| East Peak - a sidetrip Route |
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| East Peak - a sidetrip   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: California, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 38.92300°N / 119.897°W Route Type: snow (winter) hike in summer Time Required: Less than two hours Difficulty: Ski (winter) or hike it
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| Page By: Dean Created/Edited: Jan 23, 2006 / Jan 23, 2006 Object ID: 168310 Hits: 913 Loading... Page Score: 87.12% - 3 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Approach
East Peak (9,591 feet) as seen from the top of the Tamarack chair at 10,000 feet
East Peak is the Douglas County Highpoint
Find the gondola access just south of the Casinos in So. Lake Tahoe. You can't miss it and David provides good directions in his front page. "The gondola is located in South Lake Tahoe, two blocks south of Stateline on Highway 50. There is parking available in Nevada, behind Harah's casino, where you will then have to walk back into California to the base of the gondola, adjacent to the Marriott Resort."
Route Description
Pay your money and ride the gondola up to the upper station and get off there.
The gondola deposits you at 9100 feet, near the base of the Tamarack chair on the California side. You ride this high speed quad to its top and all the while you can look over at East Peak as you ascend in style. After getting off of the lift, you look down on East Peak just to the northwest of where you get off. East Peak is just slightly over the border and so while you are higher on the California side after riding the Tamarack lift, East Peak is several hundred feet lower.
To get over to it, you need to get enough speed up to make it all the way across the transitional crossover trail that connects to the Nevada side of Heavenly Valley and head down to the Olympic lift. The Olympic lift takes you to the top as Andrew Case mentions in his trip report. As you get near the top, you can see the antenna that marks the HP
When you get off of the lift, head up and to the left towards the ski patrol building and go up to the area behind it and start making your way upward. Often the ski patrollers have already beaten a "path" into the snow and you might find your way that way. Using a GPS to aid me, it pointed right at the HP so I was able to steer an accurate route to the top. I kept my skis on only for a short distance and carried them for the first hundred feet as I followed the ski patroller's path. Step off of the beaten path and you'd sink into some very soft snow since it had snowed at least a foot the night before. I stashed my skis and continued on
When I got to the top, I found that the actual highpoint was about twenty feet south of the antenna tower (see above pic). Since I couldn't get up on top of the pointed rock with my ski boots on, I stood next to the rock that was highest spot and put my hand on top of it. I took some pictures of this major event and also as well as many of the great view. Then I worked my way around to the other side of the antenna and touched the highest spot on the south side but from this vantage point, it was obvious to me that the rock I mentioned was the highest point.
The view was fantastic. You could look down on Lake Tahoe and all of the surrounding country. I had a perfect weather day and I kept pinching myself as I felt so blessed. After spending about ten minutes on the HP, I finally was able to get back to my skis, ski back to the regular slopes and spend several glorious hours enjoying the great snow before my aging quads began to rebel.
If you come when the snow is gone or you don't ski, you could ride the gondola to its high point of 9,100 feet. East Peak is obvious as you ride up the gondola, so there is no mistaking it. You could then leave the gondola and head over (north) and work your way up to the top. The cost of the gondola ride is 20 bucks, well worth it since you'll be able to pick up another local CoHp the same day. The view is worth the effort but much nicer in winter when you can ski it.
I'll add another route up East Peak in the near future but that I'll wait until the snow is gone because IMHO, skiing this peak is the only way to go. You can access East from the Nevada side by hiking up the service roads (very boring).
Essential Gear
Skis or snoboard gear for a winter time effort. Summertime, hiking shoes / boots will suffice with some extra water.
The view is fantastic in all directions but Lake Tahoe is the crown jewel
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
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