A while back Rick Kent took a trip up the West side, as part of a 10 peak multi summit day in August of 2007. He was on his way from Mt. Russell up to Mt. Whitney, using the western approach. His pictures are the only ones I have personally seen.
The pictures of his climb up the west side to Mt. Whitney start about here.
http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/viewer.aspx?FolderID=613&Page=12 IMG.1399.jpg image 134 of 399And from his trip report
"Above Arctic Lake the West Slope began to come into view. From this vantage point I couldn't get the best view. I knew that the West Slope consisted of a series of chutes seperated by rocky ribs. What I didn't know was which one to use. I skipped the first chute and began climbing up the second. About halfway up the 2nd chute it split and both forks appeared to be blocked by headwalls (possibly class 4 or greater). I crossed over a notch into the first chute and followed this one up further until it too was blocked by a headwall. At this point I crossed back over into a much broader 3rd chute. This one clearly went all the way to the top without further obstructions. All this jumping around took time and was a bit tedious but there was some fun scrambling to be had. It did seem to take absolutely forever to reach the hut though. Finally at 1:11pm I reached the summit of Mount Whitney"
