Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Climber fell on Russell.

As I understand it he got off route and that could have led to a technical mistake. The chute he descended ends up in a cliff at the bottom. It would not look like a logical chute to ascend but on the descent he would have gone a good distance down before he came to the cliff. Once he hit that point he probably made a technical mistake that led to the fall. I'm headed up that way this weekend. I'm going to look at it and try to see if I can deduce any more info.

It is always sad to hear about a death in the mountains. My prayers are with him, his family, and friends.

I climbed Russell for the first time a few weeks ago. Coming back, I intended to return via the notch above Iceburg Lake.

I followed a set of tracks leading to the lowest notch on the ridge between Whitney and Russell, which led to a narrow, steep, sandy chute that rolled off out of view. It looked like a viable route down, and I thought I was on-route. This was toward the end of a long day when I was tired and didn't want to do anything more complicated than just putting one foot in front of the other.

But something didn't feel right. Iceburg lake wasn't in view. The terrain looked much steeper than I was expecting. My little voice was whispering, "stay away" very intently.

I didn't attempt to descend that chute.

Instead, I traversed to my left, which led to a difficult climb over rough terrain, and eventually rejoined the Russell-Carillon col route. I descended back to Upper Boyscout Lake, now realizing that I was in the wrong drainage entirely.

And I got an excellent view of that little chute I had been considering:



This would seem to be the region where the accident took place.

I know well the temptation to press on in the face of the unexpected--especially when you think your skills will always be there to bail you out if you make a mistake.

But as my father says, don't burn your bridges. Keep an avenue of escape open at all times, and if you lose that, stay put and start shouting for help.

My condolences to Mr. Duerig, and his friends and family.

Andy

Andy,
Glad you did not continue down the route marked "No." You noted, "Instead I traversed to my left..." This later route is Sakai Col, an excellent path across the Sierra Crest from Upper Boy Scout Lake to the South face and West face of Mt Russell (or to Arctic Lake and beyond).
Jim

Jim,

I'd assumed the proper name for that notch was Whitney-Russell col, as it is the low point on the ridge between the two peaks. Do you have more info on how it got to be called "Sakai"?

Andy

the picture marked as "no" appears to be near Sakai Col to me as well. Whitney- Russell Pass leads down from the south face of Russell and is used for access from East Face Lake to climbing routes like Fishhook Arete.


Whitney-Russell Pass:

Someone else may want to put in a request to Bob to provide an accurate answer to the question of how this came about, but here's my take:

For the longest time, this pass was known as the Lazy L. With the publication of a new edition of Secor's bible upcoming (delayed by his injury on Baldy), there was discussion started about renaming this pass after Tom Sakai (a long-time member of CLMRG). I don't know that it's OFFICIAL, but most of us who know him have been calling it Sakai Pass (Col) for a few years now. He is another really cool guy who's done a lot over his climbing career.

Whitney/Russell (as Tom's photo shows - almost) leads over from Iceberg Lake to the Artic Lake drainage.

Andy,

Click on Bob R's photo collection for his 9/1/07 trip to Mt Whitney (posted yesterday on this message board.) Above the photos click "Mountaineering" and then look at the report for his 6/28/03 tip up Thor and Russell. Here Bob suggests Secor intends to include Sakai Col in the upcoming edition of the High Sierra, Peaks, Passes, and Trails. I believe that Tom Sakai is one of the participants on this trip. My impression is that Tom is not a youngster, but he still moves swiftly amongst the peaks. Hopefully, Bob can fill us in with more details on this topic.

By the way, on this message board Bob has shown nice photos of the drainage above UBSL detailing an approach to Sakai Col. Maybe he could repost a photo here. My personal approach is more direct than his near the crest, but I can attest that you can quickly find yourself on class 3-4 terrain if not attentive to the route (as it sounds like you discovered on your descent).

Of course, the longer path from UBSL to the Arctic Lake drainage goes past East Face Lake and over Whitney-Russell Col. As you discovered, Whitney-Russell Col is NOT the low point between Whitney and Russell, but as Secor notes "rather the notch immediately northwest."

What gorgeous and thrilling terrain up there! Your trip has inspired me to turn off the football games and head up that way soon before winter approaches.

Best wishes, Jim

I also wonder if we saw Mr Duerig shortly before his death. We were camped at UBS lake and were packing to leave when the 2 fellows camped above us took a minute to chat before heading up to Mt Russell. What an incredibly sad postscript to our wonderful trip. My condolences to his family and friends.

