Trip Report - Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney is located in the southern Sierras just west of Lone Pine, CA. This mountain owes most of its fame to its height; with a summit at 14,495 feet above sea level, Mt. Whitney is the tallest point in the contiguous United States. However, even if this mountain were a few hundred feet shorter, there are many other striking features that would still make this a notable destination. The jagged grey walls, clear blue lakes, and vibrant green trees create an environment so elemental in nature that it feels other worldly. Chris and I visited this area during the second week of June to climb the East Buttress, a classic technical route first climbed in the 1930s.

Thursday (6/7)

• Chris and I left Redlands at 6:00pm and headed north towards HI-395 and Lone Pine.
• We arrived at the Lone Pine Campground a little before 10:00pm. We found an empty site and quickly set up camp (pitched a tent, stowed food in the bear box, and ate a late night snack).

Friday (6/8)

• At 5:00am, we woke up, quickly stuffed everything back into the truck, and drove up the rest of the road to Whitney Portal (the trail head for the majority of hikers and climbers attempting to summit Mt. Whitney).

• We hiked up the trail until we reached the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek. At that point we split off from the main trail and headed up a steeper narrower trail. 

• As we hiking along the North Fork trail we made good time as we crossed two rivers, traversed the Ebersbacher Ledges, and passed Upper and Lower Boy Scout Lakes. 
• After Upper Boy Scout Lake, we still had over 1,000 feet of elevation to gain and Chris started to feel sick and dehydrated. We stopped at a small tarn to rest and re-fill water. Chris relaxed while I took a nap. Shortly after we started hiking again, Chris mentioned feeling nauseous and then turned to the side and threw up all of the water he had just drunken at the tarn. With Chris feeling the effects of altitude, we continued on to Iceberg Lake.

• We arrived at Iceberg Lake, the highest camp on Whitney's east side, at around 12:30pm. By 1:00pm we had set up the tent and Chris was resting inside.

• I spent the rest of the day exploring around the lake, talking with passing climbers, and scouting out our planned climbs.
• I cooked up dinner at around 6:00pm (Madras lentils with cheese and corn chips). Chris was still feeling sick and didn't have much of an appetite, so he didn't eat any dinner that night. I had a headache as well, and feeling tired from the hike up that morning, I turned in a little after 7:00pm. 
• It was a relatively warm night (36 degrees in the tent) and I found that I had to sleep with my sleeping bag unzipped to keep from sweating. Strong gusts of wind throughout the night keep the single-walled tent from collecting much condensation and we stayed dry inside. I slept well, but by 2:30am or so my body felt completely rested and I became restless waiting for the dawn to come.

Saturday (6/9)

• Saturday morning began slowly. As the sun rose in the east, light touched the top of Mt. Whitney and then began to gradually sweep down those steep granite walls towards the valley and our camp. I ventured out of the tent timing my exit with the transition from the pre-dawn shadows to the morning sunlight. Over the next couple hours, several climbing parties arrived at Iceberg Lake to climb Mt. Whitney's Mountaineers Route, East Face, and East Buttress routes.
• At first Chris was still pretty sick, but by mid-morning he was up and out of the tent feeling rested and hungry.
• It was a little to late in the day to start our planned climb on the East Buttress, so we opted to go up the Mountaineer's Route instead. The Mountaineer's Route was first climbed by John Muir and ascends a steep, northeast facing gully filled with loose rock. This route is fairly steep but doesn't require any roped or technical climbing, just careful footing and some scrambling near the top.
• We enjoyed climbing the Mountaineers Route and made good time, climbing about 2,000ft and reaching the summit at 11:30am (two hours from when we started). 

• At the summit, we spent a relaxed hour eating, taking in the view, and napping. (At least I did anyway!)

• The descent was uneventful, but we were glad to get a feel for the terrain as we would be using the same path down after completing the East Buttress climb the next day.

• Upon returning to camp, we found that marmots had gotten into our poorly protected food stash and eaten their fill! Sifting through the wreckage, we made some interesting observations about what marmots like and do not like to eat...

What Marmots Ate:

Cheese (All of it, in plastic, in bags, in wax... every bit they could find)

Peanut Butter but not Pretzels (We had peanut butter pretzels when we started and only pretzel shells when we returned.)

