Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney Mountaineer's Route 15-17 Feb 2013

Myself and a climbing bud headed out this last weekend (15-17 February) to climb Mt Whitney’s Mountaineer’s Route. I haven’t really done any Trip Reports, but thought I’d put one together since there’s very limited route info on the MR thus far this year.

On Friday, we drove up to within a mile of the Portal before the snow was too much for 4WD. It was a very short walk to the trailhead and we quickly set up camp, ate, and went to sleep. On Saturday, we broke camp and headed out around 0800. Sadly, I was too zealous in my packing as my backpack weighed in at 67 pounds. It didn’t take long to reach the canyon leading up to Lower Boy Scout Lake, and the trail was mostly packed snow. We put on crampons just before the rise leading up to the Foxtail Pine offshoot marking the start of the ledges. As there was enough snow to cover the willows and an established trail leading up the canyon, we bypassed the ledges and followed the trail up to Lower Boy Scout Lake. To generalize the climb from here to Iceberg Lake, the snow conditions for the most part were very good. We chose to keep our crampons on the entire way and this worked well except for a few scattered areas of loose snow and associated postholing/cursing. We brought snowshoes, but didn’t feel like fiddling with having to keep putting them on and taking them off, and there just wasn’t enough postholing to really warrant using them. There’s an established trail leading up to the 2 chutes before Iceberg Lake. The 1st chute didn’t look all that great with glaze-ice covered rock, and the 2nd chute was marginally better. The snow conditions weren’t ideal here as the last section of the chute was a short section of awkward 3rd class rock/ice which made for some fun mixed climbing in crampons. I was exhausted by this point and beyond happy when we reached Iceberg Lake and could set up camp for the night. The temp dropped pretty low at night, and I was glad for my -20F degree sleeping bag which let me get some sleep.

We woke at sunrise on Sunday and watched a couple groups who had also set up camp departing, having decided to forgo the summit. We set up the Mountaineer’s Gully around 0820, leaving most of our gear at camp. The snow up the gully was about perfect, much more consolidated than I expected at this time of year. There were a couple spots of deeper soft snow, but for the most part is was either kick-stepping or front-pointing to get to the last bit before the Notch. The last 200’ or so before the Notch was scree, bleh. It had been getting colder and colder as we made our way up the gully, and when we reached the Notch is was downright freezing. The wind was screaming and my face/hands quickly went numb (around -20F degrees wind chill). We threw on most of our remaining cold weather gear and tried to get warm before starting up the last bit. While my friend had brought a rope up, we decided against using it as the ‘Final 400’ 1st chute looked to be in good condition and didn’t necessitate roping together. We left our packs at the notch and started up the 1st chute with our crampons. There’s enough snow at the base to avoid the acrobatic first step usually required, and the route is almost entirely rock if you stick to the left (meandering diagonally right the last third or so). Again, perfect conditions for mixed climbing with crampons; I enjoyed it quite a bit and it didn’t take us long to pop up onto the summit plateau. We took the obligatory photos, and both of us agreed that down climbing the chute was less than ideal. While neither of us had done the traverse route before, it seemed notionally straightforward and indeed proved fairly easy to find the correct route by heading further down the summit plateau.

The traverse was very enjoyable as it had some decent exposure and plenty of undesirable runouts--an inherently mountaineering-esque route. The snow was in perfect condition, with no real icy stints where the crampons couldn’t easily bite. We quickly reached The Notch and descended to Iceberg Lake, glissading the last few hundred feet. We passed a group on the way down who had decided to turn around before The Notch. After breaking down camp, melting snow to refill water, and eating we headed down the mountain around 1520. The short bit of 3rd class rock at the top of the chute leading down from Iceberg Lake proved to be a real hassle. It was apparent that most of the folks had roped down this section, which in hindsight would have been a good idea. After clearing that and with no remaining tricky spots on the descent, the rest of the day was a mind-numbing slog back down to the truck, arriving around 1900. Shower, feast, and sleep in Lone Pine. Great trip with a rewarding summit.
-Chad

Hi Thanks for the update .Guide trips starting now so track should be in place. But then again we are getting a little snow and wind today. Thanks Doug

Thanks for the write-up Chad, that's what was needed in a while, some first hand beta for the MR.
Planning to do it last weekend in April (1 dayer)

Berne Mettenleiter

How awesome Chad! Glad you and Mike had a great time, and thanks a bunch for the beta.

I'm thinking of a March 3-5 trip. If anyone is interested let me know.

Hi Chad,

Way to go on reaching the summit.
How long is that traverse?

The traverse wasn't too long, took around 20ish minutes from summit plateau to the notch when we returned. You have to add the time it takes to walk to/from the summit hut though, which is longer than the chute route. As we walked down the rim of the summit plateua, we actually went past where the track cut down to the traverse (missed the footprints). We dropped down a more gradually-sloped part further on and just methodically made our way through the solid boulders and snow to where the snow line formed the established traverse (keeping fairly high until this point).

Thanks for the TR.

Sounds like the "Easy Traverse" was good to you. I'd be afraid of going down the wrong chute. MR routefinding seems much easier. Any suggestions on finding the right chute?

Also, I didn't realize gaining Iceberg Lake was that tricky- In deeper snow it was just a walk up.

Hi Falcon great shot of the traverse.

Over the years we have had several fatal accidents I think 6 but not sure . Just ahead of the person in the picture is the area most slip and fail to recover. Bodies end up at Artic Lake some hunderds of feet below, notice the change of slope about 150'+/- down slope this will launch people into the air at this point.

With less snow ice will be under a thin layer of gravel and cause people to think it is dry .

This route was used quite often in the early 90's and was coined the easy walk off . We were at the end of a very long drought and the ice in the area cleared making the traverse an option , 1995 I took pictures of the first year I can recall when the chute and back side was Ice free. Once a somewhat normal weather pattern returned the accidents started.

Just a heads up , don't want to sound like a downer but I have had to make the calls home on several of these. Thanks Doug

Great shot of the traverse, it does show, that there is very little snow coverage up there this year!

That's a really valuable info Doug and Chad, regarding the traverse, Thank you.

My bud's photo actually. He went ahead and grabbed by cached camera at the notch, snapping me making my way back. I agree, the traverse is very condition dependant. I wouldn't want to go that route if there was much ice present. As to where to climb/decend between the traverse and the summit plateau, there are multiple spots to do so. Really it's whatever looks good to you and what you're comfortable with. In last weekend's conditions, the further you go along the traverse, the more gradual the slope between the path and the plateua and the trail becomes more rock and less snow. The route we ascended, the 1st chute, is very close to the notch (15-20 feet). I think those are actually our footprints up to the start of the 1st chute in the lower left of the photo, but can't tell for sure with the angle.

Everybody should hear Doug's words, they are wise and true.. This section seems harmless in the photo , however from the point of view ,from where the man is traversing looking down is not a joke.. A fall is certainly a bad outcome..Keep letting your words be heard Doug, they have great value..

I agree with falcon568, when he said that the traverse is very condition-dependent. Our group did the traverse on February 2, and it seemed to be reasonably safe. At the time, we were aware that there had been fatalities in the past. When we did it, you could jam the ice axe in pretty deep, and then kick in good steps. If we had not been able to kick in good steps, then the standard Class 3 chute would have been a better option.