Sierra Nevada passes

[[email protected]]

Some passes through the Sierras in California are obvious from the
roads that go through them, examples being near Lake Tahoe (Hwy 50 and
Interstate 80) and Tioga Pass Road (Hwy 120) through Yosemite.

My question is what other passes, not marked by roads, are people
using? What are their altitudes and locations? Are they the highest
point on the crossing, or are there additional passes to clear
afterward?

About ten years ago, I flew from Bishop to the SF area and was
planning on using Tioga Pass until a local pilot told me about the
pass behind Mammoth Mountain that follows V230 almost to Fresno. It is
more than 500' lower than Tioga Pass and follows the San Joaquin
River's canyon, so once you're over the pass, you have a clear shot to
Fresno with no terrain clearance issues. I believe they told me the
pass was 9300', but a topo map I'm using seems to say it's 9400'. Does
anyone know the right altitude? I've flown that route several times,
including about ten days ago, and it's quite spectacular.

Thanks for any help.

Martin

[RST Engineering]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Some passes through the Sierras in California are obvious from the
> roads that go through them, examples being near Lake Tahoe (Hwy 50 and
> Interstate 80) and Tioga Pass Road (Hwy 120) through Yosemite.
>
> My question is what other passes, not marked by roads, are people
> using?

If they are very clever, none of them. They are flown by people who have
never lost an engine unexpectedly.

>
> About ten years ago, I flew from Bishop to the SF area and was
> planning on using Tioga Pass until a local pilot told me about the
> pass behind Mammoth Mountain that follows V230 almost to Fresno. It is
> more than 500' lower than Tioga Pass and follows the San Joaquin
> River's canyon, so once you're over the pass, you have a clear shot to
> Fresno with no terrain clearance issues.


Did the local pilot also tell you how long it would take the sheriff's
rescue team to pull your mangled body out of the river canyon once someone
noticed you were missing?

Jim

[Robert M. Gary]

On Jun 4, 1:26 am, wrote:
> Some passes through the Sierras in California are obvious from the
> roads that go through them, examples being near Lake Tahoe (Hwy 50 and
> Interstate 80) and Tioga Pass Road (Hwy 120) through Yosemite.
>
> My question is what other passes, not marked by roads, are people
> using? What are their altitudes and locations? Are they the highest
> point on the crossing, or are there additional passes to clear
> afterward?
>
> About ten years ago, I flew from Bishop to the SF area and was
> planning on using Tioga Pass until a local pilot told me about the
> pass behind Mammoth Mountain that follows V230 almost to Fresno. It is
> more than 500' lower than Tioga Pass and follows the San Joaquin
> River's canyon, so once you're over the pass, you have a clear shot to
> Fresno with no terrain clearance issues. I believe they told me the
> pass was 9300', but a topo map I'm using seems to say it's 9400'. Does
> anyone know the right altitude? I've flown that route several times,
> including about ten days ago, and it's quite spectacular.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Martin

I'm not sure what type of plane you are flying. I cross the Sierra
often in my Mooney. I usually do so around 14,000 feet. I'm not above
all the peaks but I'm well above what I'm flying over and high enough
to pick a spot to land (although the pickings aren't always 1st
choice). If the crossing is afternoon in the summer I'll often cross
at 16,000 just to aviod more bumps. You learn how to read the
mountains and the waves and ride the up drafts and jam through the
down drafts.

[[email protected]]

On Jun 4, 10:58 am, "RST Engineering" > wrote:

> If they are very clever, none of them. They are flown by people who have
> never lost an engine unexpectedly.

You make a good point and I should have noted that I fly a motor
glider and was in glider mode at that point, so losing my engine
wasn't a factor. I have a "soaring computer" that links to my GPS and
tells me the safety margin or deficiency to make the goal (FAT in this
case), taking into account headwind or tailwind, etc.

I also do a mental calculation to double check the computer -- it is
possible to forget to change the goal altitude (which has to be done
manually) and a few other things. Plus, if there's a tailwind that the
soaring computer is counting on, it will diminish as I descend and can
even become a headwind. But I wouldn't fly that route without close to
a 100% safety margin in altitude whereas 50% is normally very safe.

In this crossing at Mammoth, I got to 16k feet in a thermal near MMH
(more like 17k when the difference between MSL and alitmeter altitude
is taken into account, but I didn't count on that extra thousand,
using it as an extra buffer against error) and was only a thousand
feet lower as I crossed Mammoth Mountain. With a 50:1 glide ratio, I
could glide well over 100 nm in theory and at least 60 nm in practice,
even if I hit lots of sink -- which can happen in the Sierras. FAT was
much closer than 60 nm, so my main concern was terrain clearance,
which the soaring computer cannot take into account. There is also a
private strip about 15 nm closer. While landing there would probably
cause some damage to my ship since it has a 75' wingspan, the chance
of injury would be small.

Further, while I don't count on the engine starting, I have never had
an inflight failure when starting the engine in over 5,000 air starts.

So, while of course there was some risk in my crossing (as in any
mountain flying), it was much less than my first posting indicated.
Sorry I didn't go into more detail.

Martin

[BT]

I used Kern Valley (Lake Isabella area) on a regular basis into Bakersfield.
The next pass south is Tehachapi.
BT

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Some passes through the Sierras in California are obvious from the
> roads that go through them, examples being near Lake Tahoe (Hwy 50 and
> Interstate 80) and Tioga Pass Road (Hwy 120) through Yosemite.
>
> My question is what other passes, not marked by roads, are people
> using? What are their altitudes and locations? Are they the highest
> point on the crossing, or are there additional passes to clear
> afterward?
>
> About ten years ago, I flew from Bishop to the SF area and was
> planning on using Tioga Pass until a local pilot told me about the
> pass behind Mammoth Mountain that follows V230 almost to Fresno. It is
> more than 500' lower than Tioga Pass and follows the San Joaquin
> River's canyon, so once you're over the pass, you have a clear shot to
> Fresno with no terrain clearance issues. I believe they told me the
> pass was 9300', but a topo map I'm using seems to say it's 9400'. Does
> anyone know the right altitude? I've flown that route several times,
> including about ten days ago, and it's quite spectacular.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Martin
>