Mammoth Mountain
Ascent of Mammoth Mountain (from Twin Lakes, class 1), with Magali Delmas, August 5, 2024.
Timeline:
August 5, 2024: We parked at Tamarack Lodge and started hiking at 9:26. We crossed the Twin Lakes Campground to the well-signed trailhead for the Dragon's Back Trail. We hiked up at a leisurely pace past the Bottomless Pit / Hole in the Wall, the along the Dragon's Back to the the summit of Mammoth Mountain (11:47). We had a snack and lemonade at the summit interpretive center, where I got into a discussion with a docent as to whether Mount Lyell was visible from the summit of Mammoth Mountain.* We then hiked back down the way we came, reaching the car at 13:55. It was a very clear day with good visibility, ideal for taking good photos. It was also Magali's first Sierra summit. (4:29 hours elapsed, 3:32 hours moving, 7.13 miles, 2,636 feet of elevation gain).
(* I thought the signs in the summit display might be pointing to Mount Davis instead of Mount Lyell. Checking on mapping software at home afterwards, I found out that Mammoth Mountain, Mount Davis and Mount Lyell all lie along a straight line - so in fact the sign was pointing to both Mount Davis and Mount Lyell, and the docent was right: Mount Lyell is visible from the summit of Mammoth Mountain.)