OK, here's probably more than you wanted to know. This may make the record for the longest post of all time.

First, some geography: “Whitney-Russell Pass” and “Sakai Col” are two different passes. They both cross the Sierra Crest into the Arctic Lake drainage, and both names are unofficial. (In his guidebook, Secor is careful to put unofficial names in quotation marks.) The former is above Iceberg / East Face Lake, and the latter is at the head of the valley behind Upper Boy Scout Lake. See below:



The name “Whitney-Russell Pass” goes back a long way. Hervey Voge mentions it in his 1954 High Sierra guide, which is the oldest one I have.

But “Sakai Col” is recent. When six of us, including Tom Sakai and Richard Piotrowski, did that June 2003 trip that Jim F mentioned, it was not named. But for years I had thought it might be a good way to cross the crest, and we picked it for our attempt of Mt. Russell that weekend. Here is romanandrey’s picture again:



After my friend Walter Runkle saw the picture of the pass, he said it looked like a “Lazy L,” undoubtedly reflecting his upbringing on a ranch in Illinois. Think branding of livestock. So a few people used that descriptor for a while.

A couple of years later, Secor wrote me that he was considering naming a particular pass after Tom Sakai, and solicited my comments. He included an aerial photo, and I immediately recognized it.

On page 28 of Secor’s current (2nd) edition, he writes, “Many of the place names used in this book may not appear on the USGS maps…. Forty-five…are my own creation. These are generally named after a nearby feature, or after someone who has made a significant contribution to the exploration of the Sierra Nevada.”

I have been climbing with Tom Sakai since 1982, ever since he joined the China Lake Mountain Rescue Group. In those 25+ years, we have shared 263 mountain climbs together—many of them obscure and difficult. He is my most frequent climbing companion. With apologies to Jim F, I consider him a youngster: He is ten years younger than me and then some!

Secor knows I disapprove of unilaterally naming passes, or peaks, or other features, whether they are friends of mine like Sakai, or even closer to home like Rockwell. There is a procedure, overseen by the US Board on Geographic Names, that is in place and I think everyone should abide by it. But not everyone does what I think they should. Secor did decide to name “Sakai Col” in his next edition, due out in a couple of months. He is including names of two other CLMRG members for other passes as well. I’ll keep you in suspense as to who they are (they don't visit this board) but, coincidentally, they are #2 and #3 on my “frequent companions list.”

Whatever you call it, "Sakai Col" is, in my opinion, a great way to cross the Sierra Crest into the Arctic Lake drainage.

Back on topic: Below is a picture taken from Mt. Whitney’s summit that shows the area where it sounds like Mr. Duerig fell (pink). The red and blue lines refer to something else.



Finally, Jim F requested a picture of the route from Upper Boy Scout Lake to "Sakai Col." This, taken from the summit of Thor Peak:



One more thing: Tom and his brother Jerry are doing a day climb of the main trail tomorrow, 4 September. They are both "graduates" of one of the WW II Japanese Internment Camps. My guess is that they reserved a permit, in which case I would expect them to start hiking around 7:00. If not, they would be getting a walk-in permit and starting up around 9:00.

If you see them, say hi.

Bob,

Thanks for your post. Perfect amount of very interesting geographical and historical detail. The bottom photo showing the way from UBSL to Sakai Col was precisely the one I had in mind.

Your generosity in sharing your knowledge of the Mountain is sincerely appreciated.

Jim

PS: Again, heartfelt sympathies to Mr Duerig,s family and friends.

"According to the Inyo County Sheriff's Office, Zaffaroni and
Duerig left the Mount Whitney Portal trail head early Saturday morning to climb the summit of Mount Russell and return the same day. When Duerig and Zaffaroni left the route, Zaffaroni turned back but Duerig continued on. Zaffaroni called the sheriff's office shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday, reporting that Duerig was overdue."

I think I went up the E-ledges with these guys early Saturday morning just before dawn. On Friday afternoon, I ran into Greg while doing a short pre-hike to the ledges. He mentioned they were doing a day hike to Russell on Saturday. I then ran into both of them below the tree marking the start of the ledges on Saturday morning. We separated at the top of the ledges. I thought I saw them later when looking down from the saddle above and south of UBSL, and waived figuring they would head off in another direction to Russell. If this was the pair, they seemed like nice guys. What a tragedy.

word change

Thank you for the word change!!!!