Introduction
Mount Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48 states and epitomizes the beauty of the Eastern Sierra with its massive granite spires dominating the skyline. This mountain is definitely a “choose your own adventure” deal when it comes to summiting. If done in the Summer time and on the Mount Whitney Trail it is truly a walk-up mountain, although a long walk (22 miles RT, 7,000 feet of elevation gain). If done during the winter, freezing cold temperatures, deep snow, and avalanche concerns plague the entirety of the mountain. So of course, our group did the route in March via the Mountaineer’s Route when the road was closed 3 miles before the trailhead due to the record snowpack in 2019.
Quick Stats
- Mountain Height: 14,508 ft
- Total Elevation Gain: 6,500 ft
- Location: Sequoia National Park
- Technical Difficulty: Moderate Snow, Class 3-4 Rock
- Link to Trail Description
Route Overview
The trailhead for the Mountaineer’s Route is the same as the normal Mount Whitney Trail, beginning at Whitney Portal Campground. Because we were attempting the mountain in early season in mid-March, the road to the campground was closed 3 miles down the road due to snow. This can change year to year based on the snowpack. Once at the trailhead, the Mountaineer’s route follows the normal Mount Whitney trail for the first couple miles before breaking off and taking a right onto the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek Trail. Once this turn is taken, the trail begins to ascend up the gully formed by the North Fork of lone pine creek. During the summer this gully is full of willows and the creeks runs down the middle of it. However, in the winter or Early Spring the willows are often buried beneath the snow allowing for easier route finding up the gully. Unfortunately, the easy route-finding is at the cost of using snowshoes or skis for the approach. Without these, a winter or early spring ascent of Whitney would be a post-holing nightmare. A large granite slab will be passed on the right of the gully prior to Lower Boyscout Lake. This ledges on the granite slab are known as the Ebersbacher Ledges and are used in the summer when the willows are exposed in the gully, making walking through the gully quite unpleasant. Note: In the March of 2019, Lower Boyscout Lake was the last place on the route with exposed water. Once Lower Boyscout Lake is reached, the route follows the steeper snow slope to the left of the cliffs above Lower Boyscout Lake. After ascending this snow slope, upper Boyscout Lake will be passed on the right. Many parties will choose to camp here. The route again ascends the snow slope to the left of the lake and follows along the north side of the rock headwall on the climber’s right. As the East Buttress of Whitney is approached, the rock headwall dissipates and Iceberg Lake can be gained by heading north up the snow slope. Iceberg Lake is at the base of the obvious chute that flanks Whitney’s east buttress to the North. Many parties will opt to camp here for a shorter summit day, but higher winds and colder temperatures make this campsite a little less desirable. From Iceberg Lake ascend the obvious gully until reaching “The Notch” at the top. At the notch, traverse 100 feet or so west, towards the northern aspect of Whitney. The rock wall to your left will weaken into a steep snow slope with intermittent rocks (depending on the time of year). This is the final 400 feet of elevation gain to the summit and is the most technical section of the route. Most people rate it as class 3 or 4, and rope is recommended for this portion of the climb. Once reaching the top of the final 400, the summit plateau is reached.
Personal Experience
Our group consisted of 6 of the strongest human beings on the planet… not quite, but we held our own.
Essentially, I really wanted to do this route on the tallest peak in the lower 48 states and I convinced 5 of my buddies from school to come with me. I advertised it as the most bad-ass Spring Break imaginable, featuring the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. Essentially, the stoke got so high before the trip that by the time we left, 3 of us had mustaches and GC even had a fake mullet.
We had a vast span of experience prior to this adventure, two of us had summited Pico de Orizaba in Mexico a month prior and a couple of us had never been camping before, nonetheless in the snow. For me, I was stoked to share my passion for the alpine with some of my closest friends, and I was committed to making sure everyone was safe and hopefully having fun while doing it.
We landed in LA from Atlanta on Friday night and stayed at my sister’s place that night. Saturday morning we were up bright and early and set off for Lone Pine, the small town nearest to Whitney on the east side of the Sierras.
Naturally, we got there later than expected and after picking up our permits from the Eastern Sierra Ranger station, headed to the trailhead. We hoped the road would be open all the way to the trailhead, but weren’t surprised when it was officially closed 5 miles prior to the trailhead. We drove about 2 miles past the “recommended” road closure to a big pullout at the last switchback in the road about 3 miles from the trailhead and set off from there, walking down the road from the car at about 1PM.
