Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Russell Attempt 4-29

Three of us decided to take a stab at Russell via the South Face over the weekend. Based on previous reports it sounded like the East Ridge was still not an option. The hike to UBSL was uneventful. New to me this year was a well worn and somewhat maintained trail straight up the drainage to the base of the E. Ledges. Looks like an alternative to going uphill on the South side and then back down to the stream crossing. It was a little tight in a couple of places with big packs so we chose to come back the normal route on the way out. Some snow still holding between LBSL and the slabs. We camped at UBSL and then made a summit attempt the next day. All went well until we got just under the ridge between Whitney and Russell. We were going to cross over at the "thumb" but ran into some unsafe (hard snow and ice) conditions on the traverse. A fall there would be fatal if you could not self arrest in time so we turned around and headed back down. Never the less, a great weekend in the wilderness and great company. Pictures can be found here.

wow, so little snow left...thanks for sharing!

The plan is always to summit. The Goal is to make it home. Great call (loved the pics).

Thanks for the great pictures Richard. It was great to see you on the mountain. As you know we were beaten by altitude sickness, a first for me. Our saving grace was that we were told we ate Doug's first breakfast of the season on friday morning, and it was a good one!

Mt. P FA of '12? How cool is that?

I looked up at that snowfield to Sakai Col a few times this past winter, wondering what it would be like to cross it to get access to the Arctic drainage and the West Face of Whitney. Now I know.

Looks like you guys had a good time up there.