Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trail to the Mtn.'s Route

I am an experienced mountaineer and have climbed Mt. Whitney many times by many routes. Last weekend, while hiking the regular trail past Trail Camp, my friend tells me that he spoke with two climbers who were going to climb the Mountaineers Route... by way of Trail Camp. He said he got the feeling from them that this was not an unusual way to go. I told him that it sounded very unusual and that I had never heard of anybody doing this. I know climbers can climb anything these days, but does anybody know of an establised route this way or for that matter, anybody ever doing that route this way? The ridge you would have to climb over and then drop down on the other side to get to Iceberg Lake looks pretty rough.

From trail camp you go North around the west side of Woton's throne. Then you go east a little to the low point on the Pinnacle ridge. This is called Pinacle Pass. It is definately cross country and includes some class three climbing. You also have to climb over the boulder fields from trail camp.

This route is certainly not easier then going up the trail. It probably adds at least a few hours to your hike, if the summit is your goal. It is an interesting side hike though. The south side of the Pinnacle ridge comes gradually to the top. The Mountaineers side (north) is way steeper and thus the Pinnacle Pass becomes the way to get across. It seems the Pinnacle pass is about 60% of the way between the Whitney Summit ridge and Thor Peak. The class 3 climbing section is not that long....maybe 100 feet with the North side being the hardest.

I did Pinnacle ridge pass last weekend from Trail Camp, its fairly simply with only a few class 3 moves. From Trail camp to the mountaineers will only cause you lose a few hundred feet of elevation. I would highly reccommend doing the mountaineers route over the switchbacks any day! I get bored with the switchbacks.

Sounds interesting, but can you do that route with a main Whitney trail permit, or do you need the NF permit?

This Pinnacle pass is a very interesting variation for people who are looking for something different. We used it once from the Mountaineers route, carrying our backpacks over the top of the pass and then down the slabs to mirror lake. Other then not saving us any time, and perhaps being a little harder then staying in the North fork, it was quite interesting. If you came down that way I doubt any one would care. I have never seen a ranger in the North Fork checking permits, although it is a "small" possibility I may some day. They do control the main trail as an exit point from all over the west, but the mountaineers route does not have that same restriction.