Whitney portal 2024

Other trips to Whitney Portal:

Whitney Portal 2018 • Whitney Portal 2024

Category: CaliforniaElev: ~8,500-9,500 ftRock Type: Granite
Date: June 1-4, 2024 (Sat-Tue)Trip Report #: 698Partners: Nate Arganbright

4+ Climbs at WHITNEY PORTAL

Nimbus (5.10c, 3p)

WHITNEY PORTAL BUTTRESS

Premier Route (5.8 A0, 5p)

PREMIER BUTTRESS

Beckey Route (5.9, 5p)

EL SEGUNDO BUTTRESS

Bony Fingers (5.10c, 2-3p)

THE WHALE

Various pitches: Ghostrider P1 (5.9, 1p), Tanager P! (5.10b, 1p), No Country for Old Men P1-P4 (5.10c, 4p)

WHITNEY PORTAL BUTTRESS

A 4-day 4-route late spring climbing+camping trip to Whitney Portal.

Table of Contents for this page

Intro

Climb 1: Whitney Portal Buttress, Nimbus (5.10c, 3p)

Climb 2: Premier Buttress, Premier Route (5.8 A0, 5p)

Climb 3: El Segundo Buttress, Beckey Route (5.9, 5p)

Climb 4: The Whale, Bony Fingers (5.10c, 2-3p)

Various Pitches

Other Random Photos

Intro

For the last two years, I had been working full-time as a data analyst. While I enjoyed some of the benefits of working a full time job (house, security, etc.), I missed the longer climbing road trips of my younger years. So, when I decided to temporarily leave my job to take a full-time 6-month coding bootcamp from mid-June to mid-December, this was the perfect time to build a couple of weeks of climbing road trip into my schedule. Sunny Californian granite was calling. Nate had never climbed in California (!), so it wasn't too hard to twist his arm to join me on a two-week climbing road-trip to experience some sunny Californian granite.

Our first destination of the trip was Whitney Portal. I had climbed a couple of routes there in 2018—No Country for Old Men (5.10c, 8p) and Bony Fingers (5.10c, 3p)—and had been impressed with the quality of the granite and the sublime atmosphere. Nestled in a canyon below Mt. Whitney and above the town of Lone Pine, Whitney Portal is a top contender for the grandest climbing arena on the entire East side. Here the cliffs of sparking white stone are up to over a thousand feet tall, riddled with splitter finger cracks, long, arching corners, and bulging white faces freckled with black knobs. One caveat though is that the climbing tends to be runout and difficult at the grade, and success is not a given. We managed to secure a campsite at the Whitney Portal Campground, which after a day of climbing in the sun provided a pleasant retreat into the cool shade, and was worth the $32 a night. We climbed for four days in Whitney Portal.
The plan for the second destination was The Needles in southern Colorado, where I had climbed in 2017 and 2018 and deemed it one of my favorite places to climb. But when we arrived there after a 4-hour drive from Whitney Portal, we found the gate was closed to access. Dejected, we headed back towards the Sierra East Side and decided to crag in the shade of Pine Creek Canyon for a few days. The rock and quality of the climbing was superb and fun and Nate probably enjoyed this area the most of any destination on our trip, but I found myself craving bigger, higher routes.
Then, Tioga Pass opened for the season, so for our third destination of the trip, we decided to head to Tuolumne for a few days. I had been there a few times before and was happy to return to this land of the granite domes. We climbed in Tuolumne for three days.
Our fourth and final destination of our California adventures was Charlotte Dome. The South Face (5.8, 1500') is a Fifty Classic, and this route had been on my to-climb list for a long time. The approach is several miles, so we got an overnight permit and enjoyed two nights in the mountains as well.

The following page gives route overlays and pitch by pitch photos from our climbs in Whitney Portal.

Photos

Climb 1: Whitney Portal Buttress, Nimbus (5.10c, 3p)

June 1

We arrived at Whitney Portal around noon after a 15-hour drive from Estes Park. Itching to get some exercise and touch the rock, we decided to climb Nimbus, a 3-pitch route on the right side of Whitney Portal whose crux pitch climbs an arching 5.10c crack to a killer finger crack. This was a fun way to begin the trip.

Route Overlay

Photos

Approach

Snow plant on approach.

Pitch 1

5.9 knobby face

Start of Pitch 1.

Runnout face climbing on Pitch 1. Nate cruised up it but I would have found it a bit runnout and scary on lead.

Pitch 2

5.10c lieback to fingers

Nate leading the 10c layback section on Pitch 2. Nice lead Nate.

I took this photo when following the 10c layback.

Killer fingers above the layback.

Higher on Pitch 2.

