Donner Summit / Castle Peak
Donner Summit (I-80 corridor) · near Truckee / Soda Springs · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Backcountry Skiing
At a glance
- Vertical
- 1500
- Best season
- January–April · Best January–March for powder · Spring consolidation (March–April) also excellent
Permits and booking
- Permit
- No permit. Tahoe National Forest — free day use. I-80 Boreal Ridge Road exit (Soda Springs). Park in Boreal Mountain parking area or at the Castle Peak trailhead near the rest stop.
Worth knowing
- Gear you must bring
- Beacon (avalanche transceiver) · Probe · Shovel · Skins or snowshoes for approach · Helmet · Navigation (topo map + GPS)
- Gear worth bringing
- Airbag pack · Ice axe (for steeper summit approaches)
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guides
- International Alpine Guides / Alpine Skills International · Blackbird Mountain Guides
Backcountry Skiing detail
- Nickname
- Most Accessible Backcountry in California
- Directions note
- Winter parking at the Donner Summit Sno-Park (Castle Peak exit off I-80) — Sno-Park permit required
- Ates
- challenging
- Tour types
- day-tour
- Summit
- 9103
- Approach
- 3–5 miles round trip · ~1,500ft elevation gain to Castle Peak summit
- First timer with guide
- Yes
- Guide recommended
- Yes
- Avi zone
- Sierra Avalanche Center · sierraavalanchecenter.org
- Signature lines
- Castle Peak Summit Bowl · Mount Judah Loop · Donner Peak
- Intl tip
- Truckee (15 minutes from the Donner Summit exit) has California's best ski-town restaurant scene for its size — Jax at the Tracks, Pianeta, Tahoe Mountain Brewing. The Donner Memorial and Donner Lake are worth the stop on the drive in for historical context on what this mountain pass has meant to California.
The guide
International Alpine Guides describes the Donner Summit and Truckee area as 'clearly the best in North Lake Tahoe and some of t…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Donner Summit / Castle Peak — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 39.3125, -120.345