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

I guided a climb of the East Ridge of Mt. Russell over the weekend. This is my favorite 3rd class route in the Sierra. With a little bit of snow plus cold changeable weather this route turns into a much more difficult mountaineering challenge. Snow over downsloping slabs makes the rock slick and difficult to find good footing. All in all it was a very fun and memorable day with a great group of guys who ended up getting a lot more than they bargained for. We finally got to the Portal at 10pm in the pouring rain. Great adventure all around. Here are a few pictures. The rest of the pictures are here.

Mt. Whitney from the approach to the East Ridge of Mt. Russell.


Starting up the Ridge


Climbing over fresh snow


Negotiating the terrain higher on the East Ridge


Looking up towards the upper part of the East Ridge


Lots of exposure on the upper part of the East Ridge


A well earned summit photo on the top of Mt. Russell

Oh my! (seriosly, that looks scary to me)

Great photo of Whitney.

Kurt,

Thanks for sharing your trip photos. The wintery day on Russell is a classic. These are irresistible images for a wannabe mountaineer. Unfortunately I just broke my knee in a climbing accident (ironically building crack climbing skills for tackling Russell's Fishhook Arete). I won't be ascending any Sierra peaks in the near future but I sure enjoy living vicariously through other's exploits. Keep the photos coming. Richard, I always enjoy seeing your photos too. Happy to see you're back to roaming the mountains.

See you in 2015.

Stuart

Wow. Fifth photo - put some white over the granite edge, and it has the look of Everest above Hillary Step. Very cool (no pun intended!)

Oooh they got their money's worth on this one! One of my favorite treks, but prolly would be too chicken to do it with those conditions!! Great shots, Kurt!

Ha! Richard, I'll never forget descending the summit of Mt. Russell as lightning was hitting Mt. Whitney. I was getting my group down the SW Chute and you and Mike were right behind us. Great times!



Awww man, sorry to hear it Stuart. Injuries suck but we all get them. It makes me appreciate being healthy. Last year I had to go under the knife to repair my ankle and was down for 3 months. Here's to a speedy and full recovery and looking forward to seeing you back out in the mountains next year!


The funny thing about your statement Scott is it wasn't long before that the team was asking me how that compares to the Hillary Step. The snow covered rock and exposure actually have a little similarity


Agreed Tracie. I love this route. It never ceases to amaze me how a little snow over granite changes the whole complexity of a climb