Mt. Lyell
Yosemite's high point, Lyell Canyon · near Tuolumne Meadows / Lee Vining · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Mountaineering
At a glance
- Grade
- scramble
- Elevation
- 13114
- Best season
- July–September; the glacier is firmest early season
What is here
- Terrain
- glacier-peak
- Amenities
- Lyell Canyon (Tuolumne / JMT) approach · Backcountry camps at the canyon head · Guide services offer it · Yosemite's highest summit
- Best for
- Yosemite's highest peak, with real glacier travel
- Features
- Highest point in Yosemite · Crosses the shrinking Lyell Glacier · Head of gorgeous Lyell Canyon · Class-3 summit with glacier approach
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Glacier travel on the receding Lyell Glacier — axe & crampons · Class-3 summit block with exposure · Long approach up Lyell Canyon — a multi-day trip · Altitude and afternoon storms
- Beginner friendly
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guided trips
- Yes
Mountaineering detail
- Skills
- glacier · scrambling · altitude
- Style
- mixed-alpine
- Altitude
- 3
- Route notes
- The highest point in Yosemite — a class-3 summit reached across the Lyell Glacier, the park's largest but now dramatically shrinking, at the head of the long and beautiful Lyell Canyon
- Beta note
- ~13,114 ft; Class 3 with glacier travel; the receding Lyell Glacier is part of the climb
- Intl tip
- The highest point in Yosemite, and a real mountaineering objective, not a hike. After a long, lovely approach up Lyell Canyon on the JMT, you cross the Lyell Glacier — once the park's largest, now thinning and retreating so fast scientists track it as a climate marker — then a class-3 scramble to the airy summit. The glacier crossing needs axe, crampons, and basic snow skills; best done over 2–3 days from a high camp. A beautiful summit and a sobering look at how fast California's glaciers are vanishing.
- Directions note
- Approach from Tuolumne Meadows via Lyell Canyon (JMT)
The guide
Mt. Lyell is the highest point in Yosemite National Park, and reaching it is a genuine mountaineering objective rather than a h…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mt. Lyell — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.7439, -119.2711