Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board question: russell/whitney

i have a couple of questions about russell/whitney from UBSL. i am thinking of going up the east ridge of russell and down the south face/right side and then onto whitney. (i have searched previous info and gotten answers to most, but a few questions still remain)

1. i have never been on the south face route of russell (in fact, haven't been on russell). so, where does that route meet up with the ridge between east and west peaks of russell? is it at the lowest point? this question is so that i can start looking for the south face/right side route from above at the right place. and how thin is the ridge at that point?

2. perhaps at the beginning of august there would still be quite a bit of snow on the north slopes of whitney. so, to avoid that, would traversing just a bit above the iceberg lake back to the usual MR start a better idea?

3. (i probably won't need this, but anyway) - someone mentioned to me that one doesn't need any permit if the dayhike STARTED from the NF and then the exit is thru the main trail (all a dayhike). is that true? if so, do the rangers just take your word that you did go up NF route and are just returning via the main trail?

thanks.

to be in the whitney zone - you need a permit - period - that includes up or down - check the boundry of the zone

1) Looking at Bob R's photo taken from Whitney, I could see that Russel's South face comes up between the east and west peak of Russell. This makes sense, considering I looked down the south face from the east peak of Russell. I did not climb to the west peak. The knife ridge between the peaks had too much exposure for me to do it.

2) While coming down the sandy South side of Russell, you could evaluate the North face of Whitney. If it looks bad swing around to Iceberg Lake and go up the MR to Whitney.

3) The Whitney zone includes all of the North Fork above LBSL (10300 feet). That is not the issue on the permit. There was a thread posted a month or so ago in which this was discussed. You can day hike up the MR (and do Russell or Whitney) and come down the regular trail and come down the regular trail with no permit. After multiple confirmation calls, forest service said this year the exit permit on Whitney's regular trail applies only to backpackers.

A comment about what you are suggesting. Unless you are in very good condition, doing both Russell and Whitney in one day is a very big undertaking. Comming down Russell's North face and back up to Whitney adds about 2000 extra feet....a total elevation of 8250 feet in one day.

thanks GoneHiking. a bit later after i posted, i did come across the exit permit thread that you mentioned - sorry, should have done more search earlier.

regarding my question about south slope of russell, i was thinking about more in terms of where (between the east and the west peak) should i start looking for the south face/right side route - at the lowest point between the two peaks, more towards the east peak, or more towards the west peak? i.e., where (of the 3 options above) should i peer over and try to match Bob R's photo? and my query about thinness of the ridge at that point was because if the ridge is really thin at that point, then i may chicken out of poring over at that point.

also, if i get too tired, i can always retrace my way back from russell instead of trying whitney.

After you leave the Russell Carillon saddle you will come up the crack refered to as the East ridge route. It is on the right side of the wall and as you have read has a roll off exposure feeling. There is plenty of room to walk down but it put the real scare into me because of the exposure. After that is over you will climb up to the East Peak of Russell. When you get there you will be able to look down into the South face of Russell. There is a little window in the rocks allowing a full view of the top of the southern route. The sand hill would be fun to come down if you have the skill to climb down the top 100 feet of the headwall. That top 100 feet didn't look easy to me, like a series of thin shelves. California's fourteeners lists is as a class three. Bob R's photo in club photo shows the sand hill coming up to Russell as being almost exactly below the East peak. See photo #41 at http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/110559/guest.phtml

ahh! so the south face/right side route does indeed get to (after the headwall) almost exactly the east peak.
for some reason i wasn't able (file not found) to get to the photo you link to, GoneHiking, but did get to some of Bob R.'s photos at
http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/guest-2.phtml under Thor and russell peak (6/28/03). so, for example, #54 is from that window you mention? and #64 (route starting down) is from the east peak?

thanks.

I think the link GoneHiking is trying to point you to is rather http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/1110559 .

Also, #55 of <a href="http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/1422442">Russell climb</a> is taken almost exactly at the top of the class 3 part. This is very close to the east peak, as GoneHiking noted, and there is a two-foot high duck at the spot. That is the east peak you see behind me in #55. #50 – 57 shows the climbing.

I never thought the exposure was very bad – the part from the east peak to the west. The "knife edge" is typically several feet wide.

By the way, I talked to Liz at the Lone Pine ranger station a couple of hours ago, relative to going up the MR and down the trail tomorrow. She verified, once again, that you do not need a Whitney trail day permit for that ... now and for a little while longer. (I'm guessing until the end of the quota season. But is sure sounds like they will change that for next year.)

dvs,

Take a look at
http://www.snwburd.com/bob/trip_reports/carillon.html
Bob did just the trip you describe, and the TR includes some good pics.

On Russell the East Arete route goes over East summit to higher West summit, you then backtrack to low point between the two summits and take one of several gullies down S Face. I never decended this way but didn't look too bad at all.

Thanks Bob R. for the correct address. I left out a "1" which makes a huge difference. His photos are so great to see, I have them in my favorites so I can go there anytime I need a better look.

dvs-
I am planning similar trip for early October (since September is pretty much booked for NF Lone Pine Creek) except in the opposite direction. We plan on camping at UBSL, climbing MR on Whitney, descending Whitney's North Slope to the Whitney-Russell col, climbing South Face of Russell, descending its East Ridge and *maybe* climbing Carillon. You can find great description of the South Face and East Ridge routes of Russell on summitpost.com

Misha

thanks a lot everyone.. great info (now its up to me to actually do it)...

Jonerome-
Good stuff. If so, it will be bagged for sure

Misha

Here is a picture I took yesterday. It was overcast all the while I was on the summit, so the lighting is terrible. But maybe it will help.

If you want to see it in high resolution, click <a href="http://members12.clubphoto.com/robert634908/1484962">here</a> and go to #30. #32 may also be of interest.

<img src="http://a0.cpimg.com/image/34/1A/21586740-e5ef-02000180-B.jpg"width=480>

thanks a lot, Bob R.