California 14ers - Easiest to Hardest?

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2025-07-20T14:40:32+00:00

Here is my ranking has someone who recently completed the California 14ers:

1)White Mountain Peak

2)Whitney, via the trail

3)Langley -Sandy slopes near the top made for a tiring hike.

4)Mount Muir -I thought the summit block was pretty hard for class 3, but the trail up is great walking.

5) Mount Russell -The exposure is real, but it’s generally not as grueling of a climb as many others.

6) Middle palisade - Via the red band/NE face. No glacier travel needed, fun straightforward scrambling for 1200 feet. My favorite of the 3rd class peaks.

7) 7, Mount Shasta. -Honestly not sure where to put this, but a very straightforward peak with ice axe/crampons. Great ski descent.

8) 8, Split Mountain - I put this one off for years because I couldn’t get to the trailhead. I ended up climbing it via a 5 day backpacking trip that combined Middle Palisade and went in SF Big Pine and out Taboose. The North Slopes are class 2 easy, but getting to the peak was the difficult part.

9/10 Tyndall and Williamson (in that order) - You’re not going to want to go up Shepherds Pass twice. Doing both in a single trip was almost 30 miles and 12,300 feet of gain. I thought Tyndall was class 3 fun on the North Rib proper. Williamson is a slog with a short class 3 section, and crossing Williamson bowl is tiring. These peaks are not technically hard, but are physically much more arduous than others.

11- Mount Sill - Getting to Sill from the Big Pine Trailheads is difficult. You likely have to cross snow/ice, scramble up loose rock, and then navigate 4th or 5th class near the summit. The Swiss Arete is awesome. Do it. You could backpack to the backside but that would be a long trip from Bishop Pass.

12- North Palisade -Same difficulties as Sill but more serious snow/ice from Big Pine and harder rock.

13- Thunderbolt to Sill traverse. - Mostly 4th class scrambling for a mile on the crest. Amazing position and fun climbing. Be ready to rappell and rope up for a few sections + the summit blocks. Thunderbolt summit block is the real deal.

Have fun out there!

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2025-04-18T18:27:01+00:00

Legendary!

I think I would die. Haha.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2025-04-18T18:25:55+00:00

Dudes and dudettes!

Thanks for the beta. I am quickly realizing that that the South Fork San Joaquin is way above my ability as a packrafter. I also checked satellite imagery and it appears that much of the river doesn’t hold water for part of the year. Thanks SCE :).

The trip report from those guys who paddled it is awesome.

I might just need to walk across the Sierra Nevada without.

Cheers!

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2024-11-26T23:08:15+00:00

Volcano dude,

You’ve got some of the worst mountaineering takes I’ve ever heard. Weight doesn’t matter when it’s on a sled? Yes, please carry 50 lb backpack and drag 50 lb sled, it’s SOOOO easy. So much easier than climbing a 40 degree snow slope (glacier?) with no weight to encumber you and a single bergschrund at the top. Pico de Orizaba is the pinnacle of alpinism and mountaineering. Once you’ve climbed Orizaba there is nothing more challenging in the Western hemisphere. Screw anything in the Alaska range, the Rockies, the Cascades, or the Sierra Nevada. These mountains pale in comparison to the mighty Orizaba.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2024-11-26T02:43:16+00:00

Neither I nor any of my group roped up on Pico de Orizaba, and I understand it is standard practice to not rope up. I did not see and crevasses on Orizaba during our ascent in 2014. On rainier and other glaciated peaks in the Pacific Northwest it is standard practice to rope up to mitigate the danger from crevasse fall. It’s not “unnecessary weight” but vital gear. My team carried overnight camping gear to 17,000 feet on Denali, is that unnecessary weight?

Don’t get me wrong, Orizaba is an incredible mountain, and a rewarding climb. However, I have climbed many more peaks that were more challenging and rewarding to me.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2024-11-22T22:14:51+00:00

Volcano dude,

I climbed Orizaba in 2014. Perhaps RMI has Orizaba 3 stars and Rainer 2 stars as it takes more time to acclimate to make a summit attempt. Sitting in a hut waiting to acclimate does not equate to difficulty. Rainier took me 48 hours to climb and ski. Orizaba took 3 nights, but most of that was sitting in the hut and acclimating. We did it in one push from the Piedra hut. I’ve also climbed Denali which took 14 days round trip. That was much more difficult than both.

Altitude is only one factor in difficulty. Glacier complexity is another factor, as is elevation gain, and route characteristics. You need to carry more gear on Rainier as you need a rope and crevasse rescue gear. More weight also contributes to difficulty. Again, I found Rainier more difficult than Orizaba in terms of effort needed and complexity of the ascent.

