My brother-in-law vplamar and I made a heck of a climb up Pyramid Peak. Pyramid Peak is 11,724' above sea level, according to my GPS. My topo map says that it's closer to 11,760'. I have been much higher than this, but as Narlsharls and Trurokr will attest, the tallest mountains aren't always the ones that pack the biggest punch. This one was a real butt kicker all the way.
Pyramid Peak can be viewed from many angles in the town of Mammoth Lakes. The farther west you go in town, the more the peak looks like a perfect pyramid. As you head east out of town, the peak ceases to look like a pyramid. Up close, the peak becomes a giant mass of granite boulders strewn about.
From the top of Pyramid Peak the views are astounding. You are higher than most of the Mammoth Crest, making for stellar views beyond the crest. You'll look down on Mammoth Mountain, nearly 700' lower. You'll see Duck Lake from 1,300' above. You'll see Bloody Mountain and many taller peaks to the southeast. It is simply amazing up there.
In July, 2008 Gotfish? hid a cache called Black Rock Peak, which you pass on your way to Pyramid Peak. In his cache description he posted a photo of Pyramid Peak that he titled "I wanted to reach these peaks but ran out of time and energy." That set the stage for me to hide a cache on the peak.
My first attempt was with my son in August, 2008. I was recovering from a mountainbiking accident and simply didn't have the stamina to make it that far. I lugged a full sized ammo can up the Sherwin Ridge and settled for the hiding place of my Granite Chief cache.
The second attempt I made at Pyramid Peak came in September, 2008. This time hail and 60 mph winds turned me back at the location of my Layers cache. I was 500' from the summit, but there was no way that I was going any further in that weather.
My third attempt was on July 27, 2009, but the threat of a thunderstorm turned me back at Black Rock Peak.
July 31 became the day that I would attempt Pyramid Peak once again. My brother-in-law, vplamar, and I set out at 8:00 AM. There was a threat of thunderstorms beginning at 2:00 PM. That was plenty of time, so we thought. It took nearly 4.5 hours to reach the summit. We descended slowly, with the boulders proving just as difficult to scale down as they were up. Then the thunderstorm arrived. 500' below the summit we were forced to hunker down in a hole in the boulders for 2.5 hours while lightning crashed all around us and we were pelted by rain and hail.
The rain and lightning finally moved north and we continued our slow descent. We finally completed our harrowing trip at 7:30 PM, 11.5 hours after it began.