Pitch 3

5.8 exposed arete

Nate starting up Pitch 3.

Descent

Rappel the route with double ropes

Anchor at the top of the route.

Rappelling the route.

Climb 2: Premier Buttress, Premier Route (5.8 A0, 5p)

June 2

On our second day, we climbed a 10-pitch link-up of Premier Route (5.8 A0, 5p) on Premier Buttress with Beckey Route (5.9, 5p) on El Segundo Buttress. The Beckey Route is a 5-star classic for the grade, climbing cracks, knobs, and dikes up a sparkling white buttress. Fun in the sun! This was the best day of our Whitney Portal trip, for enjoyability of the climbing and number of pitches.

Route Overlay

Photos

Approach

Leaving camp at the Whitney Portal Campground.

Premier Buttress.

On Wood Road, approaching Premier Buttress.

Pitch 1

5.6

Pitch 1 as seen from the base of the route.

Climbing in shorts!

Start of the brushy crack on Pitch 1.

Higher on Pitch 1.

Pitch 2

5.8

This is our Pitch 2. The actual route may have been to the right a bit, but this worked.

Wide section on our Pitch 2. Guess we are running it out, as we brought no big cams.

Pitch 3

5.10c or 5.8 A0

Nate starting up Pitch 3.

The crux section of Pitch 3. It felt very hard for 10c, and we both ended up 5.8 A0'ing it.

Pitch 4

5.8

Pitch 4.

Higher on Pitch 4.

Anchor at the top of the pitch.Photo by Nate.

Pitch 5

5.7

Start of our Pitch 5. There might be other options.

Flaring groove.

Descent

Scramble up and left and make 1 rappel into gully between Premier Buttress and El Segundo

3rd class scramble up and then left.

We found some slings around a horn and made a single rappel into the gully between Premier Buttress and El Segundo Buttress.

Climb 3: El Segundo Buttress, Beckey Route (5.9, 5p)

June 2

Route Overlay

Photos

Approach

We climbed Premier Route before Beckey Route and rappelled into the gully between Premier Buttress and El Segundo Buttress.

Pitch 1

5.7 or 5.10b direct start

Start of Pitch 1 via the original 5.7 start.

Fun 5.7 corner on Pitch 1.

Pitch 2

5.9

Nate starting up Pitch 2.

Pitch 2.

Cool dike on Pitch 2.

Steph following Pitch 2.Photo by Nate.

Pitch 3

5.8

Looking up the start of Pitch 3. Lots of features.

Higher on Potch 3.

An old piton on Pitch 3. Maybe placed by Fred himself!

Bolted anchor at the top of Pitch 3.

Pitch 4

5.8

Pitch 4.

Looking down Pitch 4. Cool dike feature.

There are a few bolts on Pitch 4.

Pitch 5

4th

Looking up the start of Pitch 5. The climbing is pretty moderate, but it was still nice to have a rope.

Nearing the top of the buttress and the end of the route.

Descent

Walk off

Scrambling down to the gully between El Segundo Buttress and Premier Buttress.

Gully between El Segundo Buttress and Premier Buttress.

I was glad I was wearing old shoes....lots of scree on the descent.

Climb 4: The Whale, Bony Fingers (5.10c, 2-3p)

June 3

On our third day, we set out to climb Ghostrider (5.10c, 8p) on Whitney Portal Buttress. But we bailed off after the first pitch. That afternoon, we climbed Bony Fingers on The Whale. This route features a striking 300-foot fingercrack peppered with knobs. I had climbed this route in 2018 and it was worth climbing again, although the section between the 5.11b A0 and the start of the crack was as heady as ever (nice cool-headed lead by Nate).

Route Overlay

Photos

Approach

Boulderfield on approach.

Pitch 1

5.11b (A0) direct start to 5.10c splitter fingers

We chose the 5.11b A0 start.

Nate leading the stellar fingercrack of Pitch 1. Surrounded by a spectacular field of xenoliths (i.e. knobs).

Steph climbing the stellar fingercrack of Pitch 1.Photo by Nate.

Another photo of Steph following Pitch 1.Photo by Nate.

Pitch 2

5.9 knobby finger crack

The start of Pitch 2.

Nate leading Pitch 2.

Further up on Pitch 2.Photo by Nate.

The final stretch of Pitch 2.

Pitch 3

5.7

If you have a 60m rope, this part needs to be done as a third pitch, as you cannot quite make it from the belay at the top of Pitch 1 to the final rappel anchor with a 60.

Descent

One double rope rappel to ground

Rap acnhor. Not sure why there are mussy hooks.

