Route Climbed: Cathedral Lake, Glen Alpine, NE Ridge, Middle Tallac Trail on SW slope from Lily Lake Date Climbed: From the 1980s to the present
Always in sight and practically sitting in my backyard in South Lake Tahoe, I used to regularly hike this peak, and downhill skied it one time in the winter. Its easy access attracts throngs of visitors, and it is not uncommon to have two dozen hikers buzzing around the summit. The views are worth it though.
Route Climbed: Glen Alpine Date Climbed: June 29, 2004
David Deffner and I climbed Mount Tallac via the Glen Alpine trail, on a totally beautiful and clear summer day. This was our first "training" hike together before our Kilimanjaro trek in July.
Route Climbed: SE Chutes Date Climbed: Aug 01 2004
Warmup for Russell. Mostly Class 2 talus & bush with some fun class 3 near the top of the chutes, but once the chutes top out, you've still got 600 vertical feet left to go. A good summer alternative to the packed trail.
Route Climbed: Glen Alpine Trail and Cathedral Lake Trail Date Climbed: June 22, 2004
I hiked up Cathedral Lake Trail and tagged the top of Tallac on the way to Dick's Peak and Jack's Peak. Of note, the mosquitoes were totally insane. Fucking crazy. I had never seen any there, so I neglected to take repellent. If you go in June or July, take some mosquito repellent or become an unhappy blood donor.
Also of note, I had to deviate from the usual trail a couple of times to go around snowfields. Not that big of a deal.
I went down the Glen Alpine Trail on they way to Dick's Pass and came back up it on the way back to my car. I managed to get off trail a couple of times on the way up the Glen Alpine Trail. Seems I was in the mood to follow those red herrings that look like trails but peter out and leave you wondering where the hell the trail went.
Route Climbed: Mt Tallac Trail Date Climbed: August 1 1991
Have done this trail about six times, love the views from Tallac, several times I have gone down to Gilmore Lake to spend the night and fish. Skeets at Gilmore will eat you alive bet. june and Aug.
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: Apr 10, 2004
Traversed from Dicks Peak, returning via the beautiful valley just west of Tallac (Tallac Lake, Snow Lake, etc). The hike along that ridge is kind of loose and sloggy in a couple of places, but the views at the top are great.
Route Climbed: Ridgeline from Dicks Pass Date Climbed: August 2003
More fantastic route finding with D across the ridge from Dick’s Pass. Although we did see plenty of people in Desolation Wilderness over the weekend, there was only one other person at the top (and we had Dick’s Pass to ourselves for a lunch break). A wonderful peak to get a true feel for the immensity of Lake Tahoe.
Route Climbed: NE Ridge route with The Central chute option Date Climbed: Jan 18th, 2004
Climbed with rgreen. Final summit ascent was up the east ridge of the summit bowl. Decended down the west ridge of summit bowl to saddle point and down through the NE gully. Time from summit to trail head was 1.5 hours. Outstanding views along the entire approach.
Route Climbed: Northeast Ridge (Direct East variant) Date Climbed: 18 January 2004
Started out on the Northeast Ridge route; made it to the bowl traversal that leads to the north of the summit; we saw we were directly east and there were some chutes leading up. Much suffering ensued, about 4 hours later finally made it out of the chute, and 6:54 total time saw the summit. The chute was high angle snow, which gave way to zero footing as we approached the rocks, technical climbing over the rock section (probably about 30 feet), with uncompacted snow over everything. Above the technical section, we were able to kick-step in the (less) steep snow up to the top of the ridge. Relatively easy walk up the bowl face from the east to the summit after that...
Route Climbed: Trail from Spring Creek, by the Ham's cabin. Date Climbed: August 1995
Trail the whole way. Chipmunks crawling on people's bodies mooching treats on summit. Views are spectacular, as was to be expected. Decended, and went home to South Shore. Ate steaks, drank beer.
