Map of General Route:
Donner Peak is the sweet little mountain that dominates your view as you drive up old hwy 40 over Donner Pass. It is on your left above Donner Lake. Donner Peak is interesting, in that it offers extreme terrain on the north side above the train tracks, including the tick list “heart” run and some train tunnel hucking options. Then you have the mellow, low angle NW Gully and slopes that easily take you up to the summit. To climb Donner Peak, skin up this NW side, which is basically the right skyline you see in my pictures or along your drive up there. You will see Sugarbowl Skiers on the piste through the trees to your right, as you go up the hill. You may end up having a hard time traversing back to the car, as there is enticing terrain to keep skiing below the car and train tunnel. No problem, you have skins. Explore the area while you are there. Donner Pass has all kinds of neat nooks and crannies to take photos of scenery, or your crazy friends riding short, technical lines. The early Tahoe ski movies were shot in this zone and we are ready to see another one!
Oh yeah, parking is basically anywhere you see along hwy 40 near the top of the road. Sugarbowl Academy is not currently using this building, and the parking lot seems open to everyone. Thank you!!! The property owner must be cool! Stuffing our cars into the bank on the highway was not always possible.
I have really enjoyed using Gaia and now download topography before most any trip into the mountains. Knowing where you are is amazing. It’s not overkill. I’ll show you how to do it, come see me. No, I don’t have my nose in the phone the whole time. I like knowing where the low angle terrain is when I can’t see it with my own eyes for example. On a bigger adventure I might draw the route in with my finger to learn the vert and mileage. And I can make notes of terrain I want to be aware of next time. Donner Peak is a small mountain near the car. It is still complex and I used my Gaia app recently to navigate around with confidence. There are other apps of course that do the same thing I imagine.
donner peak view
schwartz clan donner peak
max and alex donner peak
steph donner peak
Looking for awesome ski and splitboard tours in the Sierras? We’ve got write ups on many common and uncommon tours curated by the owner of the BackCountry, Mike Schwartz.
Some terrain shots I took on a solo trip up Donner Peak. You can see the dramatic difference in difficulty when seen from old. Serious stuff above the train tunnel on the left, and mellow terrain in the gully on the right. Plus the best view of Donner Lake at top. If you zoomed in you could see our shop and my office window.
went a few days ago to some nice soft snow and descent coverage! Finding the peak is not as straightforward as I remembered, as you don’t see it for a while. Good news is parking seems totally chill in the abandoned Sugarbowl Ski Academy building. To avoid steep terrain from the start, you skin away from the peak and circle back around to the summit from the West. When you descend more fall line into nice mellow gully, you end up above a short steep finish to the train tracks. Not bad, but not for total beginners. Then skin back uphill for a very short stretch to your car. Or just skip the last steep chute and skin back to find your ascent path and end up with multiple little ski descents. use your phone mapping software to track and understand where you are! I use Gaia.
Oh, and the steep north face is not in yet. That’s a late season thing.