Mt. Whitney and Russell

Dates: 9/08/23 - 9/10/23

Crew: Josh Geiser

Locations: Mt. Whitney - Inyo Natl Forest, Alabama Hills Natl. Scenic Area

Route Brief: Mt. Russell East Ridge, Mt. Whitney East Buttress (no go)

Trip Video: Eventually

Overview

Wanting to keep the 14er/mountain streak going this summer, Josh and I planned to try something interesting- a climb up the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney. Although the highest peak in the continental US can be reached by a long, circuitous hiking trail that winds to the top, we were looking for something spicier. Entrance, the East Buttress.

The East Buttress is the second technical climb that was made on Mt. Whitney, and is a relatively easy climb up the jutting wall that starts above Iceberg Lake. A long approach gets you to the lake, then a class 3 scramble brings you to the base of the climb itself, which ascents 1000 ft in 8-11 pitches of 5.6-5.8 climbing before reaching the summit. Then the typical way to descend is going down the snowfield of the neighboring "Mountaineer's Route." Having done my first multipitch and trad climbing with Josh earlier in 2023, I was wary but determined to give it a shot. So just a week after I got back from my Pictured Rocks backpacking illness, I was once again on a plane heading to Los Angeles with a pack stuffed with climbing gear.

After reaching Whitney portal at 8400', we weighed our packs at a lovely 40-50lbs each (thanks rope and climbing gear!) and started out down the trail. Initially day hikers, backpackers, and climbers are all together, but after a few miles the climbers trail splits off and gets much more aggressive. Soon we were pushing the pace up a super steep trail that switchbacks viciously up endless boulder steps. Trying to keep up with Josh, I was not feeling good at all- possibly going from sea level to 10k feet in hours and then hiking as hard as I could. Josh took the rope and I took a bathroom break. Feeling a bit better after that, we pushed on.

The big obstacle on the way up to the basin containing Whitney's lakes is the E(bersbacher)-Ledges. These are spooky- sloping ledges of granite that you scramble and traverse, climbing out of a narrow valley to gain a foothold into the mountains. Sometimes there was a bit of wedging into cracks with our packs barely fitting, and sometimes walking across a wide but sloped pathway that would be slippery if wet (definitely no foreshadowing here).

Above the E-ledges, we passed lower Boy Scout lake. We wanted to be in good position the next morning to climb so we opted to keep going. My burning legs were a little sad to see the green grass and pines by the lake fade below us as we tackled the next steep boulder field.

A fun walk up massive granite slabs with no texture and numerous water streaks took us to upper Boy Scout. We found a route and followed a trickle of water that lead us to the lakeshore, where we mercifully ended the day's ascent.

Climbers and rangers were pitched all around the lake on the rocks, making little nests of gear in the sea of stone. Josh and I found a (we thought) decent flat gravelly spot and set up, tying off the tent to boulders and rock piles we made. We started scoping out tomorrow's route and preparing our packs, but some really dark clouds were gathering behind the granite crest of Whitney and casting some doubt on our ability to go tomorrow.

In the meantime, I just enjoyed our surroundings- granite walls all around, flowers springing from the cracks, pristine lake below, and colorful skies above. The sunset behind Whitney cast sunbeams through the passes and illuminated clouds gold and pink.

A storm rolled in overnight and it was sprinkling already when we fell asleep. We decided to make a call in the morning on what to do, but it wasn't looking good for route dryness and general safety. Listening to thunder peals coming over the mountains and reverberate under us, I cozied into my bag and fell asleep.

We didn't want to waste a whole day sitting around hoping for tomorrow to work though, so instead we turned our attention to Mt. Russell. One of Mt. Whitney's neighboring peaks, Russell is a 14er as well. Its east ridge is a class 3 route from where we were camped, meaning a bit of a scramble and some fall potential if we weren't careful, but no technical climbing. A quick repack later, we hustled out of camp, around the lake, and started up towards our new objective.

After going around the lake, the first half of the climb was nasty muddy scree. There were tons of loose rock and wet dirt that gave way at every step as we slogged upwards. I followed Josh up these scree slopes for about an hour until finally we reached a small headwall of boulders that we climbed up through to find ourselves at a good viewpoint and the base of the East Ridge at the Russell-Carillon saddle. There were beautiful views of Iceberg Lake, Whitney, Tulainyo Lake, and the knife edge ridge up ahead that was our target.

We were going to work our way along the top of this sharp ridge until we were at the summit. It was apparent that parts would be very exposed and a fall could lead to a tumble for hundreds or thousands of feet. It started becoming committing immediately as we clambered across sheets of rock with a gap between them falling a hundred feet or more.

