Mt. Williamson / Onion Valley
Independence (Hwy 395, Onion Valley Rd) · near Independence · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Backcountry Skiing
At a glance
- Vertical
- 8000
- Best season
- April–June (good snow years only) · One of California's longest and most committing descents
Permits and booking
- Permit
- No permit for day pushes; wilderness permit for overnights (Inyo NF). Onion Valley Road access improves as it melts out (~9,200ft trailhead). Williamson is California's 2nd-highest peak; its full descent is expert ski-mountaineering.
Worth knowing
- Gear you must bring
- Beacon · Probe · Shovel · Skins · Ski crampons · Ice axe · Boot crampons · Helmet · Rope (for objectives)
- Gear worth bringing
- Airbag pack · Second tool · Whippet
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guides
- Sierra Mountain Guides · International Alpine Guides
Backcountry Skiing detail
- Nickname
- The 8,000-Foot Descent
- Directions note
- Winter road closure point on Onion Valley Rd varies — check conditions
- Ates
- extreme
- Tour types
- ski-mountaineering · multi-day
- Summit
- 14379
- Approach
- Enormous — Williamson's Giant Steps descent runs from 14,000+ ft to desert sagebrush at ~6,000ft in a good year
- First timer with guide
- No
- Guide recommended
- Yes
- Avi zone
- Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center · esavalanche.org
- Signature lines
- Mt. Williamson – Giant Steps · University Peak (Onion Valley) · Independence Peak
- Intl tip
- Independence is a tiny historic Hwy 395 town between Big Pine and Lone Pine — the Eastern California Museum and the nearby Manzanar National Historic Site (a sobering, essential stop) are here. Onion Valley Road is also the summer trailhead for Kearsarge Pass into the High Sierra (hiking guide).
The guide
Onion Valley, above the town of Independence, is the gateway to some of the Eastern Sierra's biggest skiing — and to Mt. Willia…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mt. Williamson / Onion Valley — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.656, -118.31