Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Newbie TR: MR 07/26/2007

My friend and I set out from the portal at 5:30 AM on 7/26. We made good time through the ledges. (We did get off trail in the creekbed and stuck to the right hand side. It seemed easy to lose the trail through here but were able to find the "tree" signaling the Eberbascher ledges). We continued on through LBSL and onto UBSL. I made it to UBSL before my partner and did some exploring looking for the trail and a way around the lake. How wrong I was! The trail actually leaves the slabs quite a bit above the lake (before getting to the lake) and makes its way up on the the rock ridges that lines its south side. Fortunately while waiting resting by the lake wew spotted another party going up the trail and regained the trail this way. The route between UBSL and Iceberg is pretty straightforward and we navigated it with little difficulty. Once at Iceberg we rested again and elected to go over the rock outcropping to the left of the notch scree field and generally found this to be a good route. Once we completed the climb up the outcropping we got into the notch proper and kept to the right hand side. Since it was getting later in the day in some sections the fine scree was very loose and we were doing the 2 step forward 1 step back for some time. Once at the notch we explored the various options for gaining the summit and decided that door #1 was the best. We stuck to the left hand side all the way up. The only gotcha here is getting onto the rocks that take u to the top. In the middle is a short 15 foot section that is a bit difficult to get through as the steep north face scree field looms underfoot. Also when taking the left hand side, be careful over the last 20 feet, the further left you attempt to exit for the summit you will find a sheer face. For the last 60 feet, angle your climb more towards the middle of the cliff on prominent and wide ledges. (This is above a snowfield). While on this section, it started snowing and the temp dropped considerably. We made the cloud-enshrouded summit at 4 PM (10.5 hours). At this point it was raining and we took shelter in the hut against the advice on the door of the hut. Other climbers were already there. We decided that we would rather descend via the Whitney trail and set out once the rain stopped at ~ 5:00 PM. The descent was uneventful but painfully slow as night descended upon the mountain. We got back to the portal at 2:15 AM. So for this newbie, my RT time of MR-WT was 21 hours!!!!! So for other newbies out there, it is necessary to consider that your hike might take this long!

Thanks for the post, karuzi. I'm heading up the MR for the first time on Saturday, solo.

I've done the the Main Trail seven times before, but am a little anxious about this route and appreciate any help or pointers I can get!

At this point, MarmotDuke, the best advice is to get started early. karuzi's climb for a first-timer up this route is typical....difficulty in route finding the North Fork up to the ledges, difficulty in route finding above UBSL, a dark-to-dark trip, and the trip down in the dark being painful and slow.

How can you mitigate any of this? Look at a lot of pictures and descriptions of the North Fork. It is actually easy nav, if you do this. The UBSL section is very easy, I'm always astonished that people miss this. Looking at pictures of the area makes it very simple.

Starting early. I would want to be in the North Fork as soon as it starts getting light, if you've never been there before. So that probably mandates a 4 am start at the latest. If you've not been there, it may create more problems trying to navigate in the dark. If you HAVE been there, I'd start earlier. Not making nav errors will save hours.

Thanks Ken, I plan on getting there early enough tomorrow so I can hike to the ledges in daylight to scope out the area. Then I can get a real early start on Saturday and not have to worry about finding my way around in the dark for the first time.

sounds like a good plan! fantastic luck, and have a wonderful trip!

(plus, don't forget we love to see the trip report!)

Ken:

You raise a good point regarding route finding, and as someone who will be climbing the MR for the first time later this month, I have been studying pictures of the climb carefully. However, it seems like the one area that I have been unable to find a pictures for is the stretch between UBSL and Iceberg. Do you know of a link to some good route description pictures of this area?

this is view of area(taken from Thor)- I am too lazy to draw in the route - maybe someone can take this picture

> However, it seems like the one area that I have been unable to find a pictures for is the stretch between UBSL and Iceberg.

The route is pretty non-descript so most people don't take pictures. From the tall pine trees just east of UBSL, climb due south, but avoid the ridge on your right that drops down to the lake. Once you are on the south side of the ridge, veer west again toward Mt. Whitney. Proceed westward -- many people tend to climb the slope on the right too soon. Wait until you see the water seep on the right -- some climb this, but the best and easiest route is some distance farther west, where there is a good use path climbing onto the Iceberg Lake plateau.

Last year, I put together some maps. See this thread:

North Fork Topo Map?????
 

KenP wrote:
> After gaining the ridge above UBSL, look for numerous cairns that mark the trail.
> The trail ascends and descends two small ridges before traversing a long ridge
> south/southeast of Iceberg Lake.

I certainly wouldn't describe this section as "gaining the ridge". Kashcraft has actually climbed the ridge looking down on UBSL and proceeded to Iceberg Lake, but that is NOT the usual route.

Yeah..I think Kashcraft intended to do it..me..I just ended up going to high between UBSL and the waterfall and just said "to hell with it" and headed up the headwall. There were a couple of tricky sections and I commented on the video that it wasn't a smart move...

Photo of where I topped out:

http://www.mudspike.com/images/mw25.jpg

I have to admit though..it was a pretty direct route..and once on top of that little spine it is a piece of cake walk to Iceberg from there:

http://www.mudspike.com/images/mw26.jpg

Chris

PS - Congrats to both of you..!