Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board curious about these MR chutes...

I was looking at some pics and came across this one of the chutes. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockwellb/486663377/in/set-72157600183422651/

These look like 65-70 degree angles. That is a little steeper than what I was picturing in my head. I am comfy with class 3, but from that angle it looks like a lot of exposure. Is the "easy walk off" in this picture?

My main concern is how I'm feeling being at that altitude and still doing this. I guess I'll find out when I'm out there, but I just wanted to see if these are the main chutes and if they are indeed as steep as they appear in this picture.

Thanks,
Dennis

Hi Wdw This photo is from a helicopter and looks into the face so the angle of the chutes are around 50 degrees look at the thread for Kent Ashcraft and he had posted a very detailed set of photos that show the first chute and the detail that allows you to see it is 2/3 class. Should mention the easy walk has created several fatal accidents due to changing conditions and is not used by experienced climbers unroped. Thanks Doug

will be interested in comments others make about that picture.

The one time I went up, we followed the leader and diagonalled from left to right as we ascended. The first chute (on the left) looked obvious but we never went there, other than the first 10 feet or so just to get started. It never seemed like we were cutting across chutes at all, but that is what we did.

The other chutes were not obvious in that September climb when we did not have this pictures' snow- accentuated scene nor the helicopter view to make them stand out. Seemed more like stepping stones as we diagonalled up. Harvey

That area has many nice class three variations on good rock. It's very straightforward when it's dry. It can get interesting when there is snow or ice. I was there just yesterday, and all the tracks went up the leftmost chute. It is mixed rock and snow for about 100 feet and then nice snow the rest of the way up.

I did Whitney, Muir, and Russell yesterday. I didn't want to walk all the way up to the top of the leftmost chute on the way back from Muir, so I traversed across where the lowest blue line in your photo goes.

Here is a picture taken by bearbnz a few years ago. From the air, obviously, and looking southeast toward the summit. So you get a more realistic view of the actual steepness of the various chutes. Note that the chutes get less steep the farther west you go.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I especially like that photo. I had not seen that angle before, but it really gives you a great view of it all. Now I'm more excited than ever. It really looks like a perfect climb. Just what I've been wanting! June can't get here fast enough!

I have another question for ya. In the second picture here, taken from the helicopter, can you tell me where the main Whitney trail comes in? I am guessing that its from the lower right hand corner of the picture. Is that correct?

In the last picture, the trail is almost exactly at the junction of the mountain touching the right side of the picture.

I'd guess that if you magnify the picture, you could probably see the trail running across the face.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "comes in," but the Main Trail does cross the back side of the Needles to the far right, as you observed. The Main Trail, of course, works its way up the back side of the Needles from Trail Crest and then switcbacks up the final Whitney summit, but on the other side of the ridgeline where the Notch chutes are in the photo. So, the chutes and Main Trail do not connect, per se, but are relatively easy to get to from each other when you are up on top. Have fun and be safe!

Ok, thanks for the replies. I was just curious as to where the main trail put you onto the peak.