Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board (Classic) East Face Route

Hello Folks,

I am sure you have heard it all before but,

A friend and I are planning an August ascent of the (classic) East Face route. We are both confident 5.7 leaders (mostly J-Tree, some Tahquitz, etc) in good shape with 10-14,000' experience.

I have read some guides calling the climb a 5.4, others 5.6 or 5.7.

I was wondering if you guys had an opinion on the grade, as well as our skill level (generally of course)

Thanks for reading, and responding

There are probably a couple of moves of 5.6 at the top of the Grand (or Great, depending upon which routebook you look at) Staircase, but they are right off of a large ledge, and are easy enough. Here is a topo

that I drew a while back, and at the time I was somewhat convinced that the moves mentioned above were 5.7, but the consensus is that they are no harder than 5.6, so I'll go with that.

Your experience level sounds fine, routefinding is a little bit of an issue as the route wanders around some. You may want to consider the Sunshine-PeeWee (East Buttress) as it is more sustained for the grade, and much more direct, but the East Face is a fun route in it's own right. If you have a chance to acclimate, it will make your climb much more enjoyable, the altitude does take it's toll. One last item - a photo annotated with the major landmarks of the East Face route:

The old school rating was 5.4. Most people call it 5.7 now. These moves feel harder than that because of the altitude though unless you're well acclimatized.

It is called a grade 3 and should be if you stay on the route. Route finding is one of the biggest issues whether it is a grade 3 or 4 or getting caught out after dark.

Get there ahead of time and scope out the route well. Get an early start and keep moving. Don't leave anything to chance. Bring headlamps with good batteries and spares. Have your clothing layers in case something slows you down or if a thunderstorm comes in.

If you have more questions feel free to post them here.

Thanks guys,

I feel really comfortable with the route finding. I have done more beta mining on this route than I am comfortable admitting. I am fairly sure I have seen more of this route than most people who have actually climbed it! All kidding aside though, I am very exited about combining a classic climb with such a worthy objective. I have obsessively combed through photo albums and trip reports dating back, well I guess back to 1931. I have read books and spent weekends in the Sierras and J-Tree and Idyllwild prepping myself for this adventure. It sounds funny to say, but since that day last May, on a trip up to the Whitney area when I decided to commit myself to the task, my life has changed very much for the better.

Anyhow, enough blabber

Thanks again for the wordage

mb11,

Thank you very much for sharing that thread. I am also a husband and father of two boys 4 and 6. This has caused a lot of soul searching in the midst of preparing for this climb. Your story is a reality check for me though. Although I have been very serious about my preparations, I am reminded not to let my guard down and to follow the "rules" of safe mountaineering. Details.

Although I will not have 100% of the prerequisite that Kurt has recommended. I am confident that the experience I do have is enough to get me to the summit safely, hopefully with time to get back to camp:)

Thanks again, and good luck getting back on the horse.

did you ever get that axe back?

Thats Rad.

Man, what an epic.

Glad to hear your sticking with it!

For what it's worth, we only roped 4.5 pitches out of the 11 or so on the route. We took our time and had a couple of long snack breaks, just enjoying the route and the views. We still managed 6 hours from Iceberg and back (spent about 45-minutes on top). Technically, it's not hard, though there are a couple of awkward moves (getting from the Fresh Air traverse into the chimney if you're a bit low on the route and that boulder problem bit below the summit if you follow the E. Buttress top out.) Also, you really don't need a more than a basic rack (no bigger than a #3) and a 50m rope, so travel light. (Or do it Doug's way: in his hiking boots with a handful of slings.)

It is a classic route, but if you are really wanting a 5.7 "climb" then do the East Buttress.

Either way, enjoy it.

Thats Kinda what I was thinking. We want to rope as few pitches as possible: tower traverse, ridge traverse, FAT, Chimney into the staircase and the offwidth out, and maybe the summit problem.

Ill have to wait and see how I react to the exposure.

