Mountaineering & Peak Climbing California

California mountaineering means summits reached by their technical routes, not the trails that share their names. The Eastern Sierra carries most of the weight: Whitney's Mountaineers Route and East Face, Mount Russell's Fishhook Arete, Williamson and Tyndall, and the Palisades — North Palisade, Sill, Thunderbolt, Polemonium and Temple Crag — where California's largest glacier still hangs beneath the crest. Farther north, Ritter, Banner and the Minarets are the state's most storied alpine rock, and Tuolumne's Cathedral Peak and Matthes Crest are the friendliest introduction to roped alpine granite anywhere. Shasta's Avalanche Gulch and Hotlum-Bolam are the classic snow apprenticeship, while Lassen, Dana, Tallac, San Gorgonio, Baldy, White Mountain and Telescope Peak offer non-technical walk-ups worth doing. Filter by grade, skills, terrain, style and summit altitude.