Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney MR Trip Report 8/19/11

Yesterday did a one day hike up the Mountaineer's Route. Started from the Portal at 6:15 and topped out around 11. There are no snow crossings and the route is pretty good. I tried to add some detailed pictures of the EB ledges and the main chute from Iceberg. Also added some detailed pictures of the first chute to the top. There is snow melt there so the rock is wet. The route was not very crowded yesterday. Hope the details help. Pictures are here.

Thanks, spc, for your photo log of the Mountaineer’s Route. Good photos.

Dale Ebersbacher, and his wife, Frances, visited me here in Charlotte four years ago. At that time they had been happily married for 60 years! Frances was one of the first women to climb the East Face of Mt. Whitney in July 1953. (Ruth Mendenhall did the first female ascent of the East Face, but according to Ruth Mendenhall herself, she was preceded by Adrienne Applewhite and Marjorie Farquhar.) The Ebersbachers belonged to the Sierra Club at that time. I think it was on their East Face climb that Dale discovered the ledges.

Here is a photo of me, Dale and Frances Ebersbacher in their RV:



For Dale Ebersbacher, finding the ledges was nothing out of the ordinary, other than saving him and his fellow Sierra Club members the annoyance of bushwhacking through the thick willows in the North Fork drainage. He had no idea the ledges would be named after him, but for a lot of us who have used the ledges, we are mighty glad he found them.

By the way, spc, I looked through all your fine photos. Photo #103 is a picture of the Kaweahs, rather than the Palisades. Thought you would like to know.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you spc for a step by step photo guide to MR!

Unfortunately on some photos with captions "Do not go here" or "Go around there" it was not clear for me whether the right way was right or left of the feature on those pictures.

I am still trying to figure out how to follow this trail and your photos can be really helpful (I have not been up there yet).

Thank you Wayne, your knowledge is always appreciated. Oops I spelled Ebersbacher wrong too. Yury, there really is no correct way to go in the final chute area. I just go the way I like best. It is usually different every time. It took me a few times to perfect my own way. I think that is the best way to approach it unless you want someone to show you their route. I'm glad the photos helped out. --Steve (spc)