Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Finally! A permit! Woo-hoo! (MR)

Ah..success at last. After being turned down for date selections in two different rounds of applications I spoke with the nicest reservation agent in the world there at the reservation station (Becky) and we hammered out a permit for my girlfriend and I. We will be coming out to do (attempt) the MR on October 4-6..we are soooo excited! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather won't thrown any early snow on the route..but even if that happens we will be just happy to be out there among the mountains!

We went and picked up climbing helmets today as a matter of fact... Outfitting for trips is half the fun! <G>

BeachAV8R

Hey, BeachAV8R, glad to hear you hung in there and got your permits. A three-day climb up the MR should allow an easy enough pace for your girlfriend to top out on the summit and get back down. The bomb-proof handholds and footholds on the climb above the Notch should be relatively easy for her, as long as you avoid ice conditions. We look forward to you two making it and giving us the good news here on the Board.

Early October can be one of the best times in the Sierra. Crowds are usually way down and the Indian Summer days are often very clear. It starts getting a cooler then, so your gear buying should take that into account. Helmets are a very good idea, particularly above Iceberg Lake.

Thanks Wayne and SS...we are really looking forward to our trip. We have a tenative schedule of flying into SFO, driving to the Yosemite area for one day, then spending two days in Mammoth Lakes doing some acclimitizing hikes.

We will definitely have clothes appropriate to the conditions. I'm planning on making a video diary of our climb (we did the same thing for Longs Peak) which we then burn to DVDs and give out to our friends. When we get back I'll write up a full trip report with pictures and post the link to it here.

This forum has been invaluable for trip/route planning. I'm sure I'll have a million more questions before October..!

Thanks..
BeachAV8R

http://home.carolina.rr.com/beachav8r

BeachAV8R,

Glad to hear you got the permits. It's great to see people come from all over to experience Whitney. And the MR, nonetheless! You'll get to see a close-up view of the Needles and the East Face that the people on the Whitney Trail won't see. Helmets are an excellent idea especially in the Couloir and the Chute. Wayne is spot on regarding the granite in the Chute. It's great rock for climbing and the summit plateau at the top of the Chute is your reward. As the Chute is the steepest and most exposed part of the route, treat it with the utmost respect. Keep a close eye on weather and trip reports. Have an awesome trip!

I see you like burning DVD video, too. How did you like the MR DVD?

gosc

I loved the DVD..as a matter of fact I posted a whole thread about it but I think it scrolled off the main page before it could get "bumped"..so you might want to respond to it and "bump" it back up! Here is the link to it:

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001990



BeachAV8R

<a href="http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/80512/1">Here</a> are some pictures from late-October, 2003. They'll give you an idea of what to expect if we aren't hit by an unusual, early season, storm.

Looks like you might be from the same neck-of-the-woods as Wayne (your website address).

Enjoy the trip!

Ah..beautiful pictures Richard...it really puts the fever in us! Does anyone have any preference on camping at UBSL or Iceberg Lake? I indicated Iceberg Lake on my permit application..but was just wondering what most people do?

Thanks for the link to the pictures..right now I have a "Whitney" folder on my internet explorer "Favorites" and I think I have something like 20 links with route descriptions, pictures, trip reports..all of the MR..hehe...it will be studied to death before I get there!

BeachAV8R

Richard..one question..sorry..you opened the door a crack and I'll leap right through..lol..!

Picture #2 in the 2nd gallery shows the traverse just past the notch. You state, and I've read, that one can traverse this section around and join up with the main trail up to the summit. I've also read this should be done very cautiously because this area is pretty steep a fall might end up in a slide that ends up with a fall off a long cliff. My question is..the picture that you show, is that depicting the route (the traverse) with an almost total absence of snow/ice? Or is it just a small segment? Many of the trip reports I've read indicate there is a relatively permanent snow field there that must be crossed and many people recommend ice-axes (for self arrest) and roping up to be safe. Another trip report mentioned down-climbing 40 or so feet to bypass the snow.

Just curious if at that time of the year most of the snow/ice is gone from the traverse and if that is the case would it be easier than the class 3 scramble up the first chute straight up to the summit?

Sorry about the questions..hehe..I have 3 months to bother you guys now!! <grin>

BeachAV8R

My answer to your question about UBSL vs. Iceberg is that it really depends on how fit you and your girlfriend are and how you're doing with the altitude on the first day. The easiest way is to camp at LBSL, then camp at Iceberg and summit from there. If I was going to do a single night camping, I'd opt for UBSL so I didn't need to carry a heavy pack all the way to Iceberg (and back down again). Climbing from the portal at ~8000 all the way to Iceberg at ~11,000 with a full pack would make for a long first day and you might have a grumpy climbing companion on your hands. If either of you are tired on the first day, another option is to camp at Lower Boyscout and just summit the next day from there.

