Mount Whitney
Ascent of Mount Whitney (Mountaineer's Route, class 3) after a failed attempt on the East Face (III, 5.7) of the same peak, with Simon Wacziarg, May 14, 2023.
Timeline:
May 13, 2024: We spent three nights and two days in Mammoth to acclimate, and made our way to Whitney Portal on Monday morning, May 13. We set out from the car at 9:52 and hiked up the main Whitney Trail to its junction with the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek, up that drainage, and onto the Ebersbacher Ledges. Little did we know that a man had died there just the day before, the victim of rockfall. We continued on, reaching Lower Boyscout Lake before noon, and taking a nice break there. On we went to Upper Boyscout Lake, which we reached around 13:30. We found a nice dry camp on a ledge not far from the lake, but also not far from a party of four that we would see again the next day. There was a lot of day left, so after setting up camp, we hiked out toward Iceberg Lake with our climbing gear, intent on stashing it as close as we could to the start of the East Face. This would also allow us to assess the snow conditions on the approach (they were excellent) and whether any snow remained on the route. As we came in view of the Whitney massif, I saw that this would likely be the case, as several prominent snowfields still remained on the Washboard and the Giant Staircase. Thinking these might be avoidable, we resolved to at least hike to the base of the route and try to see the conditions from a closer vantage point the next morning. We stashed our climbing gear under a rock a bit before and below Iceberg Lake, and returned to camp. We were back at the tent at 17:30, had dinner and spent a quiet evening playing cards. (A 6:49 hour day, 5:41 hours moving, 4.07 miles, 3,696 feet of elevation gain)
May 14, 2024: Our neighbors were out and about before 4:00, which woke me up. I got up in the dark and started getting organized, waking Simon up shortly afterwards. The group of four that was camped next to us set out to climb the Mountaineer's Route at 4:30, and we left camp at 5:18 as day was breaking. We caught up with them at Iceberg Lake (7:00), at the base of the eastside routes up Mount Whitney. Simon and I hiked up steep snow to the notch between the first and second towers, the start of both the East Face and East Buttress, arriving there at 8:30. The first pitch of the East Face - the Tower Traverse - was easy to locate, and we geared up. I set out to lead that very nice 5.4 pitch, to the top of a bulge mid-pitch. From there, I could see the short 5.6 chimney at the end of the pitch - unfortunately choked with ice. Above, on the Washboard, several snowfields were dripping water on the steeper terrain below. And even higher, out of sight, and just before the steeper hump that must be surmounted to get to the Fresh Air Traverse, I knew there was an even bigger snowfield, which could be seen from Iceberg Lake. I decided that the route was in no condition to be climbed. Abandoning a brown tricam for protection, I downclimbed back to the belay. We descended the way we had come to the base of the Mountaineer's Route and started climbing it. At the prominent notch before the final 400 feet to the summit, we met three of our four camp neighbors. Only one of them had decided to brave the dangerous conditions up the final portion of the climb, the others deciding to wait at the notch. There, we also saw two abandoned splitboards, some ski poles, and a backpack, belonging no doubt to the two Tahoe climbers who tragically fell off the North Face a few days before. This was not an inspiring sight, and the transition from the notch to the final gully seems foreboding. Not wanting to risk things, the rope came out, and I proceeded up the icy rocks and icy show with crampons, placing gear on occasion, to a rappel station at the base of more continuous snow leading to the summit plateau. I belayed Simon from the rappel anchor, which was the safe choice. On we went, up the steep snow, reaching the summit at 12:19. Simon was feeing a bit nauseous, so after taking numerous photos, we headed down. There were three rappel stations down the (climber's) left side of the final 400, and we used all of them in an abundance of caution. We were soon back to the relative safety of the notch, and relaxed a bit (14:00). From there, it was a quick descent and glissade down the main chute, to a flat rock near Iceberg Lake where we had lunch. Nearby, a lone hiker was setting up his camp for the night. We chatted with him a bit: he had tried and failed to climb Mount Whitney six times by various routes, and was hoping to make it to the summit on this occasion. We continued on down along a good trace in the snow to Upper Boyscout Lake, and were back in camp at 16:38. Our neighbors were gone, but two climbers had taken their place. Later, during dinner, one of them came to see us. It turned out to be a mountain guide, Kurt Wedberg, whose online posts I had frequently come across on Summitpost, back in the day. We had a good chat with him. Kurt mentioned the death from rockfall that had occurred two days prior on the Ebersbacher Ledges - and advised us to wear helmets on that portion of the return hike. Earlier another neighbor, camped a little farther away near the lake, had come to chat with us: a young Canadian climber named Nick, from Montreal, who was waiting for his partners to come back from an ascent of Star Trekkin' on Mount Russell. It was a comfortable evening in camp, playing cards, hiking toward the lake to take some evening photos, and relaxing after a big day. (An 11:20 hour day, 9:49 hours moving, 3.49 miles, 3,514 feet of elevation gain)
May 15, 2024: I woke up early and got out of the tent to enjoy the sunrise. We were not in a rush, so we took our time with breakfast and packing up. We left camp at 7:56 and made quick work of the descent, reaching Whitney Portal at 10:31. We drove back to Mammoth for some well-deserved rest. (A 2:35 hour day, 2:14 hours moving, 3.06 miles, 139 feet of elevation gain)
Trip totals: 20:44 total hours, 17:44 moving hours, 10.62 miles, 7,349 feet of elevation gain.