"The Desolation 7". Includes the 7 major summits of the granite-and-lake-filled Desolation Wilderness next to Lake Tahoe, California. Attempted by some in a day in a big loop -- approx. 24 miles and 10,000 ft vertical that includes large stretches of rough, talus-filled, off-trail terrain as you encircle amazing Lake Aloha and myriad other alpine lakes.
Highest peak
Pyramid Peak
9,983 ft / 3,042 m
Most prominent peak
Pyramid Peak
2,583 ft / 787 m prom
Most climbed peak
Mount Tallac
122 climbs
Most difficult peak
no info yet
Difficulty breakdown
no info yet
Highlights
Latest climbs
"Second time summiting Pyramid Peak, this time in winter. Originally, we planned to climb Agassiz nearby by taking the Pyramid Peak trail and veering off down a couloir, but when we arrived
at said couloir to downclimb it, it had became incredibly steep. Alongside that and a huge mound of snow sloping of the west cliff of pyramid peak that blocked our route, we decided to climb Pyramid instead. No micro spikes or crampons were used despite it being icy, however we did use an ice axe coming down for glissading. " — goodseal • Feb 1, 2026
"Winter ascent attempt before Wright's Lake Road was fully closed due to conditions, icy slopes on the class 3, bad path finding, and lack of gear lead to us turning around 150 feet from the summit while trying to scale it via the north ridge. " — goodseal • Dec 6, 2025
"Went for a scramble route up the South East Chutes with 2 friends, ended up veering off to the right and ended up scrambling up some other chutes and onto a mini ridgeline onto the flat slope up to the top. Took the trail down" — goodseal • Nov 9, 2025
"Snowy for the upper 3/5ths of the hike, personally not equipped with any water for some reason, my group behind me got lost and scaled down the wrong side of the ridge and looped around to the trail. " — goodseal • May 31, 2025
"This was my first Spring hike of over 9000' elevation, and oh boy you could tell. I brought a t-shirt, sweatpants, and normal tennis shoes expecting to easily summit, which I did, but not easily. I don't even know how I did this that badly underprepared." — goodseal • May 17, 2025
