This hike up Lone Pine Peak was in end of September 2006. I found this route described in Secor's High Peaks and Passes. I think this is the easiest way to go up Lone Pine Peak. The difficulty is a 1000' second class scree field (that would make a great 35 degree couloir descent in the winter). The peak is is close to 13,000'.
We took the Meysan Lakes trail near Whitney Portal up towards Meysan Lakes, and split off towards the peak at Grass Lake. The climb is the last option and kind of obvious. Obvious once you realize there is no trail. 2nd class climbing was correct. We had to use our hands and step carefully to prevent the slope from moving. It seemed like a landslide could be started during our climb, but proved unlikely in the end. On the way down we realized we could disturb the slope quite a bit. We just had to keep from tumbling down ourselves. Our shoes filled with sand a lot.
The green stip in this shot is where the trail comes out of Grass Lakes.
There was another party of 2 climbing this route on Lone Pine Peak on this day. They camped out at Grass Lakes, which is a sweet little granite boulder/meadow pad at 11,000. We started hiking at Meysan Lakes Trail at about 8am, and reached the summit at 2pm. Elevation gain was about 5,000' in 9 miles.
Once on the summit plateau, you have to fish around with your direction to find the true summit.
The view from the summit plateau, looking west towards Mt. Whitney.
Our kids are 3 and 5. This 3 day East Side trip was our first time away from our kids overnight, together.
I learned to wear old shoes for 2nd class talus/scree slopes.
Here's a shot from last spring. Lone Pine Peak is the huge guy in the center, as viewed from the Alabama Hills, above Lone Pine, CA. It is often thought to be Mt. Whitney at first, which is over on the right and further back. On the day of this shot, we skied Mt. Whitney's Mountaineers Route, which is the little white strip to the right of Whitney's summit.
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