We planned on camping at the campground on night one, thinking that we could drive into the campground and sleep on dry ground, how young and naïve we were! We ended up camping a quarter mile into the north fork of lone pine creek that night, figuring that if we were going to sleep in the snow anyways, we might as well make some ground on the trail. We stomped out a flat spot in the snow with our snow shoes, as we prepared for what would be a pleasant first snow camping experience for all of us.
The next morning we set off at 7 AM to make our high camp at Iceberg Lake. As the sun moved higher in the sky, the snow we were on turned into an oven and we all wore long sleeve shirts and light pants during the day even though the air temperature was only 45 degrees. We made it to Upper Boyscout Lake by 2 PM and everyone simultaneously decided that they needed to poop. Now well above the snow line, it was quite the experience for some of the guys that had never camped outside before and now were pooping in a bag on a huge, exposed snowfield. They were slightly mortified and appalled, but in the end we laughed about it more than anything.
We decided to push on to Iceberg Lake, but came across some people coming down that advised us against it due to the temperature and winds up there the night before. With 20 mph winds and the temp dropping to 5 degrees F, we made the call to camp beneath Iceberg Lake on the flat plateau between the headwall south of Iceberg Lake and Pinnacle Ridge. We chose this plateau because it was more protected from the wind and was elevated above the gullies beneath pinnacle ridge, offering some protection from avalanches.
Before we went to sleep, we had a learning session on crampon techniques and self-arresting. We found a moderate snow slope with a safe run out and practiced French-stepping, American-stepping, and front pointing. After that we practiced self-arresting when falling from different positions. When everyone was satisfied that they would be able to self-arrest when it counted, we set-up camp, ate some dinner and got in our tents.
It still got down to 5 degrees F that night, but the winds stayed below 10 mph. Most of us had 20 degree F bags, so needless to say, we were cold. We woke up at a brisk 2 AM to the with the Whitney skyline illuminated by the moon. Despite being freezing cold, we were stunned by the epic sight we were beholding. We put on our crampons, bayed at the moon, and set off on a hunt for the Summit.
We moved pretty slowly as our group was tired from the last couple days of hauling a 40 lb pack and the altitude certainly didn’t help either. However, I continued to proudly proclaim that we were making great time and that we didn’t need to rush. Despite some cold feet morale was high all morning. Once we reached the notch, there was some steep 3rd class rock in the final 400 feet that was 80% filled in with snow and ice making for some dicey moves. I climbed above to a rap station that was left above this section and belayed everyone up from there. We continued up the completely snow-filled last 200 feet that got increasingly steep until pulling over the final summit plateau.
We tagged the summit hut around 8 AM as the sun started shining in its full glory. We celebrated on the summit with some well-deserved candy bars and sat in awe of the beautiful, snow-covered glory of the Eastern Sierra surrounding us.
After an hour or so on the summit, we descended via the same route, rappelling down the final steep section of snow and rappelling again over the third class rock to reach the notch. From there we carefully walked down the chute until the run out to Iceberg Lake wasn’t strewn with rocks and then glissaded the final 500 feet down to Iceberg Lake.
The crux of our entire journey comes here. As, we exited Iceberg Lake, we could see our campsite below but something was terribly wrong. One of our two tents was completely MIA. It had completely blown off of the plateau and careened into the gully below Pinnacle Ridge 200 vertical feet below. The chore of dragging that damn tent (which was full of sleeping bags and random gear) up a steep, soft snow slope in snowshoes almost soured the sweet taste of the summit a couple hours prior. Never again will I forget to check if every tent is secured before leaving it.
Finally, we started back down the trail. As the sun intensified and the altitude lessened, everyone went from shivering with frozen boots to sweating. We made the slog back to our car by 4PM or so, and all of us were pretty wiped at that point.
In Lone Pine we had some horrendous Mexican that tasted 10x better than it should have and we reveled in our newly made war stories. To be fair, the spectrum of stoked vs exhausted varied widely through our group, and some of the team was still trying to come to grips with what their body had just been put through. Mildly shell-shocked and dangerously stoked might be the most accurate way to put it. But all in all, everyone was glad to have experienced such an epic environment. Everyone summited and more importantly everyone got back safe. All-around great adventure with some great dudes.
Words of Caution
Mount Whitney via the Mountaineer’s route during March should not be seen as a friendly hike, but rather a serious mountaineering trip. The brutally cold weather, avalanche danger, and steep snow and rock sections require some real mountaineering knowledge to safely maneuver. Crampons and ice axes are absolutely required for safe travel over this terrain. Ropes and harnesses are recommended for the final 400 feet to the summit plateau, but some strong parties confident on the terrain will forego these. Lastly, snowshoes will likely be a necessity this time of year unless you have a sick love for post-holing.
Alpine Experiences 