High Sierra Topix

Hello all,

Looking for a bit of advice. I'm planning a trip for this summer ending with a jaunt up Mt. Whitney (August 2 or 3). For background: I've taken the trail up Whitney before. I'd rate myself a Class 4 hiker and used to do some rock climbing in Yosemite and SEKI. Haven't done any "real" climbing for years but still enjoy cross country, scrambling, etc. One of the funnest Class 3 routes I remember was the North Face of Mt. Ritter.

I'm taking a look at going up the North Slope of Whitney from Arctic Lake. I haven't been able to find much info about the North Slope route(s) aside from Secor. He says "Class 2-3. Climb the left side of the north slope, just under the northeast ridge. Ascend some shallow chutes leading to a 50-foot high wall of broken blocks. Pass through these blocks and climb directly to the summit."

Anyone been up this way? I'd greatly appreciate any tips.

Hi Sandstorm

Welcome to HST! See if this TR helps, it has a good description, and plenty of pic's:
http://www.summitpost.org/mount-whitney ... 007/290023" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ask again at:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Great site for all questions Whitney.

Many thanks, gents. I tried to post at the Whitney Portal store site but apparently they aren't allowing any new posts due to "space issues". I put a post up at the whitneyzone.com site, though, which I wasn't aware of. Thanks again.

Sandstorm, you may want to try posting to the Whitney Board again... there may have been something going on that day with their site, because there are new threads started every day. There are some people on that board that I'm sure could answer your questions.

If you find anything useful let me know. I am considering after making the summit this summer to then take the North side down and back to Guitar Lake.

West Face - "California Fourteener's" states that one of the chutes from Arctic Lake was climbed in 1873. "Passing Arctic Lake on its eastern shore places you in the vicinity of the numerous west chutes" - many variatins class 2-3.
North Face Class 2-3. Similar to west chutes in difficulty. From Arctic Lake go upstream to small lakelets. Many easy gullies between sharp aretes . Although steep, none more than class 3.

Secor-north face- " left side of the north slope" "ascend some shallow chutes leading to a 50-foot high wall of broken blocks. Pass through these blocks and climb directly to summit".

Not much information but the climbs are probably not technically difficult. I suspect they are not very fun either. Looked like a lot of rotton rock when I viewed it from Arctic Lake. These definitely are NOT classic routes on Whitney. There probably is a good reason nobody does them - probably miserable. There are tons of gullies and I am sure many would work. It would be helpful if you had binoculars (or a little monocular) to look at the gullies before deciding which to go up.

Rick Kents TR in Summitpost describes this route. I have traversed the North side before back to the chute to Iceberg, snow not too bad, ice scarry as hell.

Thanks for the replies, all.

Daisy, that's part of why it appealed to me.

Rogue, got some good stuff over at the Whitney Zone. http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthread ... #Post21541" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's intriguing. If I do go that way I'll certainly post a report.

Yeah I read about it but looks like I wont be going to Whitney at all this year. Going to tackle Russell instead.