Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Russell's East Ridge

Whaddya guys think? A viable option right now for Sunday May 26th? How do you think the snow is up there?

Also any people travelling on the MR: do any of you have pictures of the South Face of Russell?

Thanks for any beta you can offer.

-Joseph

Heading up the check out Russell's east ridge this weekend actually. I'll let you know.

Thanks Fins! Much Obliged.

-Joseph

We are planning to be on Russell Sunday as well, so looking forward to the report from Fins. Snacking Bear, we will look for the climber with the Giant Feet and say hi if we find you.

You'll have a little snow on the route but nothing that'll require crampons unless we see a significant change in the weather between now and then. The approach is mostly dry too.


Here's a photo showing the SW Chute of Russell taken yesterday May 18:

Thanks Kurt! I really appreciate the info!

Definitely, I hit White Mountain Peak today, hopefully I'll be prepped for the altitude so I won't be dragging. I'm certainly excited to have some cool Sierra granite beneath my fingers soon.

Thanks Kurt as always for sharing you info and knowledge.

We attempted Mt. Russell on 5/19. We got to about 100 feet past the first notch on the ridge and had to turn around due to the amount of snow. The 3rd class route was covered with very loose snow, a party attempted after us and choose to take the more class 5 route along the ridge at the point where we turned around. But they also bailed not much further up.



East Ridge


At the first notch


Where we turned around, slip here in the snow would send you off the north side.

Sakai Col yesterday from above Upper Boy Scout Lake.



We were headed up the south side (R) per Kurt's pic, but got way-laid by a vicious pack of nap rocks. The entire group succumbed to their siren call...



And here's today's subtle reminder to PACK OUT YOUR OWN SHIT.



-L

That WAG looks like it's ready to explode! Pretty ripe stuff in there! Seriously, it always amazes me to see these in person and to read about this issue. It seems like such a simple way to keep a beautiful place beautiful!!!

Best - Use a bag and pack it out!
Bad - Don't use a bag.
Worse - Use a bag and leave it in the wilderness.
Worst - Use a bag and leave it in the sun in the wilderness!

Well I got to the same place Fins got to. I met ClimbSTRONG as they were coming back, they turned around close to the summit due to snow in crevices on some pretty exposed sections. Three others whom I hiked with made a successful summit/return. I tried my hand on some of the deep steps made by others but being so big I started sliding toward the Void... Alas I will wait until summer/september...

As of Sunday (June 2) Russell East Ridge is pretty much free of snow, just a few patches that can be stomped thru (carefully!).
That said the weather forecast indicates a chance of snow this week, so conditions may change; climb safe!


Beautiful views all day long. More photos and captions in my album
http://grahamcracker.smugmug.com/2013/Carillon-and-Russell-June-2/29781712_ZvBBPt#!i=2552014463&k=WBHxpnG

Nice going Rick, sorry about the stomach. Beautiful photos, that route just has so many nice views!

Really liked the panos, especially the one with two suns...
Thought for a moment that you might have picked up the ability to tele-transport to another world :-).

Thanks James, the tummy is all better.
Thanks Richard. I hadn’t planned for the 2-sun pano, just a fortuitous photo
I’ll have to keep it in mind next time. The Panasonic DMC ZS25 (and probably other cameras) allows for a >360 degree pano……if you can spin fast enough.
That can get a little tricky standing on some precarious summit blocks......T-bolt, Starlite, BCS, etc...... come to mind

YOu're sure fast Great photos! I couldn't see the pano though.

Thanks Tracie.
Hiking with a sour tummy sure made me feel old & slow ....ugh!
The 2-sun pano is photo #11 in the album. It was taken on the Carillon Plateau.
There’s a ‘wrinkle’ on the right side of Carillon….probably when I wobbled as I was turning around


The other panos from the top of Russell are #44 and #57

you gotta build up a tolerance for Miles' fries
Sorry to hear of your tummy troubles, Mr. G
Good to see you though.