Dragon Peak beckons to the climber as the distinctive pyramid seen from the Golden Trout Lakes drainage, accompanied just to the north by the dramatic "Dragons Tooth".
Dragon Peaks' somewhat challenging third class summit blocks and wonderful vistas have garnered it a spot on the Sierra Club SPS list. On first sight from the lower lakes it begs you to come on up - it's why we climb!
The first recorded ascent was via the South Ridge Route in 1920 by Fred Parker and J.E. Rother (Secor, 2nd Ed.) There appears to be some discrepancy in the altitude of the peak; R.J. Secor calls it 12955; Steve Ropers older guide lists it as 12995. USGS reportedly agrees with the latter, higher number. A recent poll shows that most climbers agree that it feels more like 12995 than 12955 so that should settle the matter for now.
The peak can be reached from a few different directions, the southeast ridge route from Onion Valley apparently being the most traveled (coincidentally this is the easiest and most direct approach.) It can also be reached via a third class traverse from Mt Gould which lies approximately 1 mile to the south along the Sierra Crest and at least one 5th class route has been documented. Undoubtedly many other approaches exist. Be aware that there is much loose rock on this route.
I made two attemps to climb 12,995' Dragon Peak. First on May 27-30, 1966 on a 12 mile round trip backpack with Explorer Post 360 (12 boys and 8 men). We started from Onion Valley at about 8:30 a.m. Found the trail behind the pack station and proceeded up past a large waterfall on fair trail.
Arrived at trail junction about 11:30 a.m. Stopped for lunch. Back on the trail at 1 p.m. - in camp at highest lake (11,560') by 2:15 p.m. (first boys in camp about 10:15 a.m.). Lake was frozen except near outlet.
Sunday up at 5:30 - on trail by 7:45 - climbed long snowfield with rock climb at top to reach ridge (50 feet of class 3) then class 3 easy along ridge to summit pitch. High class 3 last 20 yards - some belayed - 15 started, 13 made ridge, 11 made peak - by 11:30.
Started down at 12:00+. Long glissade. In camp by 2:15. Monday up with sun (7:30 a.m.) on trail about 9:45 - last to cars by 11 a.m. GOOD TRIP.
Dragon Peak route from Onion Valley
I made a second attempt to climb Dragon Peak with Jim White on September 11-12, 1982 on a ten mile round trip backpack.
We drove to the trailhead at Onion Valley and headed up the Trail to Golden Trout Lakes. This was Jim's first backpack all summer (he'd been working all summer at the Union 76 Station in Independence) so he wasn't in shape. I'd just finished my usual summer of hiking and was it top shape for a change.
We chugged up the steep trail with a snack stop at the first creek crossing and lunch on top of the falls with another snack at the meadow where the trail turns west to Golden Trout Lakes or east to the lakes under Dragon Peak. We headed to the highest lake under Dragon Peak where we found a nice camp all to ourselves. Several other parties were camped at the lower lake.
Sunday we got up early and headed for Dragon Pass and Dragon Peak . I had a mild diarrhea and Jim had a back ache so we weren't sure what was going to happen. After a while though we both began to feel better and continued up over rock and snow toward Dragon Pass. Near the top, Jim chose a route in the rocks that was high Class 3 in spots and I wasn't too happy with it. I ended up doing some pretty high Class 3 (for me) in order to have the security I wanted.
With Jim's assistance I finally made it to Dragon Pass although I was sort of psyched out. I decided to stay at the pass while Jim climbed Dragon Peak. The weather was nice with a cool breeze. The breeze picked up as the afternoon wore on and we headed back to camp quickly on Jim's return from the peak.
At camp we were both tired so decided to take about an hour's rest before breaking camp. As we headed down the trail the wind was blowing pretty good and a storm was moving in. We made it back to the car as it was getting dark and turning cold. We both enjoyed a fine trip.
