Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Topics related to peak bagging, rock climbing and bouldering in the foothills and high country of the Sierra Nevada. Be sure to also check out the Information Booth forum category to learn from / see if you can contribute to a profile for High Sierra 13'ers, 14'ers and cross country passes.
Post Reply
User avatar
SandStorm
Topix Acquainted
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:58 pm
Experience: N/A

Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by SandStorm »

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.
User avatar
maverick
Forums Moderator
Forums Moderator
Posts: 11823
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:54 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by maverick »

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;
Professional Sierra Landscape Photographer

I don't give out specific route information, my belief is that it takes away from the whole adventure spirit of a trip, if you need every inch planned out, you'll have to get that from someone else.

Have a safer backcountry experience by using the HST ReConn Form 2.0, named after Larry Conn, a HST member: http://reconn.org
User avatar
markskor
Founding Member - RIP
Posts: 2442
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:41 pm
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Crowley Lake and Tuolumne Meadows

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by markskor »

Ask again at:
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Great site for all questions Whitney.
Mountainman who swims with trout
User avatar
SandStorm
Topix Acquainted
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:58 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by SandStorm »

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.
User avatar
Rosabella
Founding Member
Posts: 373
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:58 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Washington State

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by Rosabella »

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.
User avatar
RoguePhotonic
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1693
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:52 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Bakersfield CA
Contact:

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by RoguePhotonic »

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.
User avatar
Wandering Daisy
Topix Docent
Posts: 6641
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2010 8:19 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Fair Oaks CA (Sacramento area)
Contact:

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by Wandering Daisy »

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.
User avatar
ridgeline
Founding Member
Posts: 285
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 7:51 am
Experience: N/A
Location: Granada Hills Ca

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by ridgeline »

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.
User avatar
SandStorm
Topix Acquainted
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 3:58 pm
Experience: N/A

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by SandStorm »

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.
User avatar
RoguePhotonic
Topix Fanatic
Posts: 1693
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:52 am
Experience: Level 4 Explorer
Location: Bakersfield CA
Contact:

Re: Advice re: North Slope of Mt. Whitney

Post by RoguePhotonic »

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

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests