Base Camp

The Southern Sierra Nevada

home of the Sierra's fourteeners

Independence and Mount Williamson

Bordered on the west by Sequoia Park and Kings Canyon, and to east by the Owens and Death Valleys, the Southern Sierra rises dramatically from the high deserts of Southern California. The eastern spine of the Sierra is at its finest here, jutting up abruptly from the 3000' Owens Valley to the 14495' summit of Mount Whitney.

The scenery from Highway 395 is worth visiting just as a road tour. Highway 395 serves as the principle access route for all the southern descents, as the western approach involves crossing the entire range. Unfortunately, many of the best descents in the area begin with long, rough dirt-road drives and low-altitude trailheads. Doing a multi-day tour of the region can involve packing 50 or more pounds on your back and hiking up from the desert over merciless talus and brambles in 90 degree heat.

• Mount Langley - California's southern-most 14,000-foot peak offers some of the finest backcountry skiing in the entire state. Accessed from the Horseshoe Meadows/Cottonwood Lakes region, Langley features wonderful Nordic possibilities. Skiers approaching from Tuttle Creek, however, will find themselves confronted with the sheer north face, which presents numerous madman's lines to test the limits of the extreme.
• Mount Muir - a gaint of a man, a footnote of a mountain, Muir is an oft-bypassed pinnacle en route to neighboring Whitney. The peak's east buttress, however, makes for a rousing Class 4 or V rock climb, and the broad face below 13,400' Trail Crest, famous for its switchbacks, and Discovery Pinnacle, makes for a fine ski descent.
• Mount Whitney - the ever-popular (and over-populated) Whitney summit sees mercifully less crowds in winter, but you'll likely never find yourself alone on the summit. The lower 48's highest point offers mixed skiing possibilities, with a short but striking east couloir (John Muir's Mountaineer's Route), and an icy, cliff-banded north face.
• Mount Williamson - this massive peak offers myriad backcountry challenges, plus extreme chutes and a glacial cirque extraordinaire. The North fork/Bairs Creek Cirque stands among the most impressive descents in the entire range, but be prepared for a savage approach that can easily turn back the hardiest of ski mountaineers.

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