I focused up and once again followed Josh as we edged along slabs, used cracks for hands, hopped along boulders, and climbed over wide gaps. Every good crack or ledge that would have made a solid foothold was packed with slushy snow or hard ice, making going slow as we picked every foot placement carefully. On each side, the rocks fell away very steeply- around a thousand feet. I forced myself to focus on one move at a time, ignoring the dizzying drops.

An hour on the ridge had us approaching what I thought was the summit- we scrambled up a notch, doing our most vertical climbing yet as we gunned for it... only to come out on top and realize this was a false summit. Stopping for a snack break, we pushed on.

The last obstacle was a boulder problem that blocked the otherwise (carefully) walkable ledge system before the summit. This 8 foot high block sat right in the way and required us to bust out a V0 boulder problem- normally not a big deal, but in our hiking shoes with packs on, and a thousand foot fall on each side if you slipped off it added a bit of mental challenge. We each did it and then raced along what was left of the ridge to the true summit! 14,094 feet, and a mountain had still been climbed on this trip no matter what the weather did to Whitney.

As we ate lunch and took pictures of Mt. Whitney standing tall right in front of us, we saw big dark clouds racing towards us from behind Whitney and knew it was time to make haste back to camp. Even though we packed up and starting moving immediately, the clouds were overhead and dropping snow and hail to make our slippery ledges even worse. 

Josh downclimbed the boulder, which was harder than going up it, and then it was my turn but by now it was really snowing, leading to a really fun moment of clinging to a frozen hunk of rock while snow pelted my face, staring over a 1000 foot step. Slowing down, I placed each foot carefully as I edged backwards before dropping down safely onto the thin ledge. 

After that we raced back in the snow, hail, and rain as our footsteps got obscured by fresh fall, making it hard to retrace our exact path. But Josh is the mountain man and guided us safely back, and one dirty unpleasant slide/jog down the dirty scree slope later, we were safe. We both went right for the tent to nap.

A short recovery nap later and the storm gone, we cooked up dinner and made a plan- we'd get up at 3am, check out the weather outlook and if the route seemed dry and weather tame, we would bring everything with us, climb up, and then descend by the normal backpacking trail. Bedtime felt sweet after the long mental and physical day in the elements.

The hike down was uneventful as we backtracked past the boy scout lakes and down the very slippery e-ledges. Just like Russell, going down was trickier than coming up now that the sloping ledges of smooth stone were wet and getting wetter, but I was accustomed to it now and we made short work of it.

By the time we reached Whitney portal we were hiking in a downpour. We stopped off at the small cafe near the parking lot to get hot coffee and then splash our way to the car and get outta there.

Alabama Hills National Scenic Area

I convinced Josh we should stop in the Alabama Hills on the way down to see some of the formations, especially the Mobius Arch. When it's clear out, you can see Whitney framed through the red stone arch, but today we were treated to thick clouds blanketing the mountains behind. Afterwards we scarfed down a big breakfast at Alabama hills diner, which had a cool mural on the wall showing all the famous spots in the hills and movies that had been filmed there.

Devil's Punchbowl Natural Area

Searching for somewhere to climb on the way back to LA and make use of the rope and gear we'd hauled all this way, I found Devil's Punchbowl, a 300-foot gorge in the San Gabriel mountains formed by heavy water runoff from the high peaks. Fascinating orange and white rock makes for slabby climbing in the desert heat. It was a hot and dusty hike down the loose hillside amidst the desert growth, but at the bottom of the canyon we found a flowing stream and climbing choices aplenty.

Breaking out the gear, Josh led us up a 5.8 sport climb that meandered up an offwidth crack. Most of it was easy and I could get my whole leg jammed inside for rest and upward traction, but halfway up I got stuck when it widened even more. Eventually Josh showed me I needed to transition out and layback on the outside of the crack, which made it scarier but easier. Next we trekked up the canyon a bit and Josh led a trad 5.6 that was just a fun romp up a slabby crack. With no anchors but the trad gear, he belayed from the top as I followed up, and then we went hunting for a ledge descent. We got most of the way, crawling under a natural arch until realizing we were stuck 40 feet up. Josh set up a rappel off the arch and we double rapped down, then hiked out.

A beautiful drive through Angeles National Forest later, we were back in LA. We met up with Josh's friend Andrew (who we climbed Shasta with!) for excellent pizza at the Luggage Room Pizzeria, and then back to the airport and Houston.

Of all my climbing/hiking trips, this was the most "failed" of them yet, but I surprisingly didn't feel disappointed. We'd stuck out the nasty storms, still taken on a 14er, seen snow and rain and sun, climbed some rocks, faced some fear, and come out unscathed. And if it means I have to come back for Mt. Whitney again, I can hardly think of a more enjoyable punishment than that.