Various Pitches

Ghostrider Pitch 1 (5.9, 1p), Tanager Pitch 1 (5.10b, 1p), No Country for Old Men Pitches 1-4 (5.10c, 4p), Sheltering Sky Pitch 0.25 (5.10c, 0.25p)

June 3&4

Here are some photos of various other pitches we climbed on this trip. We weren't having the best of luck at times completing routes! The climbing tends to be a bit runnout and hard (particularly the face climbing) for the grade.

Ghostrider Pitch 1

5.9 chimney

Approaching the base of Ghostrider.

The first pitch of Ghostrider is a wild tunneling behind the flake up a chimney.

Entering the tunnel behind the flake.

The rib feature means you can protect the chimney well with #3 and #4 cams.

Looking up.

Looking down into the chimney.

Steph exiting the chimney.Photo by Nate.

Nate at the belay at the top of the pitch.

Nate starting up Pitch 2 of Ghostrider. This looked like a fun pitch. We bailed off the anchor at the top of Pitch 1 when he only found a single bolt at the anchor and didn't have enough wide gear to link PItches 2 and 3.

Tanager Pitch 1

5.10b crack

On rappel from bailing off Ghostrider, we rapped over a pretty sweet looking crack.....Tanager Pitch 1. I toproped this, and the next day I led it (not pretty) and toproped it again.

Looking up Tanager Pitch 1 from below.

No Country For Old Men Pitches 1-4

5.10c

Pitch 1 of No Country For Old Men. 5..9.

The 5.9 section on Pitch 1. Kind of a heady move above a ledge.

Looking up Pitch 2 of No Country For Old Men. Lots of white granite. This is a fully bolted pitch of 10b.

Nate leading Pitch 2. Nice lead Nate!

Steph following Pitch 2.Photo by Nate.

Nate starting Pitch 3 of o Country For Old Men, the bolted enduro 10c layback crux pitch of the route.

Pitch 3.

Steph nearing the end of Pitch 3.Photo by Nate.

Looking up Pitch 4 of No Country For Old Men.

Pitch 4. The anchor is actually about 20 feet above Nate.

Looking up Pitch 5. This pitch tunnels behind the arch. We decided to rappel down from here.

One of the rappel anchors was obscured by a bush.

I had climbed the full No Country for Old Men (5.10c, 8p) in 2018. Click link for trip report.

Sheltering Sky Pitch 1

5.10c face

Candlelight Buttress. We tried to climb Sheltering Sky (5.10c, 4p), but bailed off. The face climbing at Whitney Portal seems terribly difficult for the grade.

Nate leading Pitch 1 of Sheltering Sky (5.10c, 4p), shortly after lowering off at a bail biner left by a previous party. The face climbing at Whitney Portal seems terribly difficult for the grade.

Other Random Photos

June 1-6

Here are some random photos from the trip.

Our drive from Estes Park to Lone Pine, we drove through Death Valley. 94°F (and climbing) at 7:30 in the morning....

I bought a cantelopue in Lone Pine. California has the best produce.

We drove through a lot of bugs.

Driving towards Whitney Portal.

Whitney Portal Store at the Whitney trailhead.

They sell burgers at the Whitney Portal Store. We never bought one, but one of these would be a nice treat after a climb of Whitney.

Snow plant.

Pretty pink penstemon at the base of a route.Photo by Nate.

Pretty cactus flower.

Indian Paintbrush. Photo by Nate.

Big pinecone.

Cactus.

The view towards Mt. Whtiney.

The view towards Mt. Whtiney. Whitney Portal Buttress on right.

The view is not too shabby.

Nate's new Ford Transit. A pretty cushy way to camp.

Nate hanging out in his mobile home on wheels after a good day of climbing.

Cozy van life.

We nabbed campsite at the Whitney Portal Campground. We actually had three different campsites during our stay.

One of our camps at Whitney Portal Campground.

Campsite 4 was our favorite of the three different campsites we had during our nights in Whitney Portal Campground.

Morning at camp.

For dinner one evening, Nate made a pizza in his propane stove/oven he had installed in his van.

Washing our socks in Lone Pine Creek at camp at Whitney Portal Campground.

Relaxing in the sun at camp after a day of climbing.

We had arrived back to camp by mid-afternoon. So we played a game of chess.

Evening sun on Lone Pine.

I worked a few nonograms.

And a few cross-sums.

An offwidth to tips splitter on a giant boulder at Whitney Portal Campground. Comments on mountainproject say there is a toprope anchor on top and it is 5.10/5.10+.

Cool tree.

Our next destination of the trip was the Needles in southern California. But after a 4 hour drive from Whitney Portal to the Needles, we arrived to fnd them closed to access. Darn. This is a photo of Voodoo Dome.