Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mt. Russell

Hi all,

Is there a southern or western route off Mt. Russell? I'll be out there in late July and was hoping to tag Russell when getting Mt. Whitney. We'll go up the SE side from Upper Boy Scout Lake, but were wanting to know the possibilities of a southern, or western descent toward the Alpine Lakes.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Amy

The guidebooks indicate class 3 routes on the west and south sides of Russell. I'd suggest getting the work by Secor and studying them in detail. There are great photos of all the routes, including class 5 climbs.

Descending onto these routes would probably require some highly advanced foresight and route-finding skill. I've had some scary experiences downclimbing into easy chutes that end with sheer cliffs. Too far down to rappel.

With packs, I'd suggest hiring a guide, or taking a good recon before committing to a downclimb.

Good Luck!

I assume you mean Arctic Lake, not Alpine Lakes. In his 2nd edition (p. 75) Secor describes a nice class 3 route on the South Face, Right Side.

There is also a longer but easier way if you are uncomfortable with steep downclimbing. From the summit go back over the east ridge of Mt. Russell to the Russell-Carillon Plateau. Descend a few hundred feet down what Secor calls the “Rockwell Variation” and then head WSW to the Sierra crest. The RV is described in Secor p. 41, with a picture on p. 45.

Look at http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/1122127 . The first picture is a map showing the route, and the second picture—looking WSW—shows the terrain across Russell’s SE face. This is all class 2 with a little bit of easy 3 getting over the crest. Cross the crest at the obvious place about a third of the way from the left edge of the picture. Once over the crest, it’s all easy.

Amy, I would STONGLY recommend that you listen to anything that Bob R advises you to do, as he is the "Rockwell" that the alternative route is named after, and is just too modest to note that.

Well noted Ken! Thanks for the info, (and I did mean Arctic Lake- my fingers type too fast for my brain to follow!) I'll let you know how it goes!
Thanks,
Amy

The West Ridge is supposedly class 3, but it looks quite convoluted. It doesn't really head in the direction of Whitney anyways. The rest of the west face routes are class 5. Some of the best crack climbing in the Sierra can be found there, but these aren't the descent routes you're looking for.

The easiest route on Russell in my opinion is the South Face, Right. It's one short (40 foot?) fairly steep section of class 3 and a whole bunch of easier scrambling and talus/scree hopping. Finding the route isn't necessarily easy from above. If you are not able to locate it, the alternatives are class 4 or 5 and you'll probably want to rappell (one 50m rope should be enough).

The East Ridge is quite long, never all that hard, but exposed in some places. It's a great route, but to retrace it before continuing to Whitney will take more time.

If it were me, I'd go up the East Ridge and down the South Face. Then, depending on the amount of snow/ice, I'd either climb up the north slope to meet up with the upper part of the Mountaineer's Route, or else I'd follow the beaten path over the Russell-Whitney Col and traverse over to Iceberg Lake and the start of the Mountaineer's Route.

But it's not me; it's you. Good luck with whatever you decide and stay safe.

I almost did the Rockwell Variation last year. I had no idea that it was described in any guide, but I figured someone had done it since it looked like an obvious short cut. It was late in the day and I was afraid the route might cliff out somewhere so I took the long way around. Next time I will give the Rockwell variation a try. It looked fun. I will take a look at Secor when I get home tonight.