Mount Whitney - The Mountaineer's Route

The Mountaineer's Route was first climbed by John Muir in 1873.  He didn't have to sweat about getting a permit.  Fortunately, by showing up the day before our climb, my friend Sym and I were able to obtain a one day permit for this route.  We started up route round 0500.  If we had actually left at around 0100, we might have made the summit.  For those interested in the details of the day, read on.

Sym at Sunrise Below Lower Boy Scout Lake

We pressed on on Iceberg lake.  I recall the steep snow climb from 09', but today, the cairned route was better.  We came across climbers who had finished the east buttress route of Whitney and were descending at 0930.  I was impressed.  Shortly after this, we had the first precip.  There had been dark skies, but the reality hit with the light hail and thunder in the distance.  By Iceberg Lake, we had anther more serious hail storm.  Lightening, thunder seemed close by near the summit and it hailed for about 30 min.  We were now in the sub-chute, to the left of the main chute to the 'notch'.  This would avoid the small snow field at the bottom of the couloir.

Mt. Whitney East Face

After the Hail

We discussed our options and continued up the steeper part of the couloir that was a class 3 scramble, tricking in places because it was slick with melting hail.  After the steep section, the couloir eased off and walking was easier.  We passed about 4 groups retreating who had turned around.  2 of the groups were guided.   One guide cautioned us about he weather.

The Couloir Covered in Styrofoam Hail

We passed another group of 4 or 5 that had summited.  The had climbed to the notch, then climbed to the summit  via the NW back route (that I'm not familiar with).  They descended via the main N gully, using a rope belay.  They had experience electricity and 'buzzing poles'.  They said there were more storms to the west- which we couldn't see from our position.

Highest Point Achieve Before Retreating

We made it to our high point at 13,600ft, and another storm raged around us.  Hail built up very quickly in the couloir as it streamed down the walls.  We didn't know how long this would last and how much more would be coming.  It was a hard decision after all the time and investment to get to this spot, but we turned around and descended in the hail.  It seem to take us a long time to get back to Iceberg Lake.  

It felt like the temperature was plummeting as we ate lunch at the lake.  We were both tired, and began our long trip back.  Eventually, about 2 hours after we descended, the weather did look much, much better, very windy, but no storms.    Of course we debated if we had made the best decision.  In retrospect, we definitely did.  We didn't know the weather would clear up, the route to the summit was dodgy at best in good conditions.  

550pm - we exited the trail and arrived at the car.  So about 13 hour day for an 11.8 mile hike.

Starting elevation:  8365ft   Max elevation:  13,600ft   Gain:  5,235ft

See the complete picture gallery here.