Tortillas

Cambria's Homemade Energy Bars

Chris' Homemade Chocolate Almond Balls

Snickers

What Marmots Did Not Eat:

GU

Honey Stingers

Cliff Bars

Corn Chips

Spicy Dried Mango

Shin Ramen

Madras Lentils

• We spent the rest of the afternoon lazing around camp: fetching water, eating snacks, shaking our fists at nearby marmots, and prepping our gear for the next day's climb. I walked over to a rise on the east side of the valley and was able to get a strong enough cell signal to call Emily and talk with her about the trip and our plans for the next day. 

• After hanging around camp for most of the day, I was restless, and by early evening I was anxious for the sun to go down so that I could have a good excuse to go to bed.

• Saturday night was colder than our first night in the valley, and we had very little wind which meant more condensation in the tent. Throughout the night, every time the wind gusted, the roof of the tent would shake and a spray of water would hit my face... refreshing!

Sunday (6/10)

• As excited as I was to go climbing, on Sunday morning I waited for the sun to fully hit our tent and warm the air before I got out of my sleeping bag. Our preparations from the day before allowed us a quick start and by 6:45am were were headed up to the base of the East Buttress. 

• Our route scouting efforts from the day before led us straight to the start of the first pitch, and by 7:15am we were tying in a roping up.

• I took the first lead, 160 feet of easy face/crack climbing that ended next to a large, detached 20ft tall tower. 

• Chris took the next pitch up to the top of the Second Tower.
• On Pitch 3, I started up a really fun section of rippling granite. There weren't many places to plug in pro, but the hold were positive and the moves were a blast! (There were a couple old pitons in this section, but they were hammered in too deep for me to clip into.)
• Swapping leads again, Chris took Pitch 4. This pitch moved up a low angle (class 4) ramp to a "red corner". The best part about this section of climbing was the amazing views at the tops of the ramp and corner. At these places, the arete we were climbing on narrowed to just a couple of feet wide, and I had full views of two different valleys hundreds of feet all the way down, incredible!
   
• I took Pitch 5, a long wandering route through easy 4th and 5th class climbing. The pitch was supposed to end at the base of the PeeWee, a large semi-detached block on the face of the buttress that acts as a significant landmark on the climb, but my wandering climbing had created a tremendous amount of rope drag, and I had to stop 50 feet short of the true belay. Chris followed up to my position and then led the rest of the way up to the PeeWee.

• On Pitch 6, the PeeWee pitch, Chris led up an amazing 165ft up face and crack climbing. Feeling strong and with a plethora of positive holds, Chris did the entire pitch without placing a single piece of protection! When I met him at the top and mentioned the lack of gear, he told me that he would have but "there was never a point when I felt that I needed it."
• With my lead on next pitch, I went up a short crack and then navigated through 70ft or so of broken blocks and short towers until I came to an upward angling flake that ended on a small belay ledge.  

• For Pitch 8, Chris followed an easy right facing corner to a large ledge.
• From the the top of Pitch 9, the buttress eases off quite a bit and I had a few options for the next section of climbing. Unsure of the best way to go, I explored a couple different options (even trying to climb up a small snow ramp to access a nice looking corner crack, but turning around when I sunk in to my calves). After wasting more than a couple minutes, I headed out left and navigated through some large blocks to a small talus field. Unsure of the location for the next belay, I moved towards the far end of the field and brought Chris up.
• After a little deliberating, we chose a short corner crack and Chris led up a section of rock that was definitely more difficult than what our topo indicated. Chris continued up to the end of the rope and set up a belay for the last pitch to the summit.
• From the belay at the bottom of Pitch 11, we could see people looking over the edge and knew that we were near the summit. I started the pitch by climbing over some easy 4th class boulders and then found myself looking at two 15-20ft cracks directly beneath the summit and my objective. After more than a few minutes of deliberation, I went up the corner crack on the left; it felt pretty burly and I was glad to get to the top. A few short moves after the crack and I was on top looking at groups of hikers and the summit hut!

• At the top of the climb and summit of Mt. Whitney, Chris and I quickly celebrated as we sorted the gear into our packs and forced some food down. We were anxious to get started down the Mountaineers route towards camp, and home.

• We descended the Mountaineers Route carefully and deliberately, moving a little slower than we had the previous day. We arrived back a camp a little after 4:00pm and immediately began breaking down camp, packing our bags, and eating our last meal. 
• We left Iceberg Lake on our way back towards Whitney Portal and the truck at 5:20pm. The hike back felt long, but the weather was as close to perfect as we could hope for and we enjoyed beautiful scenery as the sun set behind us. Aside from a little confusion around the ledges, we made good time and arrived at the parking lot right at 9:00pm. 

• In Lone Pine, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed home.
• Chris and I arrived back in Redlands at 1:00am Monday morning.