Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mountaineer Route

I am trying to get as much information on hiking to the summit of Mt Whitney via the Mountaineering Route. I would like to do this in July 2009. I did the whitney trail last summer. I have a feeling this will scare the ---- out of me, but I feel very drawn to do this. Any comments or recent info about this hike including description of the trail and the best route for summer time. I think the way to do this is go up the Mountaineers route and come down the Whitney trail.

thank you for any info that would help.

Hi This is a great hike been up there several times, first time is best to hookup with someone that has done the route and knows the way , this cuts the time way down and effort, but if you want to do it on your own think of making several short day hikes to get the trail down and see the traps by bad information out there.


Nice day hike and your ideal going down the trail takes the stress of the down climb of the last 400'.


This route has about as much good beta as bad , endless reports where people get lost, freaked out and turn around , you will see GPS coord's ,red lines, topo maps with lines that lead you onto a ridge and short cuts that take you into closed canyons always the endless search for "the rock, tree, waterfall", and I went this way until it didn't go anywhere. So if you can filter the info ,stay focused on a very well defined use trail the trip is uneventful until the last 400' feet , search this site for photos and see the option of the first chute above the notch and read the reports of this 3rd class section and study the photos . Thanks Doug




Looked over Steve C's post and on his link page for maps there is a route description I wrote some years ago , it has been tested now and not many have trouble following it, also Chris Supertopos added some pictures and a detail of the ledges in his book.

If you live in southern California, you can attend one of Kurt Wedberg's Whitney clinics (see last season's A-16 Clinic schedule). You can also search for many topics posted on the subject here on this board, such as Photos of our Mountaineer's Route hike 6/9-6/10 and MR advice on where to camp and climb strategy.

MM, something that might help......

If you have the opportunity to do some rock climbing, even if only in a climbing gym, but MUCH better outside on rock, all of that is at a much higher level than what you run into on this route, and thus, will make it much easier for you. Climbing on rock is best, as it helps with the exposure below your feet.

Here are my favorite links to the Mountaineers route:
Topo Maps of the MR and Main Trail

And here is a thread with pictures:   MR, route from LBSL --> UBSL

And for water, Bob R's posts:   Reliable water sources on Mountaineers Route
Keywords for searching:   mountaineers route, MR, map, maps mountaineer description

I see that Richard has posted the 2009 Schedule. Thanks.