Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney MR ?

Made my fist but definitely not my last summit on the whitney trail this past September, but was wondering how difficult the mountainers route is ? Do you need any technical skills and or gear ?

Thanks for any info..
Tom

Level of difficulty is based on experience and time of year. You need to have pretty good route finding skills since there is technically no trail. Ice axes and crampons are needed sometimes even in to summer, most don't use ropes but some guides who take clients to the summit up the MR do for saftey.

> Ice axes and crampons are needed sometimes even in to summer,


Is this only in the "Notch"? Or are there other places where snow/ice linger?

Tomp and Joel:

I will assume your questions about the MR are aimed at the summer season? Obviously the MR and Whitney in general are totally different animals in winter and should only be considered by the very experienced. I have only been up once, but would generally say that you would only need crampons and an ice axe in the Spring. Joel to your question...there is no snow at the notch in summer, but there is a little snow and definitely some ice on the final 400'. You can generally pick your way around the ice under normal summer conditions.

You do not need a rope, harness, or gear in the summer season and believe you would find them to be totally unnecessary weight. Besides, a rope is really only useful if you have the technical skills and knowledge to place protection and build solid belay anchors. Otherwise the only thing a rope does is insure both climbers will tumble down the mountain if one slips, (yeah, yeah...I know that some old timers can use natural terrain features for belay anchors, tie in around the waist with a bowline on a bight or swami belt, and use a hip belay, but I don't think that is where the OP is coming from). A climbing helmet might be a good idea to protect from rock fall while on the MR proper...some take them and some don't so that is a personal choice.

As pointed out above by ex3145, technical climbing skills aren't needed, but route finding, mountain sense, scrambling skills, and the ability to deal with a little exposure are. I felt the route finding was easy, but you want to make sure you have a little bit of a base in back country off-trail navigation skills as while there are some cairns, there are no trail junction signs, etc. Plenty of people have apparently gotten lost over the years in the North Fork.

As for difficulty, there is not any 5th class or even 4th class climbing on the final 400' unless you go looking for it, but there is some exposed third class scrambling. The scrambling is easy, but there are places where you just can't fall. As long as you pick your way around the icy sections, there is no reason why somebody who enjoys 3rd class scrambling with a little exposure shouldn't be able to cruise it.

Sometimes people have a hard time understanding what is meant by "exposure". I guess I would define it this way.....if you could comfortably walk across some stable but slightly narrow scaffolding that was a few stories up in the air, the E-ledges will be easy. If you think you could comfortably climb up a solid ladder that was perched over a concrete drive way to the roof of a second story house, then I would think you can handle some exposure and should be fine on the final 400'. If thoughts of either the scaffolding or ladder experiment get your heart racing and your hands sweaty, exposure may not be your thing and you may want to avoid the MR and other 3rd class routes.

Good luck and let me know if you have other questions.

Kent

The MR is easier than the main trail, in my opinion, and it is much more fun. You are doing it in 6 miles vs. 11, and the main trail is quite the monotonous slog. The approach is straight forward, just make sure you go to the top of the e-ledges and not down lower at the first tree. After lower boyscout lake, stay near the river (not on the slabs), and follow the cairns for upper to Iceberg lake. Don't go wide left here, or you could get cliffed off. I believe we angled up and right while searching for cairns.

On the culoir, stay to the right at the bottom, and then cross left just before you get to the huge chockstone and work your way up the cliff line all the way to the notch. Above the notch, I took the chimney route, which I found to be pretty simple (although I did not descend this route), so I don't know how the traverse is. I believe we topped out on a line just to the right of a small water flow.The traverse is a lot longer than the chimney route. I'm doing this route again next month in the snow, so I'll post up how that goes. You definitely don't need rope and helmet. You may want to take crampons and an ice axe, though, and this would make the culoir even easier to ascend. Also, there are gps tracks available for this route online if you have a device.

Excellent post, Kent.

A person might feel more comfortable wearing a helmet if climbers are on the East Buttress or East Face of Whitney when going up the Mt Route to the Notch.

Thanks Bob, appreciate that coming from a guy who has climbed it a bunch including I believe cranking out a double one day this past year.....strong!

Thanks Kent! Good Info..

Has anyone ever used a guide service such as SMI up the MR in winter or early spring?
And if so, how was the experience?
Thanks!
Susan.

I did a solo Whitney/Muir/Russell trip in April 2009. Kurt Wedberg was guiding the MR as I was heading out. Doug Nidever was guiding the East Face the same day. You can't lose with either of these guys.

I had a great guided experience back in 1997. I was finishing climbing the California 14ers in winter, and figured I needed a little help for the last few. I had been happy with American Alpine Institute on Denali, so I signed up with them. At the last minute, my guide was injured in a car crash, and they brought in Jim Earl from Montana. Jim had never even seen the Palisades, and, due to a misunderstanding, he hadn't even read the route descriptions for the routes we were going to climb. No problem. I had done all the routes in the summer. I described each route to him, and he just made everything happen. (That's the advantage of climbing with a professional guide. They make routes they've never seen look easy in winter, while the rest of us struggle in summer.)

We had an easy two-day approach to our camp on the glacier. We did Starlight (Clyde Couloir) on day three. Day four was North Palisade (U-Notch/Chimney), and a traverse to Polemonium. We tagged Sill on the way down, even though I had already done a February ascent. We skied out on day five and did laps in Lee Vining Canyon on day six.

Regarding the OP; it’s a big jump from hiking the Whitney main trail once to tackling the MR.
My advice for someone trying the MR for the 1st time and with (apparently) little Sierra experience.

1. Try some other scrambly Sierra class 2 or 3 routes first to see how you handle the exposure, route-finding, attitude, logistics, etc. Langley is a good choice, plus lots of stuff up around Kearsarge Pass. If you’re OK on these, then you can move up to the MR with confidence and have a better chance of success. Everyone reacts differently to Sierra class 3 terrain at attitude. Better to find out on some easier stuff first before you heading up the MR.

2. Once above Iceberg lake, WEAR A HELMET. There is can be rock fall from many sources, not just climbers on the East Face/Buttress. Although I admit to not wearing one all the time (sorry Kurt); do as I say not as I do

3. It’s a lot ‘easier ‘ to go up the final 400 than descending it. So if you are planning to descend the final 400 you might want a rope. Lots of folks find the bottom section tricky to down-climb.

4. Don’t underestimate the MR …..or any other stuff in the Sierra

5. Go up it with someone that’s done it before and has all the beta in their head.

6. Have fun and be safe

Just my $0.02……TIFWIW
Cheers,
Rick Graham