[ctrager]

Regarding "Bishop/Kearsarge passes are quite remote and rugged". I'm not sure what this means, but obviously everybody has their own personal database of experiences.

The town of Bishop would be your base, and you can get there with public transportation from the airport in Reno, NV. Good stores if you need to replace equipment.

The roads to the trailheads are paved - a normal passenger car can handle the roads. Only about an hour from Bishop. There are commercial shuttles too. Even hitchhiking (I've done it, and I'm an ugly old man, and still had no trouble getting rides). The parking lots are already at high altitude, about 10,000 feet, so you only have to go another 2,000 to get over the passes.

The actual trails are in good shape, good surfaces, not narrow, not scary. There are places to camp both before and after the highest point of the passes so you can hike at your own pace. If you wanted to camp at the trailhead the night before to get adjusted to the altitude, then go just, say, just 5 miles and 1200 feet your first day, you could do that, and the trails are beautiful the whole way.

[jointpdf]

Remote = far to drive for essentially everyone (farther than Mammoth/Tahoe, even coming from Reno). Hitchhiking is not the best option to rely on. Once you’re in, you’re also the farther from help than anywhere else in the Sierra. Duck Pass and much of the Tahoe area has cell service.

Rugged = safety traversing passes can require an ice axe and/or crampons (plus the skills to use them properly), depending on the conditions. That region is at high elevation which becomes problematic for people. Lots of inexperienced backpackers get airlifted out of there because of acute altitude sickness. There is a lot of weather exposure (harder to get below treeline if a storm rolls in). Bigger stream crossings, which tend to be the most serious danger to hikers.

I don’t disagree that Bishop rules and the area is (extremely) beautiful, but it’s absolutely not the best recommendation for people who are trying to backpack for the first time. Doable? Yes. Advisable? Not really.

[ctrager]

Regarding remote - I live in Chicago. The nearest decent place to backpack is a 7 hour drive North, and it's nice, but it's the Midwest, not the mountains. For mountains, the last time I went backpacking in the Sierra, it took me about 24 hours and a taxi, an airplaine, a bus, another bus, an uber, and one more bus to get to the trailhead. That's why for me, getting to Bishop, not so bad.

[jamiek88]

12000 feet hike for beginners??! No. Not advisable at all. Also how you react to altitude is so variable person to person and has little to do with fitness that unless you really know your altitude performance you could find yourself really ill.

[ctrager]

I do agree that the altitude must be taken seriously. I've gotten sick. That's why I did write to camp the night before near the trailhead, at 9,000/10,000, and to be okay with NOT going over the pass on day one. Maybe that's enough to acclimate, maybe not. If you feel terrible when you wake up for day one, don't hike, go into Bishop and get a steak at the Bowling Alley. If you feel terrible while hiking on day one, turnaround. But for most people, probably, with that one night's sleep at altitude the day before the hike and a slow first day, they will be okay.

We're talking pretty much about the same altitude situation as going to a ski resort in Colorado.

The thing is, I want even the beginner to experience spectacular mountain scenery so in the USA, that usually means hiking at 10,000, above the tree line.

[carabiner]

Getting to the Kearsarge Pass TH is a 5-hour drive from Reno. I'll go out on a limb an assume most HNers are not from Nevada. This is really a lot of driving / sitting on a bus just to try out backpacking on a weekend.