Mt. Williamson
Shepherd Pass / Sierra crest · near Independence · Sierra Nevada / Yosemite
Mountaineering
At a glance
- Grade
- scramble
- Elevation
- 14375
- Best season
- July–September; spring brings a huge ski-mountaineering descent
What is here
- Terrain
- alpine-rock
- Amenities
- Shepherd Pass trail (Symmes Creek) · Often combined with Mt. Tyndall · Anvil Camp / Pothole camps · Guide services offer it (3–4 days)
- Best for
- A remote, hard-won second-highest summit
- Features
- California's 2nd-highest peak · Legendarily tough Shepherd Pass approach · Route-finding puzzle in Williamson Bowl · Often paired with Tyndall
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Brutal approach — Shepherd Pass gains huge elevation with a demoralizing loss midway · Complex route-finding through dead-end chutes in Williamson Bowl · High altitude on a multi-day effort · Remote — self-rescue mindset required
- Beginner friendly
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guided trips
- Yes
Mountaineering detail
- Skills
- scrambling · altitude
- Style
- mixed-alpine
- Altitude
- 5
- Route notes
- California's second-highest peak and one of its most remote — a big, complex class-3 climb up the West Face through the maze of chutes above Williamson Bowl, reached only after the notoriously brutal Shepherd Pass approach
- Beta note
- ~14,375 ft; Class 3 West Face; the Shepherd Pass approach is one of the Sierra's hardest
- Intl tip
- California's second-highest peak, and one of its most remote. The pain is the approach: the Shepherd Pass trail (from Symmes Creek) gains huge elevation with a demoralizing drop partway. From Williamson Bowl, the West Face is a class-3 climb through a maze of chutes — many dead ends — rewarding route-finding over raw scrambling. Most take 3–4 days and pair it with neighboring Mt. Tyndall. Solitude and a true wilderness summit are the payoff.
- Directions note
- Approach via Shepherd Pass trailhead at Symmes Creek — brutal 6,000 ft approach
The guide
California's second-highest summit is also one of its most demanding, largely because of the approach: the Shepherd Pass trail …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Mt. Williamson — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 36.6559, -118.3107