Trailhead: Whitney Portal
Elevation: Whitney (14473) Russell (14088 ft)
Routes: East Face and Mithril Dihedral
Max Difficulty: Up to 5.9 + on Russell
I first started writing trip reports in 2016, although I had climbed before then in the Sierra. This trip report was initially meant for a trail running group that I was part of at the time so I minimized the climbing aspects and instead focused on the scrambling routes in the Upper Boy Scout Lake zone. However, it still has some interesting descriptions of the two routes we climbed on the trip. Notably, this was an overnight night trip and therefore somewhat disqualified for the "Sierra in a Day" theme; however the route on Whitney was done in a single day so I will include it.
This is my first shot at a trip report written by a climber/runner for runners. In the Sierra, I like climbing because climbing involves a lot of sitting at the belay and looking at the view, whereas running involves a lot of gasping for air. However, I think my trip reports will be of use to some of you because 1) We use running trails to get to the climbs and 2) We get very high up and are able to get good vantage points on the many routes up Sierra peaks. Here I'll start with a crowd-pleaser: Mt Whitney.
Permitting
On Wednesday Greg and I were licking our wounds in Mammoth after climbing the Incredible Hulk the day previous in a 17 hour push. We were halfway through a week in the high sierra and were trying to decide what to do next. The Hulk had gone well, but 5.10 climbing at altitude had slapped us around hard enough that we were still wary, and I had somehow acquired a lattice of weird abrasions on my right arm that I could not remember the cause of.
What could we do that was sufficiently "cool" to convince the ever-lazy GG to hike far into the backcountry, but that wouldn't scare us silly or be doomed to failure? We realized after some debate that we still hadn't done the ultra-classic East Face of Mount Whitney, and that additionally, that route was rated a measly 5.7 and probably wouldn't induce the sort of pathetic gasping and leg trembling and crux-profanity that the Hulk had. We were sold.
The only problem with the Whitney Zone, of course, is the horrible permitting situation, brought about by the dumb fact that the magnificent hunk of granite that is Whitney is also the tallest piece of earth in the lower 48. Why, oh why could that not have been White Mountain, a fairly boring 14er across the valley? Because now, the Whitney Zone, which contains also the climbing peak Mt Russell, is the only area in California where even a day-hike requires a permit. There are strict quotas on both the class 2 main trail and on the cross-country approach that leads to the climbing routes and on Mount Russell. Had we acquired a permit in advance, perhaps by applying for the lottery in February? Of course not. So we drove to Lone Pine to enter the lottery for 2 of the 4 permits reserved for walk-ins.
The Lone Pine Ranger's station is perhaps the busiest permitting station I have ever seen. When we arrived it was swarming with boy scouts and hikers and delusional people asking questions about visiting Death Valley in the mid-summer heat. To get a walk-in permit for the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek, you must show up the day before at 11 am and pick a number out of a hat. Then, in order of number, you state the trail-head that you want permits for. We eyed the other people in lottery. One trip leader had a man-bun, which is a pretty good tip off for a trad-climber. The three other team leaders looked fit enough to make it up the mountaineer's route, the other route out of Lone Pine Creek. We were worried. I reached into the hat with my weirdly-abraded right arm and drew the number 1. Phew.
We realized that we were going to have to stay the night in the Lone Pine area. As with everything surrounding Mt Whitney, this turns out to be a logistical pain, as the only dispersed camping (hereby forward dispersed camping will refer to GG and I sleeping the back of our car) is in the Alabama Hills, which are totally scorching hot. You can of course camp at Whitney Portal, where it is advised to reserve a campsite far in advance. Had we done so? Nope Nope Nope. Somehow we got a campsite anyways, which brings me to Lesson #1 for climbing Whitney: do it on a weekday. We still slept in the back of our car though.
I think it is pertinent to admit now that GG and I have climbed Whitney before, in early May of the last El Nino year, in wintery conditions. During that trip, we went up the Mountaineer's Route with ice axes and crampons in the snow flurries of a late season storm, carrying 55 lb backpacks each. That was a regretful situation, which caused me in a fit of frustration to throw my pack down a snow slope on the descent, nearly losing it as it picked up speed down towards the Portal. On this trip, despite needing a rope and a full rack of climbing gear, we brought the pack weight down to 70 lbs between the two of us, mostly by scrimping on "essentials" like two separate sleeping bags and certain pieces of safety gear for the descent. Who needs an ice ax when you an use a lightweight hiking pole instead? Lesson #2 for climbing Whitney: It's a long way up, don't carry a lot of stuff.
Approaching Whitney from Upper Boy Scout Lake
The East Face of Mt Whitney
The major routes up Whitney are as follows: The main trail, which takes a long time and may include 99 switch backs, though I've never done it and can't confirm; the technical climbing routes on the East Face, which are approached via the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek (NFLPC), and the Mountaineer's Route (MR), which is class 3/4 and is also approached via the NFLPC and serves as the descent for the technical routes.
