Lake Aloha Climbing

This digital Lake Aloha climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Lake Aloha days smoother, safer, and more dialed.

In the late spring/early summer when the water levels are high, Lake Aloha is one of the most stunningly beautiful lakes in the entire Sierra. The hundreds of small islands throughout the lake, many with trees growing on them, give it a magical feel. In the fall when the water levels drop it is not as beautiful, but this is the best time for climbing here as the majority of the bouldering is in the direct sun all day. The climbing is located on the northeast corner of the lake and is characterized by two main types of climbing which contrast each other immensely. Just above ... Show more

This digital Lake Aloha climbing guidebook gives you GPS navigation, verified topos, and beta for hundreds of climbs. Explore classics and hidden gems with offline access to maps, directions, and beta videos. Whether it's your first visit or fiftieth, KAYA makes your Lake Aloha days smoother, safer, and more dialed. In the late spring/early summer when the water levels are high, Lake Aloha is one of the most stunningly beautiful lakes in the entire Sierra. The hundreds of small islands throughout the lake, many with trees growing on them, give it a magical feel. In the fall when the water levels drop it is not as beautiful, but this is the best time for climbing here as the majority of the bouldering is in the direct sun all day. The climbing is located on the northeast corner of the lake and is characterized by two main types of climbing which contrast each other immensely. Just above the shoreline of the lake is a very modest collection of small erratics with some steep problems. The climbing is good, there just aren’t a lot of boulders. In contrast, just above the boulders, many outstanding walls pepper the terraced landscape. The walls vary from just the right height to insanely tall. All the rock at Lake Aloha is pristine white granite and due to unique circumstances, the rock is highly featured and the holds, almost as a rule, are incredible. Sculpted fins, tufas, edges, buckets and knobs, knobs, knobs–knobs everywhere it seems—are plastered on the rock, waiting for you to hike out and grab them! Due to the long approach a solid plan is a must. Jesse Bonin developed the erratics by going midsummer and camping. He climbed in the mornings and evenings and took advantage of the limited shade that the erratics offer. This is certainly a way to go and camping up here is a fun experience. You can also take advantage of the boat shuttle during midsummer at Echo Lake, as this will shave a few miles off of the approach. Since the walls above bake all day, a different strategy can, and probably should, be used. Wait for cold days in October, knowing you will be climbing in the sun all day. Start up the trail around 6 AM, before sunrise and you will be climbing by 9:30/10:00. Climb all day and walk out in the dark with headlamps. An epic day for sure! You got to want it, but it’s so worth it if your into tall wall style bouldering. The walls have a trad feel and jamming skills are useful on some lines. If you plan on stepping up to some of the problems in the 20 to 40 foot height range, a chunk of rope, a very small rack of cams, a few slings, and a harness for pre-inspection is a great idea. Keep in mind that many of the tallest problems were pre-inspected on a rope prior to ascent. Although, now that the holds are clean and the grades are known, climbers could certainly just go for it, assuming they have the skills. This is no place for an injury from a big fall. Lastly, please be heads up on the knobs. I’ve seen a fair amount of diorite knobs break in my time. They are fun to climb on, just try and climb wisely. Lake Aloha is a grand adventure that you will remember for a lifetime. The Good: Amazing Rock Quality, Epic Grips, Knobs, Beautiful Setting The Bad: Very Long Approach, South Facing Boulders DRIVING: From the South Lake Tahoe intersection of Hwy 50/89, head west toward Sacramento. After 2.7 miles take a right on Johnson Pass Road before you reach Echo Summit. Locals really haul on this bypass so pay attention here. Go 0.7 miles and take a right on Echo Lake Road. The main parking area is 0.9 miles up the narrow road. From Sacramento, go 1.8 miles past the entrance to the Sierra-at-Tahoe resort and take a left on the Echo Lake/Johnson Pass Road. Go 0.6 miles and take a left on Echo Lake Road. Go 0.9 miles to the main parking area. APPROACH: From the parking lot follow the road for 200 yds down to the seasonal store by the lake. Go past the store, cross the dam and join the Pacific Crest Trail that wanders a bit before heading north along the lakeshore.Walk for 3 hours to the bouldering at Lake Aloha. Basically stay on the PCT the whole way, following the signs and not taking any of the spur trails to nearby lakes. About 2 hours in, just as you arrive at the south end of Lake Aloha you will see a sign that says “Lake Aloha” in both directions. Go right here, as the left fork goes down to the south end of the lake. Walk along the right (east) shoreline of Lake Aloha for almost 1 hour until you get to one final sign. Go left here towards Mosquito Pass, the right fork leads to Fallen Leaf Lake. Continue for 10 minutes and just as you are coming near the end of the Lake you will see the Aloha Boulder 30 yds to your right sitting on a slab. The rest of the climbing is directly behind the Aloha boulder or a little farther down the trail then uphill on the slabs.