Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board West/Southwest slopes

Hi there. Back from a 4-day approach to Mount Whitney from Horseshoe Meadows. We spent the last night at the tarns above Guitar Lake, looking up the southwest slopes above us and bemoaning that the switchbacks didn't ascent that slope, and instead chose to send us some mileage up the Whitney Creek drainage only to bring us back again while up on the Whitney Trail above.

Anybody out there just said "to heck with it" and trudged up the southwest slopes like the first ascentionists in 1873? Looks like it would be a long, tough slog, but it might be a fun alternative to an otherwise boring trek up the western approach switchbacks.

I went up the West side a couple months ago. It is a bit of a slog but I didn't think it was that bad. It did take me longer than I wanted though. The West side is divided up by many rocky ribs. Some of the smaller chutes have headwalls near the top. The largest chute (somewhat NE of Guitar Lake) is mostly clear of major obstacles and takes you right up to the upper plateau. As a dayhike from the Portal I wouldn't recommend the West side but if you're camped at Guitar Lake and want to try something different it's worth consideration. The large chute is only about class 2 (perhaps a few class 3 moves at most).

-Rick

...and if I recall correctly, from a distance, it has a very gentle S shape to it.

Mike and I had a long look at this on the same day Rick climbed it, but we decided to head up the JMT rather than deal with what we thought would be a lot of scree/talus.

What about the southwest slopes? If you avoid the ribs a little bit to the south, it looks like it is fairly smooth grade all the way up. Is it too steep to be safe?

It looked awfully inviting from below!

I haven't been that way but it seems reasonable. Here's a photo taken from the lower portion of the JMT. Looks like you just have to get through the small rock band and then scramble up from there.

http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/viewphoto.aspx?ID=56900

-Rick