We left at 2 am from the car and started up the NFLPC towards the Ebersbacher ledges, named for Dale Ebersbacher who discovered them as an alternative to wallowing in the gully of the overgrown creek. These class 3 rock bands have achieved some notoriety, as Mountaineer's Route folks carrying 70 lb backpacks tremble in fear on these narrow ledges perched above the valley below. Which brings us back to lesson #2; don't bring stuff up Mt. Whitney. It was dark on the way up, but a few days later, on our descent down this gully, I had a realization: the NFLPC is really, really beautiful. I had never seen in it the light before and these pictures don't do it justice, but it helped me realize lesson #3: If you can scramble, go up the NFLPC, you won't regret it. Unless you fall off the Ebersbacher ledges.
We dumped our camping stuff at Upper Boy Scout Lake (UBSL) just as the sun was coming up over the Inyo Mountains and continued up to Mt Whitney in the growing heat. As we approached the route, a familiar sensation took hold of me. Like getting off the spinning teacups at Disney Land. Vertigo mixed with a headache and a touch of nausea. I had altitude sickness. Now, what I should have down was gone back down to our camp at UBSL and waited it out. But GG and I had read an article on ibuprofen and AMS so I downed 5 vitamin I and roped up, with GG agreeing to lead until the Vitamin I inevitably cured my of all my ailments. Which brings me to lesson #4: Don't get AMS on Mt Whitney. I'm not really sure how one follows this advice
Campsite at Upper Boy Scout Lake
The East Face of Whitney is one of the 50 classic climbs of North America and is unarguably really damn cool. It perches you at the highest 1000 ft off the deck on the beautiful granite of a really big mountain. Halfway through the climb you traverse over the void at the aptly named "Fresh Air Traverse." Two old iron pins protect the traverse, and I can just see the first ascensionists literally quaking in their leather boots as they tiptoed across this terrain. At the "Grand Staircase," a series of 15 ft steps, I got my first view of the main trail, a series of relentless switchbacks snaking up the valley to climber's left through a shale-bowl. Too much slogging, I thought, but then was overcome with nausea and probably would have been better off on the main trail where I could beat a hasty retreat, instead of wallowing here on belay ledges waiting for GG to rope-gun us to the top.
Looking down on the Fresh Air Traverse
Looking out from the East Face towards the Whitney main trail
A thousand head-throbbing pitches later, I left GG behind to clean the last anchor and I stumbled over the lip of the East Face into the full hiker-scene on top. Whoa! A man exclaimed. Where did she come from? She just came over the edge. Hey! How did you get up here? I pulled my baseball cap down over my face and tried not to puke, waving the man aside as I stumbled sadly over into some nice sand to sit in. A man in a "Make America Great Again" hat was standing on the highest point. Various men and women wandered around in puffy jackets, defiant in the 60 degree heat. GG snapped a shot of me, to show to me later when I would inevitably forget what AMS felt like. We beat a hasty retreat, heading down the Mountaineer's Route (MR).
Very altitude sick on the top of Whitney
You'd be hard pressed to find a place to use your ice axe and crampons at this time of year on the MR. Bring rock gaiters, the scree is relentless. The last 400 ft are not for nervous scramblers. We made it back down to UBSL and settled in for the night.
The North Face of Russell with both the Fishhook Arete and Mithril Dihedral in view
Mount Russell
Ah, you say, but this is a trip report about Mt. Whitney. Why is there some dumb mountain here that I've never heard of? Well, because if you've hauled your sorry self up to UBSL, you might as well climb Mt Russell too, since it falls under the same permitting system as Whitney. GG set an alarm for 5 am. We overslept till 530 am and scurried out of camp, running from the incredibly blistering sun that we could see rising over Inyo.
Sun's coming up! We're such screw-ups.
We climbed Mithral Dihedral on Mt Russell which I won't bore you with, because you're runners and don't care about dumb hand jams and offwidths and the Yosemite Decimal System and what have you. Thankfully this was the last climb of the trip since GG and I lost the last bits of remaining skin we had on our hands at this point. But, in a fit of brilliance, I had suggested that we descend via the East Ridge of Mt Russell, a supposedly classic class 3 ridge scramble that dumps you directly back into your camp at UBSL!
Descending Russell via the East Ridge The East Ridge is described as perhaps the best class 3 route in CA and it did not disappoint! Like a sidewalk in the sky, you walk directly on the ridge, dropping to the north occasionally to avoid harder sections. You can check out the tiny figures dancing around on the summit of Mt Whitney on one side, and look into the vastness of the Sequoia backcountry on the other. Which brings me to lesson #5 for climbing Whitney: Skip Mt Whitney and climb Mt Russell via the East Ridge instead. Much cooler, you won't see anyone else, and the views are awesome!
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