April 3rd Parked car within a ½ mile of the trailhead and began at 9:00 am. Three of us started up the south side of North Fork creek which was probably a bad idea—posthole city. Crossed over to the north side as soon as the trees thinned out. Sunny skies left the big slog hill up to LBSL very soft. Snowshoes with heel elevators were handy. Arrived at LBSL at about 2:00 pm and set up our Black Diamond MegaLight and REI Half Dome tent. Two guys returned from the summit at 6:00 pm. Said they left at 6:00 am. They packed up their Bibler and headed home.
April 4th Woke at 6:00 am. Cached snowshoes and started up to UBSL at 8:15am. Water was available just under UBSL. More sunny skies and camped below Iceberg Lake at about 12k feet near a large guided group (IMG I believe).
April 5th Woke at 2am. Left at 3:15am in slightly windy but warm weather. Cramponing was good. Reached the notch at about 6:30am and the summit at about 7:00 am. Descended in very sunny skies and sloppy snow. Several other people were ascending with skis and it made us jealous. Reached camp at 10:00 am. Packed up and left at 11:15 am. The snow bridges covering the North Fork Creek below LBSL seemed to be melting and collapsing FAST. Reached car at 1:00pm. Showered at Whitney Portal Hostel (thanks, Doug!).
Darn good basics. Nice work, SteveO. Congrats on your summit. Do you have any 'basic pix'?
"The mountains are measured for their height but the achievements of one who climbs the mountains are immeasurable." m.c. http://www.facebook.com/keepclimbing
Hope you recover your camera (and it's in one piece). You may try starting a new topic 'lost camera' with beta. Quite a few cameras have been retrieved via this web-site.
"The mountains are measured for their height but the achievements of one who climbs the mountains are immeasurable." m.c. http://www.facebook.com/keepclimbing
Excellent pix by your buddy, Thad. What great weather you had! Hope the post regarding your lost camera brings it back to you...
"The mountains are measured for their height but the achievements of one who climbs the mountains are immeasurable." m.c. http://www.facebook.com/keepclimbing