Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board climb to iceberg lake, other options?

Here's the rough route I took to iceberg lake a week ago:



My friends opted for the more wet route a little to the east:


Some folks take a different route to the lake, something west of the waterfall. Is that sloping area toward the middle of the first picture? Or is that the route i took?

-lance

lance there is a user trail to the west of your pics. you need to stay on the lower tracks and you will run into it.

Lance,

Instead of heading up where you did if you keep going there is a route that is almost free of water. There's no 3rd class and no wet rock. It's to the left of where you went up. It's pretty easy to find once you're there.

thanks! Now i have to go back and find it!

-lance

I agree with the other posters. Stay low and you'll find the easier way up.
On my first trip to Iceberg Lake, I made the same mistake of staying high and going up near the waterfall. On the way back down, I stayed more west and was surprised how much easier that is...

generally speaking I would consider the waterfall way the "up" route and the "lower" path to be the return route - especially since the waterfall area is the best place to tank up before summit bid

that being said many new people slow way down at the waterfall esp if they are not comfortable the the route variations

I found the water seep route far more intimidating than the part above the notch just below the summit.