Luther Pass is a mountain pass

Mountain pass

A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...

 in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 in the Sierra Nevada, between the Carson River

Carson River

The Carson River is a northwestern Nevada river that empties into the Carson Sink, an endorheic basin. The main stem of the river is long....

 basin and Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. At a surface elevation of , it is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. Its depth is , making it the USA's second-deepest...

. It is traversed by State Route 89

California State Route 89

State Route 89 is a California State Highway that travels in the north–south direction, and is the major thoroughfare for many mountain communities. It starts from U.S. Route 395 near Topaz Lake, winding its way up to the Monitor Pass, down to the Carson River, and up again over the Luther...

 and lies on the boundary between Alpine County

Alpine County, California

Alpine County is the smallest county, by population, in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010, it had a population of 1,175, all rural. There are no incorporated cities in the county. The county seat is Markleeville...

 and El Dorado County

El Dorado County, California

El Dorado County is a county located in the historic Gold Country in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and foothills of the U.S. state of California. The 2010 population was 181,058. The El Dorado county seat is in Placerville....

. The mountains southwest of Luther Pass form the Sierra Crest, while to the northeast they spur off to form the Carson Range

Carson Range

The Carson Range is a spur of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California and western Nevada that starts at Luther Pass and West Carson Canyon and goes to the Truckee River...

.

The pass is named after Ira M. Luther, one of the "Irish Brigade" described by Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

 in Roughing It

Roughing It

Roughing It is a book of semi-autobiographical travel literature written by American humorist Mark Twain. It was written during 1870–71 and published in 1872 as a prequel to his first book Innocents Abroad...

. In 1854, Luther traversed the pass by covered wagon

Covered wagon

The covered wagon, also known as a Prairie schooner, is an icon of the American Old West.Although covered wagons were commonly used for shorter moves within the United States, in the mid-nineteenth century thousands of Americans took them across the Great Plains to Oregon and California...

; he was also involved in later efforts to use the pass as the route for the Central Pacific Railroad

Central Pacific Railroad

The Central Pacific Railroad is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, USA that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a transcontinental...

. The initial route for the Pony Express

Pony Express

The Pony Express was a fast mail service crossing the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and the High Sierra from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, from April 3, 1860 to October 1861...

 across the Sierra Nevada in 1860 connected Placerville

Placerville, California

Placerville is the county seat of El Dorado County, California. The population was 10,389 at the 2010 census, up from 9,610 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...

 and Lake Valley

Lake Valley, California

Lake Valley is an unincorporated community in El Dorado County, California. It extends for along the Upper Truckee River from Lake Tahoe to Meyers, at an elevation of 6207 feet ....

 across Luther pass to Woodfords

Woodfords, California

Woodfords is an unincorporated community in Alpine County, California, near Markleeville. For census purposes, it is included in Alpine Village...

 and thence to Nevada, but the route was quickly changed to use the Kingsbury Grade instead.

Nowadays, during the ski season, the pass serves as an important connection between South Lake Tahoe and U.S. Route 50, to the north of the pass, and the Kirkwood

Kirkwood Mountain Resort

Kirkwood Mountain Resort is a year-round resort in Kirkwood, California south of Lake Tahoe that focuses on skiing and snowboarding in winter and hiking and mountain-biking in summer. Kirkwood is one of the region's larger resorts, and is well known for having one of the highest average snowfalls...

 ski area to the south. In the summer, it connects those areas via Monitor Pass

Monitor Pass

Monitor Pass is a high mountain pass in California in the Sierra Nevada southeast of Lake Tahoe. It connects the basins of the West Walker River and Carson River, and is traversed by State Route 89 near that highway's southern terminus at U.S...

 to U.S. Route 395 and the eastern Sierra.