Our party of 6 took left the portal around 7:00am and thoroughly enjoyed our hike up the mountaineers route. We used crampon to get up the short snow chute going up to Iceberg Lake. We made it to Iceberg lake around 6:00pm. The weather was beautiful, but the sun was intense. SPF50 wasn't getting the job done. Monday morning we headed up the chute with crampons. Again, very intense sun on our backs and reflecting off the snow. At the notch we decided to skip the traverse and go up the chute. We found it easiest the climb up along the edge of the snow that fills the chute while using the rocks. It was a beautiful day on the summit, we met a party of four who were enjoying the day as well.
We took the same path back down and were able to butt slide down long sections of the chute safely without ice axes or crampons. The rest of the trip down was mostly uneventful.
My brother who is on a plane going home will likely post a more detailed message with photos and video including info about the helicopter airlift of two young ladies and the boots that gave their soles to Mt. Whitney, but thanks to the duct tape of many groups coming down, allowed our climber to summit.
-David
