Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board MR Route in the dark

Hello All,
I am going to be starting the MR route before sunrise and I would like some advice to refresh my memory. I have hiked both the main and the MR but its been about a year and I just needed some feedback or reference points that I can use at night.
Thanks for your input folks!
Canuck

My last hike was years ago, but I recall a sign, North Fork, at the creek crossing where the MR route takes off. The more obvious trail is on the left side (facing up) but I find there is a better route on the right side. You don't have to cross the creek again to get to the E ledges.

I'd say just look at the many MR posts and photos, people do a fine job of photographing the details.

I went up the MR with a buddy last weekend. We started up around 5:30 AM and there was plenty of light for climbing. We started relatively late so that we'd have plenty of light to tacke the EB ledges. It turns out they are pretty easy.

The trail in the lower part of the the North Fork canyon is easy to follow. We ripped the pages out of Doug's "Mountain Lore for the Portal Store" that describe the route and carried them with us. We refered to them a couple of times, but we could have made it without. There are many cairns on the trail and we saw no cairns that lead off to dead ends. The cairns generally start above the EB ledges. We encountered a lot of ice on the seep below Iceberg lake. I would suggest going left (West) about 75-100 yards and climbing up a notch. It's a lot easier and there is no ice.

We followed the far left side of the coulior and joined the main chute about 2/3 of the way up, well above the big boulder blocking the lower part of the couloir and worked very well for us.

From the notch we took the first chute to the summit. There was a lot of ice here and this was the most exciting part of the climb. We traversed back and forth over the lower section of the chute until we skirted the ice and then moved up through easier holds. Because of the exposure on the lower part of the chute I would call that part of the climb Class 4. Most other parts were Class 2 with some Class 3 thrown in now and then.

We came down the main trail and were out before dark.

Thanks, its all coming back to me now. hahah Thanks again!
Canuck