Carson Pass / Round Top
Carson Pass (Amador County) · near Kirkwood / Markleeville · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Backcountry Skiing
At a glance
- Vertical
- 1900
- Best season
- January–April · Carson Pass elevation means consistent snowpack · Early season wind can scour the exposed ridgelines
Permits and booking
- Permit
- No permit for day use in Mokelumne Wilderness. Sno-Park permit required for parking ($5 day / $25 season) — purchase through California State Parks or at local gear shops. Multiple parking areas along Hwy 88 near Carson Pass summit.
Worth knowing
- Gear you must bring
- Beacon · Probe · Shovel · Skins · Helmet · Navigation — exposed terrain at elevation
- Gear worth bringing
- Ice axe (for summit approaches to Round Top) · Airbag pack
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guides
- International Alpine Guides
Backcountry Skiing detail
- Nickname
- The Highway 88 Corridor
- Directions note
- Park at the Carson Pass Sno-Park on Hwy 88 — Sno-Park permit required
- Ates
- challenging
- Tour types
- day-tour · ski-mountaineering
- Summit
- 10381
- Approach
- 2–6 miles round trip depending on objective · Carson Pass Sno-Park (8,574 ft) provides high starting elevation
- First timer with guide
- Yes
- Guide recommended
- No
- Avi zone
- Sierra Avalanche Center · sierraavalanchecenter.org
- Signature lines
- Elephant's Back · Round Top (10,381 ft) · Stevens Peak
- Intl tip
- Kirkwood Mountain Resort is 12 miles west of Carson Pass on Highway 88 — the resort's sidecountry and surrounding Mokelumne Wilderness terrain are part of the same geographic zone. A Carson Pass touring day and a Kirkwood resort day in the same weekend covers both ends of the California ski experience from the same base area.
The guide
Carson Pass at 8,574 feet on Highway 88 is one of the highest drivable Sierra crossings in winter, which means the backcountry …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Carson Pass / Round Top — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.6944, -119.9928