I'll have another gallery up in the next few days...I did the MR -> Main Trail loop back on D-day. I post a link as soon as I'm finished with the upload. It'll have a good pic of current conditions on the traverse.

To answer your question: it seems to me that the little remaining snow on the traverse will be gone by October. There was relatively little left on the 6th. If that's the case, you'll be able to follow the "use" trail, and unless you're a klutz like me (see Bob R's report on Thor Peak 06/10/04, picture 16), it'd be pretty difficult to fall off of. As far as whether to use the traverse...I've only used it once, as a descent route during winter (and we rapped part of the way down). My personal choice is to stay on good rock if it's available, rather than traverse on scree. Our good friend Wayne Pyle showed me a chimney on the right side of the final chute up to the ridge, that is impossible to fall out of, a number of years back, and I use this path to the top all the time now. (I don't know whether I have any pictures of it.)

In answer to your question about camping: I'd opt for UBSL. It's warmer. If you're feeling good, go for the summit on the second day (gives you the third for another attempt if something happens to stop you). Then the third day can be used to explore Thor, Russell, Carillon, etc before you head out. If the altitude seems to be getting to you, an "easy" ascent up Thor can be used to help acclimitization on the second day. Sierra also had some good alternatives.

When you finish collecting your MR links, how about posting them here. It'd be great to have a central source of information/pictures that we could refer back to.

Great info guys....I'm hoping our day hike at Yosemite, coupled with 2 more day hikes at Mammoth Lakes will help us a bit with acclimitization. When we did Longs Peak in Colorado we did basically the same thing..with 3 days staying in Estes Park and 1 day hike up to a bit over 11K to get used to the altitude. Marisa had a slight headache camping at the Boulderfield on Longs and I had..I wouldn't call it nausea really..just a lack of appetite. I think our biggest problem was not drinking enough water for the entire 3 days on the mountain..this time we are going to stay fully hydrated at all times.

I'll definitely post all my links to the MR..perhaps just add to the post and bump it up as I find new ones Like I said, I hope to take a good video and still picture record of the route too...maybe I can give a little back to this forum since it has given me so much information already..!

Thanks...

BeachAV8R

<a href="http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/144107">Here</a> are the pictures from the D-Day ascent.

See, you got me motivated to lauch the photo editing software, upload the pictures and caption them!

Want to see the photos from Am's first trip to the Sierra and her first ascent of a Sierra Pass? What about her trip up to Lone Pine Lake?

Yea, great, I'll have them up in a few more days.

Wow Richard..that second set had our jaws on the floor! That first one of LBSL is postcard perfect!

In those first two pictures you are showing the slabs up to UBSL..that is a great shot and begs the question of what the route up that segment is. I'm visiting my parents up in DC right now..so I don't have the links to the other trip reports with pics or I could probably cross reference them and pick out the line.

I assume you stay toward the left and work up the "green" area..which I assume is the drainage from UBSL?

Great shots...you are REALLY stoking our enthusiasm for this trip!

Thanks for sharing..

Here are some pictures from a hike up OUR tall mountains out here in NC..(only around 6000 feet!)..we went a couple weeks ago..

http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/boards/bbs/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=013832#000009

BeachAV8R

When you cross over LBSL, you'll see a "use" trail that leads into a boulder field. As you enter, if you keep your eyes on the where the trail starts back up on the other side, it'll give you an idea of where you should be boulder-hopping. You'll follow the "use" trail up until the slabs in the pictures ease off in angle. There will be a traverse to the right to get onto them. This is one place where the route-finding can get a little difficult. Resist the urge to go high and to the left as the angle eases off. (There were some improperly placed cairns/ducks upslope when we went through on the 10th.) This will lead you off route and you'll eventually have to bushwhack to get back on track. Once on the slabs, it's pretty easy to find your way up to UBSL.

If you look at my pics from Thor Peak (with Bob R and Wayne), you'll see quite a few photos that will make the route finding easier. I tried to shoot as many shots as possible showing the "Rockwell Shortcut," the Ebersbacher Ledges, and the route above LBSL.

I looked at your pictures. Cool! Back in 98, or 99, I spent some time working back in West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky and a few other states in the southeast. Mindblowing how green everything seems to be. I had a chance to wander around Kentucky and West Viginia, and regretted the fact that I couldn't break free to see some of the beauty around Ashville.

Thanks for the kind words. I think you're going to find out why I've been addicted to the Whitney area for a long time.