Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Banner & Ritter

Hi,
I would love a recent report on the above. We are going Labor Day wknd..with newbies. I am inclined to let them know how beautiful it is to hike around the lakes and relax...while we go bag the peaks. It has been 10 years since I have been up there...Ritter needs ice ax and crampons...I do not recall that for Banner...but with some research, it seems like ice ax and crampons are needed for Banner also to get to the saddle..?? We will be camping at Lake Ediza. Any info will help ... Thanks!

Annie

I have been up west glacier twice- Banner can be done from the Banner/Ritter saddle on that west side's glacier from Lake Catherine without crampons ,although going up is easier with them, or microspikes would be fine. Not enough exposure or runout problem for ice ax. Coming down after sun has warmed the surface is like boot-skiing, slushing along /no crampons, although the suncups need negotiating.

Since you are camping at Ediza, you must mean the east glacier- Different ball game. I have not done it, but it is much steeper and others will chime in about technical skills and equipment needed.

I should also mention about this years conditions: I just did the usually-soft Lamarck col semi-glacier. This year it was a steeper, hardened, old-glazed, gray-dirtified technical route.
We had to circumvent by going up rock on the side. Banner/Ritter glaciers may have also been affected by this years low winter top cover. Buyer beware. Need more beta.

Thank you for the info. After more research, we will camp at 1000 island lakes and North Glacier Pass, over to the RB saddle then up Banner....newbies may be able to do that....

any current info for there???

Sorry I didn't see this earlier (I was off on a British Isles cruise, not up in the mountains) but if you want a good deal of info about the Southeast Glacier approach to "my" mountain, check out the Mt. Ritter section of my web page.

Details of our ultimately-successful 1999 climb include marked-up photos of our route from Ediza up the SE Glacier and "Owen's Chute" which goes easier than the ones described by Roper and Secor.

How did you climb go over Labor Day?