The peaks on the West side go all the way up to 14, 495 feet, Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. There are also, along the Sierra Crest, 11 other mountains over 14,000 feet, and one, Mt. Williamson, though in the Sierra, sits just off the sierra crest at 14,375 feet. On the East, near Bishop it is the White Mountains, and White Mountain itself is 14,250 feet. To the South on the east side is the Inyo Mountains and they are closer to the 9,500 feet you mentioned. There is one more peak in California that is over 14,000 feet and that is Mt. Shasta in the Syskiyou Range of Northern California.
Sounds about right. Okay, again, about 7,500 down the valley is the lowest I wanted to go at night. Don't try to outclimb terrain or guess where it is, stay just east of the highway, and don't go there at night unless you've been there a few times during the day. I'll echo what others have said about turbulence when the wind blows. Going down there when the weather is low often required shooting the approach into Bishop to get under the weather, then shooting down the valley.
What I remember most about Lone Pine was that no matter how many times I told the ambulance drivers to shut off their lights, they always turned on the white side lights to load the patient, ruining any hope of night vision. I always departed south at night, regardless of wind, and only once landed to the south.
Of course, if you can live anywhere other than Kalifornia...it's always best.
Just ask any Kalifornian.