Kerouac Climbing The Matterhorn in The Dharma Bums

Posted by Jay Haeske on November 5, 2011 · 5 Comments

Just had to think about the climbing trip Kerouac describes in ‘The Dharma Bums’ when going from Sacramento towards Truckee on the California Zephyr and watching the magnificent landscape of the Sierra Nevada roll by. The mountain they climbed in the book was called ‘Matterhorn’, but as far as I’m aware that mountain doesn’t actually exist (in the US), but apparently they drove to Carson City, which is about 100 miles from where this photo was taken on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada.

Filed under Jack Kerouac · Tagged with Jack Kerouac, Kerouac, The Beat Generation, The Beats, The Dharma Bums

Comments

5 Responses to “Kerouac Climbing The Matterhorn in The Dharma Bums”

pitoucat says:

November 5, 2011 at 2:11 pm

Hi Joerg,

There IS a Matterhorn in California. You can read about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn_Peak

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Stephanie Niko says:

November 7, 2011 at 3:09 pm

It sounds so lovely to be out in the wilderness like that.

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JHaeske says:

November 7, 2011 at 9:35 pm

Thanks for the link, Dave, I only searched for Matterhorn and found the one in Switzerland/Italy. Looks a bit different from my photos though, but nevermind.
Thanks for taking the time to comment also, Stephanie.

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Thomas Becker says:

January 1, 2013 at 1:53 am

Here’s an account of someone retracing the steps of Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder on Matterhorn Peak:
http://thbecker.net/hiking/in_the_footsteps_of_jack_kerouac_on_matterhorn_peak/page_01.html

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- JHaeske says:
  
  January 1, 2013 at 10:37 am
  
  Hey Thomas,
  I very much enjoyed your account of the trip – and I envy you that trip, perhaps I’ll make it up there one day myself, certainly sounds very enticing. Don’t know if I’ll make it al the way to the top, but that lake would be fine for a start. Take care! J
  
  Reply