Mount Tallac
South Lake Tahoe · near South Lake Tahoe · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Backcountry Skiing · Hiking
At a glance
- Vertical
- 3500
- Best season
- March–May (spring consolidation recommended for this objective · Early season can have unstable snowpack on the approach)
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 9.6 miles
- Elevation gain
- 3,300 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- July–October (snow-free) · Wildflowers July · Crisp views September–October
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Day use: no permit required. Desolation Wilderness permit required if camping overnight. Trailhead: Spring Creek Road off Hwy 89, South Lake Tahoe. Free parking. Self-register at trailhead for day use.
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- Free self-issue day-use permit at the trailhead (Desolation Wilderness). Overnight trips need a reserved wilderness permit (Recreation.gov, quota-controlled). Fill out the day-use permit at the trailhead box.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 2 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Best view in all of Tahoe · 9,738-ft summit · Passes Floating Island & Cathedral Lakes · Emerald Bay panorama · Desolation Wilderness
Worth knowing
- Gear you must bring
- Beacon · Probe · Shovel · Skins or ski crampons for icy approach · Ice axe (summit headwall) · Crampons (critical for summit access in firm conditions) · Helmet · Topo map
- Gear worth bringing
- Airbag pack · Rope for roping up on exposed sections
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guides
- International Alpine Guides / Alpine Skills International · Blackbird Mountain Guides
Backcountry Skiing detail
- Nickname
- The Peak That Watches Over Lake Tahoe
- Directions note
- Winter access from the Tallac trailhead area off Hwy 89
- Ates
- challenging
- Tour types
- day-tour · ski-mountaineering
- Summit
- 9735
- Approach
- 8–10 miles round trip · ~3,500ft elevation gain from Tallac Trailhead · Full day commitment
- First timer with guide
- No
- Guide recommended
- Yes
- Avi zone
- Sierra Avalanche Center · sierraavalanchecenter.org
- Signature lines
- Northeast Face / The Headwall · South Bowl Direct · Cathedral Lake Basin Traverse
- Intl tip
- The view from Mount Tallac's summit on a clear winter day shows the full sweep of Lake Tahoe — 22 miles of blue water surrounded by Sierra Nevada peaks. The Emerald Bay viewpoint (on Hwy 89, 5 miles north of the trailhead) frames this same geography from the road — visit before or after the tour to understand the scale of what you just climbed.
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- The trailhead is off Hwy 89 near Fallen Leaf Lake in South Lake Tahoe — combine with a paddle on Fallen Leaf or Emerald Bay (kayak guide) and the beaches (swimming guide). Tallac is also a classic backcountry ski peak in winter (backcountry skiing guide). South Lake Tahoe has every service and (in winter) the ski resorts.
The guide
Mount Tallac is the peak that Lake Tahoe's 50,000 winter residents watch from their windows and decks — a 9,735-foot mass risin…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mount Tallac — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 38.9024, -120.1003