Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Russell from Upper Boy Scout Lake

We will be doing Russell South Face Right Side this Saturday and I was wondering if anyone has a picture that has a line drawn in from Upper Boy Scout. I found a great elevated shot of the area taken from Thor Peak by Snownymph but could not save it and embed since we are not friends on Webshots.
Not a big deal but I would like to get an overhead look of our route from UBL to the SFRS.
Thanks for any help
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://image59.webshots.com/559/3/83/1/2941383010067347782udjDIX_fs.jpg&imgrefurl=http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2941383010067347782udjDIX&usg=__Zjt6iKEf_riGS7jDRoNzBNlF6OY=&h=1800&w=2400&sz=960&hl=en&start=60&sig2=62BRHZ0e-8K3RM6JBlM0kQ&um=1&tbnid=kVWUanx9MBJIQM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dupper%2Bboy%2Bscout%2Blake%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D42%26um%3D1&ei=kri6SrPzOI_Q8QaM9qm-Cw

This is the terrain I think you're talking about: heading up the UBSL drainage and crossing Tom Sakai Col to the South Side of Mt. Russell? It's relatively easy, except for the boulder field down near the lake. I despise this crossing so much that I usually just head up to Iceberg and cross Whitney/Russell Col.


A couple of albums:

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/California...363640512_nCqyA

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/California...196703677_5hjDC

The Original Size images will give you the detail you're looking for.

Thanks Richard. I looked at your pics, they are awesome.
Is the South Face Right Side the peak on the left side with the dark shading?

A couple of albums that show the South Face, Right Side terrain:

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New/MtRussellEastRidgeDayClimb/9554010_3veBA#642525194_GfwfX

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New/Triple-Reverse/8959121_YcgUx#595233355_pMU57





This is what you're looking for... Don't make the mistake of turning left at the lower headwall. Follow the tracks up higher.


The first album has some photos of Mike Mellin and Kurt Wedberg downclimbing the crux of the climb.

These may help you out as well. Ignore picture 11 in the album.

http://spinefxr.smugmug.com/Hiking-and-C...203684946_2HUNj

Yes, much better. Go up to Iceberg lake and proceed from there. I'll see if I can dig up a photo. Don't recall that you can actually see Russell (much) from UBSL... just the box canyon at the north end of the lake...

ooh, spine beat me to the punch, while looking for my old pix. Very NICE, and they look very helpful (although I would still go up to Iceberg...)

Thanks for all pics and comments. Very helpful.
I'll let you know how it went.

hi there-

i'm planning a trip for next week, and want to see what you guys thought of this itinerary with the objective of Mt. Whitney summit via MR, and Mt. Russell via the East Ridge:

11/11 Day 1 To UBSL: 11,300 ft

11/12 Day 2 Summit Whitney via MR
Back to UBSL

11/13 Day 3
To Summit Russell via East Ridge
Back to UBSL (via south face to Iceberg to UBSL, OR reverse East Ridge)



Not familiar with East Ridge route at all- so wanted to see what you guys thought of above itinerary....

and some questions:

1- a lot of you guys recommend camping at iceberg lake- and this would be great as opposed to camping at UBSL(camp near MR and Mt. Russell)- but we wanted to do summit Russell via East Ridge... is there a way from Iceberg to start of East Ridge route? I see Whitney-Russell Pass, but from there, can you get to the start of East Ridge? (easily, i mean...without belays).

2- some say east ridge is no more than 3rd class, some say it cannot be 3rd class- any general consensus?

3- if you guys do east ridge from UBSL, better to reverse the route back to UBSL? or descend via south face to iceberg back to UBSL?

chulho,

Your climbing itinerary looks perfectly fine to me. IMO, camping at UBSL is a better choice than Iceberg Lake. There really is no reason to hump a overnight pack up that far, especially if you want to climb Russell's East Ridge. The only way that I know to get to Russell's East Ridge from Iceberg Lake would be to go over Whitney/Russell Pass and then over Sakai Col. You would then traverse over to Russell/Carillon saddle via the Rockwell Variation.

Russell's East Ridge is class 3. If it gets harder than class 3, you’re off route.

You can descend back via the East Ridge or South Face. Both take about the same time to get back to UBSL.

Btw, welcome to the board.

chulho,
My son and I did this (almost) exact trip in '07 - He 16, me 53 - so I would say go have a great climb?
We were on a 14'er quest at the time, so took the MWMT over to Muir then back to the Summit and down the Mountaineers Route to camp.
We did not like the look of the scree slope heading up to the Russell-Carillon plateau just south of UBSL; although that was the route we had learned of. We met another climber at the lake who directed us straight up the canyon above UBSL. He said "see that wall at the end of the canyon? Go until you can put your left hand on the wall and turn right and follow the chute right up onto the ridge." That is what we did and it was a great climb. I think this is the same route referred to as the "Rockwell Variation" by Mike. Once on the ridge you have the famously frightful climb up the ridge to the East summit and then to the West summit. Enjoy!

I have been up to Whitney several times, once on the Mountaineers Route; interested in this hike.
Can you give more specifics? Did you take the Mountaineers Rt to UBSL, then head up to Russell?

Yes, the Mountaineer's Route is the best (and almost only) way to get to UBSL. From there you can take one of two class 3 routes up to the summit of Russell. The first is to head up the scree slope/chute immediately north of the UBSL outlet. This slope/chute leads to the "Russell-Carillon plateau". As you gain the plateau you will be looking NW up the center of the plateau towards the low point on the distant ridge. To the right, this ridge leads to Mt. Carillon, and to the left it leads to your destination, Mt. Russell. This is the "East Ridge" of Mt. Russell. Walk the Plateau to the ridge and follow it west. Whenever the route seems questionable, go to the right (north) side of the ridge. Eventually you will gain the lower, East Summit. Continue on the ridge to the Higher West Summit and sign the register.
The alternate route is to follow the UBSL drainage North West up the box canyon. You will see a "wall" towards the end of the canyon. As you reach this wall turn right (north) and go up a climbable class 3 chute. At the top of this chute you will be right at the beginning of the East ridge. Turn left (west) onto the ridge and proceed.