Whitney, Ebersbacher ledges?

[frediver]

Does anyone have any good info and perhaps images of this area/route?
I have just run across more information describing some very narrow areas on this route. This is not an issue for me but a bud who otherwise would have no problem, it might be, he is from Kentucky and never hiked on a narrow trail. Funny cuz climbing is not a problem either.
I also noticed a canyon route just one ridge (?) north of the ledges that does not seem to be nearly as steep but is it clogged with brush etc., could it be an alternate route?
I don't not seem to recall any info. in print mentioning this alternative if it actually is one.

Thanks

[markskor]

I would ask/look at WhitneyPortalStore.com for all specific questions Whitney.
Bob R., one of the Rangers now on Whitney (one of the most excellent forum members there) has posted everything you need in detail on the MR route - pictures, etc.
FYI, Take the ledges...this second Brush Route you mention, as an alternative to the E Ledges, is a pain - avoid...unless you are going in winter and all is heavily snowed over.

[mokelumnekid]

Here is a link to a nice, detailed photographic description from flickr:

http://tinyurl.com/ydnuqbp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[giantbrookie]

Markskor and Mokelumne both provide good advice for specifics, but I'll give you what I hope to be a comforting bit of 'old school' perspective: Back in September 1970 when my extended family and I did the MR on Whitney nobody had names for all these parts of the approach such as "Ebersbacher whatevers" and the like. The existing descriptions were very general--more or less along the lines of following the most sensible topography, which we did. Two families together went up, with my bro (8) and I (11) being the youngest and my mom (43 but in her mind going on 80) the oldest (my dad, aunt, and two cousins were also on this trip). My dad and I did all of the route finding and I don't remember anything remotely approaching what we would call class 3 (by 1970 standards) on the approach and I was never someone who was all that comfortable with air. My mom had the most trouble, but this was because she ran into a yellowjacket nest and was stung multiple times while plowing through brush in one section. What I'm trying to say is that sensible route finding using the topo and visual terrain analysis should keep you out of difficulty.

Postscript: As a family we took things slow. We camped at Lower Boyscout L. on night 1 and Iceberg L. on night 2. We summitted on day 3 and my mom was so slow descending that we ended up stopping in pitch darkness somewhere below Iceberg L. In the middle of the night a bunch of folks shone their flashlights on our "bivuoac" in the rocks--it was a SAR party looking for someone seriously injured by rockfall on the east face (had been helicopters flying all over earlier). Given the odd position of our camp they thought we might be the injured party. Things were at least as crowded back in 1970 because I believe they've become more strict with wilderness permit quotas since then. I recall standing in a very long line to sign the summit register. The numerous east face parties loosed lots of rockfall and quite a bit of it ended up screaming down the MR chute. I can still remember the call out of "rock" high above (on the E buttress/face), followed by the eerie echoes of a rock ricochet--that happened more than a few times. While at the saddle I remember one boulder passing over my head as I pressed my back up against a small cliff. Later, while waiting at Iceberg Lake for my dad to escort my mom down, we watched as the two of them dodged a big boulder in the chute. It was the classic "move this way--then it follows you--so you move that way and then..."-

[Mike M.]

I don't like "air" either, but have been down Russell-Carillon Col several times. Knowing my fear of "air," I must have avoided the ledges each time; the bushwhack was not that difficult. Bottom line, don't let the ledges deter you from using the Mountaineer's route. You are the best judge of the amount of exposure you are comfortable with. The worst that will happen is that you chicken out at the ledges and take on the bushwhack instead.

Mike