Evolution Loop / Ritter Range Tours
The High Sierra (Ritter Range / Evolution region) · near Bishop / Mammoth Lakes · Eastern Sierra
Backcountry Skiing
At a glance
- Vertical
- 10000
- Best season
- April–May · Prime multi-day High Sierra touring on consolidated spring snow
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Wilderness permit required (Inyo NF / Sierra & Kings Canyon NP boundaries). These are multi-day ski-mountaineering expeditions deep in the largest roadless area in the Lower 48. Full winter camping and glacier skills required, or go guided.
Worth knowing
- Gear you must bring
- Beacon · Probe · Shovel · Skins · Ski crampons · Ice axe · Boot crampons · Overnight winter camping kit · Rope & glacier kit · Helmet
- Gear worth bringing
- Airbag pack · Ski-mountaineering rack · Sled/pulk for gear
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guides
- International Alpine Guides
Backcountry Skiing detail
- Nickname
- The Multi-Day High Sierra Traverses
- Directions note
- Multi-day tours — common entries at North Lake / South Lake out of Bishop
- Ates
- complex
- Tour types
- multi-day · hut-to-hut
- Summit
- 13157
- Approach
- Multi-day expedition · Days of travel, camping (or hut) in the high country · The deep wilderness end of the sport
- First timer with guide
- No
- Guide recommended
- Yes
- Avi zone
- Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center (trailhead zones) · esavalanche.org · plus independent assessment in the remote interior
- Signature lines
- The Evolution Loop (5 days) · Ritter Range / Mt. Ritter & Banner Peak · The Sierra High Route (7 days)
- Intl tip
- These tours launch from Eastern Sierra trailheads (Bishop, Mammoth, and the North Lake / South Lake areas). They're the winter counterpart to the summer John Muir Trail and High Sierra hiking (hiking guide) — the same magnificent country, experienced on skis. Booking a guided expedition is the realistic path for most; the logistics and skills are substantial.
The guide
The multi-day High Sierra ski traverses represent the deepest, most committing end of California backcountry skiing — expeditio…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Evolution Loop / Ritter Range Tours — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.42, -118.75