Man, I really cant wait!

the picture of the east face that someone posted jogged my memory. I have done the east face and buttress several times and I remember alwys wondering about the steeper walls in between the two routes. From what I remember there are some fairly clean looking crack and corner systems that look like they would make for a good adventure. Has anyone played around on this area of the face? I know there are more obscure routes already established all over the face but I have yet to see a decent topo for them. appreciae it.

andrew

I would like to thank the stuff on this thread and other bits from the message board. Helped a lot in us planning our trip to Whitney.
We am planning to do the East Face route in 2 weeks.
I did the Mountaineers route 11 years ago and the East Face route is on my list of routes to bo before I die.
Tony L and I have been planning the trip most of the year. It sounds a long time but we are Brits and getting flight, car hire, permits etc etc takes time.
I will post a report when we get home and any leasons learnt.

Thanks again

Richard K
Chester UK

The Porcella/Burns guide has route descriptions. Hairline and The Great Book both cross the East Face at the Washboard and are between the upper parts of the EF and EB. You can find topos for these on summitpost.org.

Even though the East Face is one of the "50 classic climbs of N. America" the East Buttress climb next to it is 5x better, IMO. It is one grade higher, more sustain and cleaner. If you have time up there, definitely go for the East Buttress too. I believe if you are confident 5.7 leader in Tahquitz, the 5.8 East Buttress will not push your limit.

Have fun.

I have read that the EB is mostly 4th class, and that there is only a 5.8 (optional)start. Is that the case?

I believe my old Roper Sierra Club guide book calls it 4th Class, and the Porcella book calls it 5.0-5.8

If this is the case then I wander how many people have been up the 4th or low 5th class version and claim (or believe) to have climbed an Alpine 5.8?

Seems a little misleading. And potentially dangerous.

Climbing rating is subjective but there's no way that the EB is mostly class 4. There are class 3/4 as one tops out on the way to the summit. One can say that the EF is mostly class 4. Here are the rating according to different climbers:

Roper: "Class 5"
Secor: 5.6
Supertopo: 5.7
Moynier & Fiddler: 5.8

I felt that the climb was mostly 5.6 & 5.7 with the possible 5.8 at the lower pitch you mentioned.

As with alpine climbing, one always climb one or two grades lower than one's ability to compensate for the subjective rating. At least that's my approach.

I recommend a class 4 exit from the top of the Grand Staircase, instead of that off-width crack. Ray van Aken, first ascensionist of the NE ridge of Lone Pine Peak, told me about it years ago, when I was explaining to him how difficult that crack is for a person of my size.

Look at the right side of the alcove; there is an outside corner. You can't see that it goes until you look around it.

It wasn't described in Secor's first edition. I told him about it and he put it in the second.



Oh, this picture is from a rescue, some time ago. The rest of the pictures are here: 1986-07-05 EF Rescue.

I think longer alpine rock climbs are so hard to accurately grade because if you are a fairly confident climber and you get in the zone of cruising over 4'th or low 5'th class rock you may sometimes blow through a short 5.6 or 5.7 section without even realizing it. Wheras if this was someones limit it might shut them down or atleast make them stop and think for a minute. I think also some people find it hard to justify giving an alpine route a grade based on it's one toughest move given that it may only count for less than 1% of the route and it is probably possible to avoid it. I think a good example of this is the Sun Ribbon Arete on temple. The vast majority of the route is fourth class with a few sustained 5.7 pitches and like 3 5.10 moves (which can be avoided). But most of the guidebooks rate it at 5.10 which scares alot of people because if they don't look closely all they see is an 18 pitch 5.10 alpine route.....when in reality it is much more mellow.....but still awesome.
I think in the mountains people need not stress over ratings so much. I think part of the adventure in the mountains is just going for it and finding your own way if necessary. And hell....chances are (for me anyway) your off route half the time any way so what do the ratings even matter.
As far as the EB goes....if you lead 5.7 at tahquitz you'll be money. I have been way more scared on much easier rated climbs at tahquitz than anything on the east butt.

andrew