Route Climbed: Ridgeline from Dicks Pass Date Climbed: 30 August, 2003
Climbed with LJ, from Dicks Pass. Looking over from the pass, it looked long, but doable, and even fun. It was all of these! All X-country (at least until encountering the trail from Lake Gilmore), it was enjoyable, with some great views! Mostly class 2, with some fun 3rd class, & (the way we went at least- possibly avoidable) even a few moves of 4th class, staying exactly on the ridge. A ranger tried to dissuade us from doing the peak (said she'd prefer Dicks), that one just saw a bunch of subdevelopments. For those in the Lake Tahoe area for the 1st time, though, I'd imagine that it has to be one of the better places to view Lake Tahoe- breathtaking! Glad we didn't encounter any inclement weather- the next day there were storms, & it was apparent that the ridge would be a bad place place to be in that situation (way up high & loooong!). If you do this ridge & want to hook up with the Gilmore Lake trail, it is NOT as marked on the map (converging to the ridge directly)- it instead is a few hundred ft inwards until the final ~200'.
BrotherJim - Oct 15, 2004 4:58 pm
Route Climbed: Mount Tallac Trail Date Climbed: October 14, 2004Excellent time, excellent weather, excellent views.
tahoeberne - Aug 13, 2004 11:12 pm
Route Climbed: Cathedral Lake, Glen Alpine, NE Ridge, Middle Tallac Trail on SW slope from Lily Lake Date Climbed: From the 1980s to the presentAlways in sight and practically sitting in my backyard in South Lake Tahoe, I used to regularly hike this peak, and downhill skied it one time in the winter. Its easy access attracts throngs of visitors, and it is not uncommon to have two dozen hikers buzzing around the summit. The views are worth it though.
k2link - Aug 13, 2004 12:29 am
Route Climbed: Glen Alpine Date Climbed: June 29, 2004David Deffner and I climbed Mount Tallac via the Glen Alpine trail, on a totally beautiful and clear summer day. This was our first "training" hike together before our Kilimanjaro trek in July.
orandall - Aug 2, 2004 1:06 pm
Route Climbed: SE Chutes Date Climbed: Aug 01 2004Warmup for Russell. Mostly Class 2 talus & bush with some fun class 3 near the top of the chutes, but once the chutes top out, you've still got 600 vertical feet left to go. A good summer alternative to the packed trail.
brandon - Jul 6, 2004 6:59 pm
Route Climbed: Hiking Date Climbed: June 2004Good breaking in the boots trail...
josephgdawson - Jun 27, 2004 10:47 pm
Route Climbed: Glen Alpine Trail and Cathedral Lake Trail Date Climbed: June 22, 2004I hiked up Cathedral Lake Trail and tagged the top of Tallac on the way to Dick's Peak and Jack's Peak. Of note, the mosquitoes were totally insane. Fucking crazy. I had never seen any there, so I neglected to take repellent. If you go in June or July, take some mosquito repellent or become an unhappy blood donor.
Also of note, I had to deviate from the usual trail a couple of times to go around snowfields. Not that big of a deal.
I went down the Glen Alpine Trail on they way to Dick's Pass and came back up it on the way back to my car. I managed to get off trail a couple of times on the way up the Glen Alpine Trail. Seems I was in the mood to follow those red herrings that look like trails but peter out and leave you wondering where the hell the trail went.
ridgeline - Jun 3, 2004 10:58 pm
Route Climbed: Mt Tallac Trail Date Climbed: August 1 1991Have done this trail about six times, love the views from Tallac, several times I have gone down to Gilmore Lake to spend the night and fish. Skeets at Gilmore will eat you alive bet. june and Aug.
Ol Walsher - May 17, 2004 8:05 pm
Route Climbed: Tallac Trailhead Date Climbed: July 12, 2003A nice two hour stroll to the top. A little warm above the tree line. Excellent views of the Tahoe Basin, Desolation Wilderness, and Fallen Leaf Lake.
Matthew Holliman - Apr 29, 2004 9:15 pm
Route Climbed: West Ridge Date Climbed: Apr 10, 2004Traversed from Dicks Peak, returning via the beautiful valley just west of Tallac (Tallac Lake, Snow Lake, etc). The hike along that ridge is kind of loose and sloggy in a couple of places, but the views at the top are great.
josephgdawson - Apr 5, 2004 12:01 am
Route Climbed: Cathedral Lake Trail Date Climbed: September 10, 2003One of the better views in CA.
