Travis called and said he wanted to climb the
Mountaineers route. It doesn't take much to get me interested
in a Whitney hike so I told him to get his gear ready, I'll be there Friday.
We were at the visitor center by 4:00 and were able to
get permits. We headed over to the Pizza Factory
for some of the best pepperoni pizza there is. Then it was up to
Tuttle campground - 5,120' - for the night.
The saying goes "Sleep low - climb high".
I've always liked Tuttle. It's $5.00 a night with
clean bathrooms, only 3 1/2 miles from
trail head, and nobody is ever there.
We got a 5:30 am start and were at the ledges as the sun came up.
The climb above the ledges heading to Lower Boy Scout lake.
This is where you start asking yourself "why am I doing this?"
Someone has put a lot of work into these cairns. They
really make it easy to follow the trail, at least
up to Iceberg Lake.
Pounding up the slabs.
Travis with the chute behind him.
We're ready for the real climb to begin but 1st we
needed to filter some water at Iceberg lake. That's
where we picked up Craig. His climbing partner was sick and
needed to descend. He really wanted to summit
so he came with us.
The climbing is pretty cool all of the way up the chute.
A view up the east buttress.
We go up and fade right into the chute.
A quick water break, 10 minutes to the notch.
Craig - happy to be past the scree.
That 1st move into the North Face is a little tricky.
Half way up the final 400. Lunch. is waiting.
Up the final chimney to the top.
A look back down.
The summit pic! Well done.
Me and T at the notch ready for the trip back down.
It's a real butt kicker - maybe harder than the up.
We ended up getting back to the trail head at 5:15 - another
12 hour Whitney hike. This was both Travis and Craig's
1st Whitney hike and they started with the
Mountaineers route. Sweet!
It couldn't have been any better of a day!
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