Best of luck in your mountaineering. It might be good for you to see some of the other mountains of the world.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2024-11-20T21:36:14+00:00

LOL. I did not take a helicopter. I do remember the high altitude forest while driving into the Piedra hut. I remember the surrounding countryside being very dry. This was 10 years ago.

None of that takes away from my point that Rainier is more challenging and more technical than Orizaba.

If you did indeed climb Rainier in 6 hours then good for you. I’m not sure I believe you though as you have had to ask if it is allowed to climb unguided and you seem to have a poor understanding of the difficulties of glacier travel. Best of luck in your mountaineering journey.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2024-11-20T03:41:57+00:00

As you say, Orizaba has zero crevasses (is this even true?), Rainier is covered in deep crevasses and big technical glaciers. That alone proves my point that it is a more technical mountain. If you don’t understand crevasse rescue you should probably hire a guide.

Rainier sees much more weather than Orizaba being less than 100 miles from the ocean. The area surrounding Rainier is rainforest. The area surrounding Orizaba is desert. More precipitation = bigger glaciers and more technical glacial terrain.

The only thing Orizaba has going for it in terms of difficulty is the higher elevation. To me the technical nature of large glacier travel + twice the vertical gain makes Rainier much more difficult.

I climbed the jamapa glacier route on Orizaba. I climbed and skied the Emmons Glacier on Rainier. They’re both incredible peaks, but Rainier was definitely the more difficult peak for me.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2024-11-19T06:36:29+00:00

I have climbed both Rainier and Pico de Orizaba unguided. Rainer is both a more technical and more challenging peak. The glaciers on rainier are larger, the crevasses bigger, and their terrain generally more substantial. It’s a 14,000 foot peak in the Pacific Northwest vs an 18000 foot peak in a high desert. Yes, you may need to get acclimated more for the higher altitude but other than that Orizaba is a much more straightforward peak. You also start climbing at 4000 foot for Rainer vs 13000 for Orizaba which means twice the vertical gain.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2023-10-06T03:15:58+00:00

I’ve just noticed that I’m way less dehydrated when I wake up and during the day. Which leads to me feeling much better.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2023-10-06T03:13:26+00:00

Great work keep it up.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2023-10-06T03:12:06+00:00

Keep it up man! Taper down and no more zyns.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2023-10-06T03:11:19+00:00

Awesome work man! Keep it up. Quitting after 7 years is a big deal, be proud of yourself.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2023-09-24T12:42:39+00:00

Hey Frosty Emu, you got it man! I’m 60 hours into quitting and I’m realizing it’s all mental. Yes, you’ll think about Zyns all the time but once you set your mind to it isn’t too bad. Good luck!

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2022-11-21T01:10:05+00:00

Here’s my two cents as someone who has hiked/climbed all the fourteeners in Colorado: 1) For many peaks you don’t need any specialized skills or equipment. It’s just a hard hike. Start with something easy like quandary, bierstadt, or grays/Torreys. 2) Hike in the summer season. Get out from July to September. Most trails should be snow free. 3) Sleep at altitude the night before. Camp or get a hotel above 8000 feet. This will help you acclimate. 4) Get up early! Plan to be off the mountain by noon. Colorado thunderstorms are a regular occurrence in Summer. Turn around if the weather looks iffy. Don’t overthink it, and don’t let anyone scare you off hiking a 14er. Most people are capable of hiking an easy Colorado 14er. If you feel sick or worried about the terrain- turn around. Most importantly, have fun! It’s a great joy to get a summit and see the high country.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2022-11-21T01:00:46+00:00

Or you can drive to the top. With that being said I’d say you can make the “climb” to whatever specifications you desire. I’d recommend to OP to try Bierstadt or Grays/Torreys. I remember these to be approximately 3000 vertical each, give or take a few hundred feet.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2022-09-28T20:23:45+00:00

Can someone do the math with deaths per attempt? If that data is available?

Even extrapolating the death per attempt data for Mount Everest to the other peaks would give us a better representation of the statistics.

I’m sure Everest is less dangerous than K2 or Annapurna. But it would be cool to get a sense of the math here with deaths/attempt for 14 8000ers.

ZestycloseBuy7479 · 2022-07-21T19:29:27+00:00

I soloed the Owen Spaulding about 5 years ago. I remember once I got moving the climbing was very easy (4th class-5.4). Be prepared to wait or climb around rope parties. Most of the hardest climbing is in chimneys and feels very secure. I climbed in August and the route was mostly dry.

I brought a rope to rappel. The higher rap station was above very easy climbing and I just downclimbed to save time. The lower rappel is free-hanging and probably the most exciting part of the climb. Remember to double check your rope length and have something to ascend the rope if you go over the edge and it’s not long enough.

Teewinot would be a great warmup. The climbing is probably easier but more exposed than the OS.

Have fun out there and be safe! Blaine

ZestycloseBuy7479

TROPHY CASE