by him (we had/were forced to use a rope). There is not even a use trail. Once you leave the Bishop Pass Trail, you get into class 3, depending on how you do it. I suppose you can get to the Sill class 2 route by other means, but it gets ridiculous to spare the what little scrambling you'd have to do.

The CA 14'ers have much fewer completers than say the CO 14'ers. And now they added Starlight/Polemonium.

I'd say if you must try, start with Langley, but if you refuse basic rock climbing and route finding skills, with the glorious Sierra that we have, there must be something wrong with you!

I only descended the trade route on Split and it was rather loose and nasty, especially in the dark. You may be able to follow a snow field all the way to the summit plateau. In that case, it is probably not too bad. But it is still hard to call Split's regular route a great hike.

Go do Langley - it is rather fun through Old Army Pass

1000Pks wrote:

No, Mt. Sill has a class 2 route coming from the west. Lots of talus to cross, but otherwise pretty easy.

True, but our diminished MLC SC leader quickly led us off route, and into class 4, by him (we had/were forced to use a rope). There is not even a use trail. Once you leave the Bishop Pass Trail, you get into class 3, depending on how you do it. I suppose you can get to the Sill class 2 route by other means, but it gets ridiculous to spare the what little scrambling you'd have to do.

The CA 14'ers have much fewer completers than say the CO 14'ers. And now they added Starlight/Polemonium.

I'd say if you must try, start with Langley, but if you refuse basic rock climbing and route finding skills, with the glorious Sierra that we have, there must be something wrong with you!

If he chose Sill, he'd be fine.

With that said, the other ideas are much more fun.

As oft said by my old climbing group, "To err is human, but the mountains do not forgive."

For someone used to only trails, you'll need lots of good luck! Skill would be better, but then there are those who do not have any!

i remember split mountain being quite easy from the red lakes area... albeit a long, somewhat uninspiring hike... in two days, it should be pretty manageable... finding the trailhead could be considered tricky by some... as for the hike, i remember there being a trail the whole way up... or, i should say, i well marked trail for the first half up to the lakes... and a faint use track for the second half... as i recall, you follow a huge couloir / draw up most of the way to a somewhat airy saddle with some impressive views, then swing a left and follow a gentle sort of summit plateau up to the top

i believe langley has some easy routes up it... and there is the advantage of a high (10,000' ?) trailhead at horseshoe meadows and some beautiful campspots by cottonwood lakes along the way... just make sure to follow the trail up to the pass (instead of dead reckoning from the lake, like i did, class 4?)... langley might actually be, for me, the easiest of all the california 14ers (i've basically only climbed the half a dozen or so 'easy 14ers')... nonetheless, this one is my recommendation... plus, great views of the meysan lakes basin and peaks from the summit

Thanks guys,

For the record, I don't need a trail, per say. I have personally done a number of class 2, class 3 hikes, the toughest being the Clark's Arrow route up Longs Peak in RMNP. However, I am trying to avoid very loose rock. Ultimately though, I am doing this research for the hike leader who wants to do the 14ers. The hike I really want to do this summer is Matterhorn Peak from Twin Lakes, Agassiz and Mount Goode combo and Mount Dana and Mount Gibbs combo. Those aren't too dangerous, but certainly qualify as high sierra hiking, no?

Matterhorn Peak from Twin Lakes requires glacier travel skills, ice axe and crampons. You may want to take that into consideration before leading a hiking group up.

I've hiked Matterhorn in late August and never even touched snow.

When I was doing the JMT, it was almost mind boggling that anyone would climb even class 2 the way I saw some SPS'ers coming down. For what? I had then already done Half Dome and Whitney, and for the life of me, could hardly figure why anyone would want to do that. I spoke with one of them, and he sure wasn't outright crazy. I shortly took a rock climbing class, and learning safety, saw what was possible. Then I got into lists, and with some good experience, that was the start to all that!

I basically assume by most all newbie SC that it is not fun or any kind of considerable challenge to hike scree and talus. Just what you have to do to get to the top. Moronic games, by many or most.

When I started this, I vaguely recall being taken aside by an Inyo County deputy who said that all those hurt, lost, or killed people had "that book." The Climber's Guide..

I still thank my lucky stars that I was never one of those, but then I do not intend to finish any SPS list. I have a couple 14'ers to go, but at my stage in life, it is not very important. They'll find new peaks to qualify once you've done them all as originally stated. It was debated whether there were 13, then 14, then on and on.

I say to such newbies, forget it. You won't easily find any groups or partners, at least not as easily as I did when we had the SC ops. Their current waivers invade your privacy and give away all your rights. They can lead you wrong, drop a rock on your head, let go of the rope, and whatever else. No money/justice there without an expensive, risky legal effort.

But then for more they will delete this thread.. too bad.

We will do Matterhorn in August when most snow has melted. The trip leader has done the route up the glacier before, but didn't get to the top. So, at least he has experience up the route. Believe me, safety is top priority.

I think Langley is the only 14er I am willing to do. I have some easier 13ers planned.