Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mount Mallory & Irvine..?

Stuck here on duty for the next couple weeks I'm sure I'll be doing a lot of "virtual" hiking with my topo maps..

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to climb Mt. Mallory and Irvine from Meysan Lake via a scramble route (class 3 or less)? I know nothing about the south side of the Whitney area rim there..and don't even know if those summits are hike-worthy, but not having been up the Meysan Lake trail they look like reasonable peaks to consider from that point. Just considering what else to do while I'm out there if I manage to come for the September group climb... If Thor is the day-hike I might want to do some other stuff if I have a few days to burn out there..

Regards..
Chris

I'm also looking into this. If I do what I want to do this weekend, I'll have some info and photos to share with you.

I'd also look at Bob's albums. He's been up there a million times, at least. Kashkraft also has some photo albums posted.

Yes, there is a chute (class 2/3) that leads up from Meysen Lake between Irvine & Mallory and this is a common way to reach these peaks. Here are a few photos:

http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/viewphoto.aspx?ID=40109
http://www.rickkent.net/ViewerPlus/viewphoto.aspx?ID=40111

It's a fairly typical chute with boulders and loose scree.

-Rick

Also, there's a good photo on p. 60 of Secor which shows the route.

-Rick

Just make sure you get out here for the BBQ on the summit on the 19th!!

-L

I did this a few years ago with Bob R. We climbed the East Chute between Mallory and Irvine, went left to bag Mallory, dropped back down into the bowl between the two, went up Irvine, then down Irvine's north ridge and dropped back down into the Meysan canyon. One short class 3 section in the East Chute - known as the "black rock waterfall." No big deal, but your shoes will get wet. We also did Lone Pine Peak by the northwest chute the day before. A very enjoyable weekend.

Has anyone considered starting with Lone Pine Peak and working all the way around to Candlelight, bagging Peak 3925, LeConte, Mallory, and Irvine in between? Could that be done in a long day if you got a really early start?

Good question. I also am interested in that hike. I've been as far as Meysan Lake a few years ago. I was just on the other side of Mt. Mallory at the little lake below Arc Pass three weeks ago but the clouds blowing over and eventually caused the fire in Big Pine turned me around before the pass. Mt Mallory seemed so close however I wasn't planning on climbing it. I am thinking about the feasibility of a one-nighter somewhere around Meysan Lake, climb up the next day and out. I'll be checking this thread for y'all's sage advice as I am just getting into more cross country hiking/climbing in the past few years.

If memory serves me right, the hike between Lone Pine Peak and LeConte would be along a pretty sharp ridge, eventually ending in the plateau below Le Conte's summit mass. Better to hike in and do Lone Pine Pk one day, then Irvine, Mallory, Le Conte the next by the scree slope south of Meysan Lake.

Also, both times I've done Le Conte, we thought the easy route on the final summit mass was a Class 3 going up, Class 4 going down.

Here is a kmz file that opens with Google Earth of my hike last weekend up to Mount Irvine via the East chute from Meysan lake.

http://www.gpsmountaineering.com/MountIrvine.kmz

Check out this trip report:
http://www.climber.org/TripReports/2004/1272.html

Travis, that's a pretty cool kmz file your created. Thanks for sharing.

I second that. It's cool how you incorporated the photos into that. Nice!

Can't seem to open it, but I'm not familiar with a .kmz file type anyway. Help?

Very cool indeed.

MT- You need to have Google Earth installed to view the file

Google Earth is the most amazing software I have ever seen!

If you download and install it, then view Travis' kmz file, the next thing you need to do is try out the controls.

I like to orient the view so it starts from Whitney Portal. So click and hold the "N" in the compass (upper right corner of screen), and drag the "N" clockwise around the compass so the picture rotates so Whitney Portal is at the bottom. Stop about the 5 o'clock position.

Now, the picture is a bird's eye view looking straight down. Click on the oval on the horizontal bar above the compass and drag it to the right (or click on the symbol at the right end). Watch the view change so you can see the horizon!

It's almost as good as flying with Beach

Travis: That's a great way to use Google Earth. I use it for work all the time, but I never have incorporated the program's use into my hiking. I think I will play around with it some more - that's great how you can link pictures, etc to the route.

I've been up to Irvine, but I went via Arc Pass.

Kathy

Yes, it can be done in a day, just bring plenty of water. As mentioned in Bob's TR, the traverse between LPP and LeConte involves some exposed class 3/4 climbing. The rest of it is pretty much all easy class 2.

Thanks for the info guys...might be something I consider doing if I do end up coming out in September (still not positive of my plans yet..)..

Regards..
Chris

Wow..just opened up that Google Earth file Travis posted..very, very cool.. Fantastic use of Google Earth..! Thanks..I'm amazed someone hasn't done something similar for the Mountaineers Route and the North Fork.. (?)

Cool...

Chris

Flying with me is a lot of fun...it's just the landing part that will scare the bejesus out of you..