Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board MR on 9/18...

Hello, great advice I've gotten here over the last couple of years. I'm planning my second Whitney trip, this time up the MR.

I haven't seen many trip reports up MR lately...

My partner and I are planning on heading up early Friday 9/17 to be at the Visitors Center by 2pm in hopes of getting two day permits for Saturday the 18th. We plan on starting early (around 5am or 6am) to head up the MR. I'm not quite sure about my comfort level with the exposure on that little ledge going up the Rockwell Shortcut (just before Elephant Ear) so am looking at doing the south side route up to the E-Ledges. The pictures may have it look worse than it is, so I was thinking about hiking up there a little ways on Friday to check it out. I read you don't need a permit up until LBSL.

I've done a ton of research so far and should have the route pretty well nailed down. I'm breaking it up into 3 sections; 1) Start to the E-Ledges 2) E-Ledges to Chute and 3) Chute to Summit.

Last September we did the main trail, made it up in 6 hours and down in 4. Have done many long day hikes in the past so I'm not worried about physical requirement, food, water, gear, etc. I'm pretty comfortable with all that. My main concern is staying on the best route and not spending every other minute second guessing myself as to which direction we're going.

The plan is to go up the first chute, seems the most popular, then from there up the notch or cut across. I can't tell you how many photo sequences of that I've studied and still get confused. I've lined up different peoples photos to try to get a sense for where they're at in the chute or which chute their in but it's really difficult because the photos can have such different perspectives on them. I'm sure it will all be easier when I'm actually there. I do want to thank everyone though for sharing all of the photos and links of the MR. I think I've read them all and they are tremendously helpful. Especially those that have placed the route lines on the photos, I can't tell you how much easier that is to see the route. I'll be looking at a photo and it says go around "that" rock, and I'm like, "okay, there's 400 rocks in that photo, which one is "that" one I have to laugh because I know I'm over complicating it. Then I'll see a similar photo with a route line on it and I go "ooooohh, THAT rock!"

I'm not planning on any snow, hopefully it'll be good up through this coming weekend.

Any feedback on my plan is appreciated. Just a few general questions. Do you think chances would be good to get 2 walk-in permits for Saturday? Where do people normally refill water going up, or do you just carry enough for the trip up and refill at the switchbacks for Trail Camp on the way down? I recall a recent post from Richard P. regarding the cairns being in pretty good shape marking the trail up, is that still the case and should be used as the best route?

Lastly, anyone else heading up at the same time? Maybe we'll just follow you





Thanks!

Kevin

Kevrock:

I have only been on Whitney once, (MR about a month ago), so I am not a Whitney expert. However the route is fresh in my mind, so hopefully I can offer a little information that might be helpful. Reading between the lines, it sounds like you guys will be fine. From your MT hiking times on your previous trip it would appear that you have your conditioning dialed, which will be very helpful.

I can't help you with the Rockwell shortcut, but the standard route to and through the ledges is pretty straight forward and fun. Unless you get "wigged out" by exposure, I believe you will find the ledges easy to negotiate. There is one section where you have to take a step or two on the narrowest part of the ledge, (maybe 8"-12" wide), with a 80' drop off, but it is really not bad. Once you are past that point you just follow the logical path to the top. Somebody has piled up a couple of big branches to keep you from heading too far east. At this point you will find a narrow diagonal ramp that leads west and to the very top of the ledges, (you have great hand holds to use while on this narrow ramp). Again, it is easy.

You do have an interesting creek crossing to negotiate at LBSL, (assuming I crossed the creek at the correct place). I think you likely need trekking poles to get through this crossing without having to get your feet wet. After you cross the creek, hug the edge of LBSL and then follow the cairns through the boulder hoping section toward the gigantic house sized boulders that you can see in the distance. The passage through the willows to the slabs is easy to find as long as you stay below the two huge boulders. Once you are on the slabs just follow the cairns and generally head toward the trees in the distance, (Clyde Meadow). When you pass the Meadow, make sure you veer left and go up around the big ridge versus heading back into the UBSL cirque. There are a few spots where you have "use trails" heading off in different directions between UBSL and Iceberg Lake, but the cairns should generally keep you on route. You will pass a seep on your right that has turned the rocks black and past this you should see cairns marking the easiest way up to IL that does require a bit of a scramble, (not hard).

Make sure you refill your water at IL. You can walk with empty water bottles up to this point, but I don't believe there is any water from IL to the summit unless you want to mess with melting snow or finding a trickle. My son and I took 2 litters each from IL to the summit and back to IL and had plenty left when we got back. I would think 2L should easily get you to the top and down to the switchback spring. You can't miss the main MR gully from IL. Some just head straight for the bottom of the main gully and pick either the right or the left side, but I believe the preferred way by most is to follow a narrower 2nd & 3rd class chute that is to the left of the main MR gully. This option allows you to avoid a significant portion of the lower main gully which has quite a bit of snow then scree. You can follow this chute all the way up until it merges with the main MR gully. There are a couple of places in this chute that cause you to think just a bit, but for the most part just keep heading up and you will be on route. There is one big cairn that you might see that I think probably marks a left traverse over to the start of the 5th class East Buttress route, so just keep heading more straight up and slightly right instead of moving left of this cairn. There is some exposure on this section, but not bad if you are comfortable scrambling.

