Alta Peak and Paradise Peak

This weekend I went to the Kings Canyon national park together with Christian, Ben, Harald and Hannes. On the first day, we went to the top of Alta Peak (11204 feet). Unlike last year, there was no snow on the top, so getting there was a lot easier.


After enjoying a great view at the top, we decided not to go down the normal trail, but try to go down to a nearby lake. Unfortunately this involved more free solo climbing sessions than was to my liking. Christian and I climbed down a 50 ft wall, while the other three tried their luck at a very steep gravel field. Getting around the lake was also pretty difficult and Ben was a bit unlucky as he fell into the water. On the picture below the area around the lake looks quite flat, but if you get nearer you soon realize that only climbing may bring you to the other side.

Unfortunately I was suffering from a heat stroke by the time we were reaching the lake. Hiking with head ache is not much fun. Actually I had exactly the same symptoms as last year.

All of us were very exhausted when we finally reached the car. So only Christian and I were motivated enough to do a second peak on the second day. We went to the top of the Paradise Peak (9,362 feet). It was very hot and we felt Alta Peak in our muscles, but the view at the top was again worth all the trouble...

On that day we saw a lot of dead trees lying around and the amazing thing was that they did not rot, but fall into little pieces. It must take hundreds of years for such a tree to finally fall into very small pieces, but you can still make out where it fell down...