Mammoth Via — The Nose
Mammoth Mountain · McCoy Station · near Mammoth Lakes · Eastern Sierra
Via Ferrata
At a glance
- Route type
- guided-via
- Cost
- tour
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Best season
- June 19 – September 7, 2026; go early-season fit
What is here
- Amenities
- All gear & gondola included · Private tours give time to attempt it · Bail options back to easier lines · Bragging rights included
- Best for
- Strong climbers wanting Mammoth's testpiece
- Features
- Named for El Cap's most famous line · The steepest iron on the cliff band · Earn-it route — guides gate access · Summit gondola ride afterward
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Steep, strenuous, pumpy — forearms will notice · Altitude makes hard moves harder · Guides must see you climb well first · Not the route for a first-ever via day
- Family friendly
- No
Via Ferrata detail
- Nickname
- El Capitan homage at 10,500 feet
- Hardware
- cable · rungs
- Exposure
- 4
- Iron notes
- The hardest route in Mammoth's network — named for the most famous climb on Yosemite's El Capitan and modeled on its character, with the steepest, most strenuous climbing on the cliff band
- Logistics note
- Best accessed on a 3-hr private tour (from ~$200 pp base pricing); guides gate access by demonstrated ability
- No lottery
- Yes
- Intl tip
- The hardest commercial via ferrata route in California — Mammoth's El Capitan-inspired testpiece, steep and pumpy at altitude. Book a 3-hour private tour and prove yourself on the moderates first; guides gate access. Pair with the Tahoe Via to complete the state's entire guided via ferrata roster in one trip.
The guide
Every via ferrata network needs a testpiece, and Mammoth's is The Nose — the single 'difficult' route among the six, named in h…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mammoth Via — The Nose — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.647, -119.039