Tag: Mark Houston

We’re at the Symmes Creek trailhead, in the high desert sage out Onion Valley Road west of Independence, about to embark on the Sierra High Route. Pioneered by Dave Beck in 1975, this ski tour became an instant classic. Beck envisioned this line across the southern Sierra as California's answer to the famous Haute Route of the Alps. Traversing 50 spectacular miles from the Owens Valley near Mt. Whitney to the grand conifers of Sequoia National Park on the west, the route crosses the highest portion of the Sierra, including six major passes that top 12,000 to 13,000 feet.