Once you join the main chute just stay to the left as best you can to help avoid as much of the scree as possible and minimize your exposure to rock fall. You can't totally avoid the scree slope though, (this part is not much fun). Once you get to the top of the gully you are at the notch and will easily find the final 400'. Most folks apparently head up the first chute you come to at the notch, but there are other options. I wouldn't really worry about trying to follow a picture with a route line drawn up the final 400' as there seems to be many ways up the chute. It looks like to me that both the left side and the right side are fairly similar, but the left side might be slightly sportier. The easiest path seems to be starting up a short crack system on the bottom right side of this chute. Once you get up this crack system you are on a diagonal ramp that will lead you to the left side of the chute underneath the ice. Head straight up to avoid the ice and traverse your way back right when you find an ice-free, easy path to follow. Once you are on the right side of the chute just head up the easiest line you can find. If a move seems sketchy look around for other options as there are many paths up the countless big blocks, ledges, and cracks. I don't believe we used Wayne's Chimney to top out, but the final moves to the summit ridge were really easy, so I wouldn't worry about having to find the chimney. The "hardest moves" were probably the first couple up the crack system off the deck at the very bottom of the final 400', but they are not hard. As long as you avoid the ice, you will find very positive hand and feet holds the whole way up. I will say that there are plenty of places on the final 400' where a fall is not an option, however as long as you have decent scrambling skills that won't be a problem. For those who get "wigged out" with exposure, they probably just want to avoid the MR. If by some remote chance you get to the bottom of the final 400' and find a freak storm has pastured the entire chute with verglass ice, it is time to turn around and head back for an early beer(s). It sounds like you are planning to come back down the MT, so you don't have to worry about the down climbing, which is only slightly more interesting. However if your plan changes just remember to mark the spot that you used to top out as is really does all look the same up there and there are several places on different chutes where cairns have been created. I might consider leaving a pole or something there to make sure you get back to the right spot if you change your plan and intend to down climb the MR.

Have fun and let us know how you do.

Kent Williams

PS: Others....feel free to correct me if I have given Kevroc any bad beta as I have only been up once.

Hey Kent,

Thanks for the great reply. As I'm reading your post I'm picturing photos I've seen as well and can pretty well visualize exactly what you're saying. Very good.

I'm not sure how I'm going to react to to the exposure, that's the only unknown for me. I love scrambling up rock (I'm looking forward to that the most), especially with good hand-holds and foot-holds.

Thanks,

Kevin

Chances are pretty good. I've only been skunked once this summer for a day-hike permit for the Whitney Zone and was able to substitute another permit that allowed us to do what we wanted to do. (Last "summer," I got skunked 5 times!)(Remembering what the (other) Dave told me last Friday evening, there were 31 permits available at 2:00pm, but 40(2) people wanted them, so a few got skunked.)

Pull an extra permit for me if you think you can make it up near The Notch by about 8-8:30am and I'll show you what I think is the easiest way up the Final 400'.

Hi Richard,

Will do...

Kevin

Thanks. That will save me the trip in to town.

Do me a favor and leave a message with Doug or Earlene at the Portal Store on success or failure with the permit. I'll probabaly be there from 4:00 to 8:00pm if you happen to be in the area then.

Will do. We were going to head up there after getting the permits and checking in at the hostel. Maybe do the first segment of the trail just to warm up.

Hi.
I did the MR on Tuesday, 9/14. My new friend has most of the footage.
We went up the wrong Chute. Apparently, there is a Chute to the left of the Chute which has snow in it. We went up the "Snow Chute" and zig-zagged across the scree. So, look for a Chute on the left.
Somebody should be able to describe this better.

As far as the notch:
There is a rust-colored stone which forms a step and a crack. Step up that thing and hang on for dear life. It looks crazy to me but that is a popular route. It is important to note that you will see a small snow ledge up there. Get to the right side of it and beware of scree. From there it looks easier to summit from the left but it is NOT. You need to summit from the right side.
It was my first try at the MR and somehow made it with minimal scratches on arms/legs and I have no mountaineering experience.

Also, I would recommend wearing pants of 3/4 pants(even better). I brought a jacket but did not need it. I wore tech-T, tech-longsleeves, windstopper vest.
I did 2L of water at the portal. Refilled at Iceburg Lake. Wished I had more than 2L because after the summit I took the Main Trail back (no way I was going down the MR!) Refill again at Trail Camp.
For me it was plenty of hours but a day-hike of 18+ hours. I hope this is helpful. Good luck!