Mt. Abbot
Little Lakes Valley, Rock Creek · near Bishop / Mammoth Lakes · Eastern Sierra
Mountaineering
At a glance
- Grade
- scramble
- Elevation
- 13715
- Best season
- July–September; a snow couloir lingers into summer
What is here
- Terrain
- alpine-rock
- Amenities
- Mosquito Flat / Little Lakes Valley · Same high trailhead as Bear Creek Spire · Quiet compared to its neighbor · Snow-climb character early season
- Best for
- A quieter class-3 peak with a snow-climb flavor
- Features
- Above the Little Lakes Valley · Class-3 with an early-season snow couloir · Quieter than Bear Creek Spire · High trailhead, big scenery
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Steep snow couloir early season — self-arrest skills needed · Loose class-3 rock in the upper chute · Altitude on a long day · Afternoon storms high on the peak
- Beginner friendly
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guided trips
- No
Mountaineering detail
- Skills
- scrambling · snow-ice · altitude
- Style
- mixed-alpine
- Altitude
- 4
- Route notes
- A handsome 13er above the Little Lakes Valley whose standard north-couloir-and-chute route is a class-3 scramble with a steep snow finish early season — a quieter neighbor to Bear Creek Spire
- Beta note
- ~13,715 ft; Class 3 with an early-season snow couloir; axe & crampons before it melts out
- Intl tip
- Just west of Bear Creek Spire at the head of the Little Lakes Valley — a quieter class-3 alternative with a snow-climbing flavor. The standard couloir-and-chute route holds firm snow early season, turning it into a genuine axe-and-crampons outing (a good low-commitment place to practice steep snow) before melting to loose rock. Long and high, so still a real effort. Shares the beautiful high Mosquito Flat approach with Bear Creek Spire; underrated scenery.
- Directions note
- Park at Mosquito Flat (10,300 ft) at the end of Rock Creek Rd
The guide
Mt. Abbot stands just west of Bear Creek Spire at the head of the Little Lakes Valley, and it makes a fine quieter alternative …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mt. Abbot — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.3897, -118.7803