It's about 4.2 miles from the Vista Ridge trailhead to the top of the spur -- with an elevation gain of 3400 feet -- and the vast majority of the climbing is in the last 1.3 miles, past the Timberline Trail. Once you find your way up the nearly trail-less face of the final ridge, there's sort of a false summit at 7700', which is as far as my hiking companions decided to go. Beyond that, there are two summits of almost equal elevation (7850' or so) with a narrow saddle between them. But, since people were waiting for me, I only went as far as the first peak. Next summer maybe I'll keep going until I hit ice.