PellucidWombat - Mar 1, 2004 1:32 am
Route Climbed: North East Ridge Date Climbed: 2/29/04Great snowshoe hike! I really wish that I had brought my skis!
Lara - Jan 27, 2004 7:11 pm
Route Climbed: Ridgeline from Dicks Pass Date Climbed: August 2003More fantastic route finding with D across the ridge from Dick’s Pass. Although we did see plenty of people in Desolation Wilderness over the weekend, there was only one other person at the top (and we had Dick’s Pass to ourselves for a lunch break). A wonderful peak to get a true feel for the immensity of Lake Tahoe.
blmcclain - Jan 21, 2004 6:57 pm
Route Climbed: NE Ridge route with The Central chute option Date Climbed: Jan 18th, 2004Climbed with rgreen. Final summit ascent was up the east ridge of the summit bowl. Decended down the west ridge of summit bowl to saddle point and down through the NE gully. Time from summit to trail head was 1.5 hours. Outstanding views along the entire approach.
rgreene - Jan 19, 2004 11:46 am
Route Climbed: Northeast Ridge (Direct East variant) Date Climbed: 18 January 2004Started out on the Northeast Ridge route; made it to the bowl traversal that leads to the north of the summit; we saw we were directly east and there were some chutes leading up. Much suffering ensued, about 4 hours later finally made it out of the chute, and 6:54 total time saw the summit. The chute was high angle snow, which gave way to zero footing as we approached the rocks, technical climbing over the rock section (probably about 30 feet), with uncompacted snow over everything. Above the technical section, we were able to kick-step in the (less) steep snow up to the top of the ridge. Relatively easy walk up the bowl face from the east to the summit after that...
hyperbolictans - Jan 8, 2004 12:20 am
Route Climbed: Date Climbed: 2003 Oct. 12Started from Stanford Sierra club trail head. Joined Tallac trail near cathedral lake. Camped by Gilmore.
Sierrabonehead - Nov 21, 2003 7:15 pm
Route Climbed: Trail from Spring Creek, by the Ham's cabin. Date Climbed: August 1995Trail the whole way. Chipmunks crawling on people's bodies mooching treats on summit. Views are spectacular, as was to be expected. Decended, and went home to South Shore. Ate steaks, drank beer.
Felsberg - Oct 13, 2003 9:29 pm
Route Climbed: South Slope Date Climbed: October 11, 2003Climbed this route for the third time with Jan. Some great patriot had put an american flag on top, which made for some great summit photos.
fedak - Oct 7, 2003 11:27 am
Route Climbed: Cathedral Lake Trail up, Glen Alpine down Date Climbed: 05-Sep-2003Beautiful clear day, very crowded on the trails and summit.
Pics here, Trip report forthcoming
earthchic - Sep 5, 2003 2:07 pm
Route Climbed: Cathedral Lake Date Climbed: Aug. 10, 2003Beautiful views of Desolation Wilderness.
Diggler - Sep 3, 2003 4:37 pm
Route Climbed: Ridgeline from Dicks Pass Date Climbed: 30 August, 2003Climbed with LJ, from Dicks Pass. Looking over from the pass, it looked long, but doable, and even fun. It was all of these! All X-country (at least until encountering the trail from Lake Gilmore), it was enjoyable, with some great views! Mostly class 2, with some fun 3rd class, & (the way we went at least- possibly avoidable) even a few moves of 4th class, staying exactly on the ridge. A ranger tried to dissuade us from doing the peak (said she'd prefer Dicks), that one just saw a bunch of subdevelopments. For those in the Lake Tahoe area for the 1st time, though, I'd imagine that it has to be one of the better places to view Lake Tahoe- breathtaking! Glad we didn't encounter any inclement weather- the next day there were storms, & it was apparent that the ridge would be a bad place place to be in that situation (way up high & loooong!). If you do this ridge & want to hook up with the Gilmore Lake trail, it is NOT as marked on the map (converging to the ridge directly)- it instead is a few hundred ft inwards until the final ~200'.