Echo Summit

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Mountain pass

title: "Echo Summit" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountain-passes-of-the-sierra-nevada-(united-states)", "landforms-of-el-dorado-county,-california", "california-historical-landmarks", "u.s.-route-50"] description: "Mountain pass" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_Summit" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Mountain pass ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain pass"]

FieldValue
nameEcho Summit
photoFile:US 50 from Echo Summit towards Lake Tahoe.jpg
photo_captionView from Echo Summit towards Lake Tahoe.
elevation_ft7382
traversed
locationEl Dorado County,
California, U.S.
rangeSierra Nevada
coordinates
{{Designation listembed
::

| name = Echo Summit | photo = File:US 50 from Echo Summit towards Lake Tahoe.jpg | photo_caption = View from Echo Summit towards Lake Tahoe. | elevation_ft = 7382 | elevation_ref = | traversed = | location = El Dorado County, California, U.S. | range = Sierra Nevada | coordinates =
| topo =

|California |relief = 1 |label = Echo Summit |lat = 38.813 |long = -120.030 |caption = Location in California |marksize = 5 |float = |background = |width = 200 Echo Summit is a mountain pass over the Sierra Nevada in the western United States, located in eastern El Dorado County, California. At 7377 ft above sea level, it is the highest point on U.S. Route 50 in California, which traverses it at postmile 66.48 between Twin Bridges and Meyers, south of Lake Tahoe.

The "Sierra Nevada Southern Route" (aka the "Pioneer Route") of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States, was routed over nearby Johnson Pass in 1913. The current alignment over Echo Summit was constructed between 1936 and 1939.

The "Sierra Nevada Northern Route" of the Lincoln Highway went over Donner Pass.

Echo Summit is a trailhead for the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

1968 U.S. Olympic Trials

Echo Summit is notable for being the location (sometimes listed as "South Lake Tahoe") of the 1968 U.S. Olympic track and field trials for men, held September 6–16, a month before the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. (The women's trials were at low altitude in Los Angeles County, at Walnut.) The Echo Summit site opened in July as a training camp for high-altitude acclimation, with an elevation similar to the Olympic Stadium in Mexico. The original men's trials were in Los Angeles in late June, but a second round of trials was added to the training camp.

With a motel tax and financial support from Harrah's Tahoe casino, a synthetic Tartan track was purchased which was very similar to that to be used in Mexico City. Installation was completed in early July and was designed to be easily dismantled and reinstalled, being moved the following summer to nearby South Tahoe Middle School where it survived until 2006. Installed southwest of the summit in the parking lot of a small ski area, hundreds of Ponderosa pine trees remained in the infield, densest on the north end. The high jump pit was also surrounded by huge boulders. Four world records were achieved at the trials.

The location became a California Historical Landmark in 2014 with a roadside sign along Highway 50. At the time, this was only the fifth sports-related historical site in California.

The ski area, known as Nebelhorn and later Echo Summit, closed twenty years later in 1988. It is now Adventure Mountain, a snow play area for sledding and tubing.

References

References

  1. "California Highways (www.cahighways.org): Routes 49 through 56".
  2. [http://www.legacy.usatf.org/News/1968-Olympians-Return-to-Echo-Summit.aspx 1968 Olympians Return to Echo Summit]{{Dead link. (July 2025)
  3. Underwood, John. (September 23, 1968). "Triumph at tragedy at Tahoe".
  4. Burns, Bob. (July 3, 2000). "Magic Mountain". Chicago Tribune.
  5. (July 16, 1968). "U.S. begins first work at altitude". Spokesman-Review.
  6. Payne, Bob. (August 16, 1968). "Olympic camp's press 'ban' unpopular". Spokesman-Review.
  7. (September 12, 1968). "Vanderstock shatters record; Ryun 7th". Eugene-Register Guard.
  8. Hymans, Richard. (2008). "The History of the United States Olympic Trials". [[USA Track & Field]].
  9. "Past Covers 1968".
  10. Hymans 2008 p.137
  11. Hymans 2008 pp.9-10
  12. (December 20, 2012). "Echo Summit". State of California.
  13. Burns, Bob. "Echo Summit". Pacific Association.
  14. Reed, Kathryn. (June 28, 2014). "1968 U.S. Olympic track team, Echo Summit training site continue to make history". Lake Tahoe News.
  15. Reed, Kathryn. (March 3, 2014). "Old ski lodge set to open on top of Echo Summit". Lake Tahoe News.
  16. Kingman, Bill. (June 1, 2014). "Then and now: Echo Summit ski resort changes". Lake Tahoe News.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

mountain-passes-of-the-sierra-nevada-(united-states)landforms-of-el-dorado-county,-californiacalifornia-historical-landmarksu.s.-route-50