I’ve been intrigued by Mount Williamson since climbing neighboring Mount Tyndall in 1987. At 14,375 feet, it is the second highest mountain in California after Whitney. It sits distinctively to the east of the Sierra Crest, and has a limited climbing season (ending on July 15th) because it lies in the California Bighorn Sheep Zoological Area. The Manazanar Japanese Internment Camp is located at its base- Ansel Adams visited there during the war and took a collection of photographs, including one of a storm clearing over Mount Williamson.
Allen Roberts, Jeremiah Wassom, Jim Moore, and I set out from the Symmes Creek trailhead. This is one of the more strenuous trailheads in the Sierra, starting at 6300 feet and ending 6000 feet higher at Shepherd’s pass- Mount Williamson is a couple of miles beyond. We made it to Anvil Camp (10,000′) the first day and climbed Mount Williamson the second. The climb was not particularly difficult technically (though there was a 100 foot class 3 chimney near the summit), but did require several miles of boulder hopping and a long scree slog. With at 5:30am start, we summited at 11:30, just before the weather closed in. Visibility was limited due to smoke from the Clover fire to the south, near Olancha.