Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Easiest 3rd class Ascent Route of Mount Muir??

2 part question:
1.) How far is the Mount Muir use trail relative to the Trail Crest and is there a cairn to signify this?

2.) What's the safest and easiest class 3 ascent route up this rock face? I've seen some photos online but the image quality is not so clear.

Thanks for the assistance.

After you pass the JMT junction, ascend a pair of switchbacks, and then round a corner. After about 50 meters you are there. From the trail to the summit is 250' vertical feet. There is a cairn marking the spot to leave the trail.

I have a series of pictures outlining the moves, step by step, but can't locate it at the moment. In the meantime, look at these pictures from last year. I also took some more a couple of weeks ago.

Bottom line is that Muir by the easiest route is serious class 3. Some call it class 4, and I don't argue that. I have retrieved quite a few rappel slings from it over the years.

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Edit - not the ones I was looking for, but there are some more pictures here.

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Finally, look at pictures 89 to 125 in this album, from August 24. I took quite a few more pictures this time, and my partner augmented them.

Bob, your pictures just convinced me to get my butt off this computer and head up Muir! Ill give my opinion on 3rd vs. 4th class when i get back. -Jake

Back in May 2003 BobR posted route descriptions for Mt. Muir.

Here is one of his route-lined photos:



Other of BobR's photos can be seen HERE.

Thanks for your excellent work, Bob!

THANK YOU! we are looking to get to the top of Muir at the end of the High Sierra Trail (that we begin a week from today), and this will help immensely! One of us was up there a couple weeks ago, but seeing pictures and routes ahead of time will definitely help the rest of us!

Amin F. and Tif,

Here is one of the pictures I think Bob R. was looking for that he gave me back in 2007 of the Mt. Muir route -

If your interested in more photos of the route check them out here.

There are also some photos given to me from the late Kent Ashcraft. Sure miss that man.

Hope these help your efforts to reach the summit!

I can't thank you folks enough for the help. My goal is to do the Mountaineers Route with my friend on August 17 and then on the way down take the Main Trail and swing by Mount Muir (if time and energy levels permit). Either way, thanks for all the great route-finding info.

--Amin

So I've looked through all the pictures here and I also recently glanced at this one on summitpost.(http://www.summitpost.org/images/original/364878.jpg)

I'll probably go up Mount Muir via the blue route (in the Summitpost picture). However, 2 questions I did have in regards to the Summitpost picture:

#1 From where the guy in the orange jacket is located all the way to the big "chimney" where the blue and red paths meet each other, it seems at some point a traverse left to right is required across the rock. Are there good handholds and footholds to accomplish this fairly easily?

#2 How much easier or harder is it going up the blue route compared to the red route? Are the holds better?

Thanks, again.

After the start, nothing to it. It's like walking on a nice, wide, ascending ledge. You hardly have to even put your hands on the rock.


Blue is easier; there are plenty of holds for feet and hands. Red is a tad more strenuous, and the holds aren't so obvious: You have to look around a bit to see the sequence of moves that will work. Usually, with someone new, I go up the red route to give him a bit of a thrill; then tell him we're going down an easier route and that puts him at ease a little. Last time I did it in reverse, just for a change.

If you're tentative on exposure, you might take a 20 m length of light rope and a sling, to rap down the lower section.

Look also at pictures 89 to 125 in this album, from August 24. I took quite a few more pictures, and my partner augmented them.