Mount Whitney- East Buttress

Mount Whitney 14,505′- East Buttress
Rock Climbing– California
Total Time: 14:10
Distance: 14.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 6250′
Crux: 5.7
Pitches: 11
Protection: Singles 0.4 to BD #3, many slings, 55m rope
Companions: Jesse Gandt
Trailhead: Whitney Portal, full services

---

---

---

My iPhone began the slow crescendo of “Early Riser,” snapping me from my surprisingly deep sleep in the back of my car in the Whitney Portal Parking Lot. 12:45 AM. Probably my earliest start ever for a domestic climb. But I would need it for the day’s agenda- a single day effort on the 11 pitch East Buttress of Mount Whitney with a 5.5 hour car ride home for work the next day. I would be teaming up with Jesse Gandt, who was camped up at Iceberg Lake for the climb, and I was shooting to meet him by 5:30 and summit by noon. After getting dressed I headed to the trailhead pit toilet, and almost immediately heard a little tug on the door handle, a bit surprised to have another hiker starting their day this early, even at such a popular trailhead. I heard the door of the pit toilet next to me open and finished my business without much more thought. As I opened the door, the door of the pit toilet next to mine opened simultaneously, and I found myself face to face with the fattest black bear I’ve ever seen in California. It was startled by my headlamp in its face and took off running across the parking lot before my brain could even process what it was seeing. I was now very thoroughly awake, and finished packing my things, starting up the trail at about 1:15 AM. Shortly after the first long switchback, I reached the turn off for the North Fork of Lone Pine Peak, having been up there most recently on my wintery climb of Mount Tunnabora. It was about 4,200′ of gain to get to Iceberg Lake, and I set my initial pace unsustainably fast in an effort to make sure I reached Iceberg Lake by 5:30. I zipped up the Ebersbacher Ledges and kept up a good clip all the way up to Lower Boy Scout Lake climbing nearly 2,000′ in only an hour and fifteen minutes. It was clear that I was going way faster than needed, covering half my elevation gain in a quarter of my budgeted time, and took a short break, turning off my headlamp to admire the stars in the moonless sky. Flipping my headlamp back on, I continued along, the trail quickly becoming less defined on scree and talus. The path I was taking seemed far steeper than I had remembered, and when I checked my GPS I found I was off track, trending too far south. I course corrected, traversing across talus slopes to the broad granite slabs leading up to Upper Boyscout Lake. The trail cut south across the scree just east of the lake’s outlet, and traversed beneath cliff bands with some quick switchbacks leading to the main drainage to the south Iceberg Lake. With nearly an hour before meeting Jesse, I headed slowly up the drainage, stopping to top off two liters of water at a small stream before cutting up some class 3 steps flowing with water to the saddle immediately below the East Buttress and just above Iceberg Lake. There were a handful of tents near the saddle, and I quickly found Jesse along with his friend’s Derek and Tristan, who would be climbing in a pair behind us.

I stashed my main pack and put on my harness and smaller climbing pack, leaving the saddle for the East Buttress a bit after 5:30, right on schedule. It was bright enough to no longer need headlamps as we scrambled the easy class 2 and 3 to a notch to the right of the first major tower, a left facing corner marking the start of the route.

With the permit belonging to Jesse, it made sense for him to lead the first pitch, climbing the corner utilizing a series of low angle cracks and flakes to lead up to a large ledge and first belay.

I followed and swung onto lead for the second pitch, which started off as a continuation of crack and flakes, but ended in a weird 5.6 ramp squeezed between the main rock of the buttress and a long boulder, just wide enough to not fit.

The second belay was at a notch, and I brought up Jesse to lead the first bit of 5.7 of the climb, climbing directly off the notch up featured 5.7 slab with tricky pro followed by some easy scrambling to another large ledge.

I would be leading the fourth pitch, and although it had some steep 5.6, would quickly become 4th and low fifth class for the following two pitches, making it the perfect terrain for simulclimbing. I started up the fourth class right facing corner up to a 5.6 red chimney system, moving onto the steeper buttress proper where I could for some outstanding 5.7 climbing, the gorgeous East Buttress of Mount Whitney sprawled beneath. I placed a microtrax as I neared the end of my rope length and Jesse began to follow, simulclimbing the along the buttress up and past the Peewee- a giant piece of hanging rock that the first ascensionist thought looked like a giant insect scrambling up the rock face.

There was a big sandy ledge at the top of the Peewee and I built a belay to bring up Jesse, having climbed over half the route in two hours. The next pitch had some of the only mandatory 5.7 of the route, and after a short break, Jesse started up on the sharp end, trending up and left through a 10′ section of 5.7 fingers, made easier by a nearby right facing corner that you could backstep and stem off of. This led out onto the face where Jesse built a belay at the top of a series of stacked flakes.

The next pitch was some of the last bit of moderate climbing of the route, a short 5.6 chimney followed by a short 5.6 corner with thin feet. Above the terrain became a series of broken 4th and 5th class steps, and I brought up Jesse to simulclimb the final three pitches to the summit. He quickly reached the talus field below the summit, putting a microtrax in the system for me to follow. He was halfway up the final summit pitch by the time he popped into view, hikers milling around at the summit 100′ above us.

It was basically easy scrambling up the final 100′, and we topped out before 11 AM, taking about 4 hours to climb the 11 pitch route. Jesse’s girlfriend had hiked up the class 3 Mountaineers Route to meet us at the summit although I wouldn’t see his other friends climbing behind us again- they radioed they had just made it to the top of the 5th pitch when we summited. Being well ahead of schedule, I took a solid 15 minute break before the clouds built and a light hail started, not called for when I checked the forecast the night before.

I left Jesse and Kelsey at the summit and started down towards the Mountaineers Route, my first time on it. I followed the summit plateau west before finding a good place to drop off the face to the north, traversing above a small lingering snow field on loose talus and scree. I was aiming for an obvious notch formed by a detached pillar and was surprised by how loose the rock was, with braided use trails leading to the notch just north of the East Buttress.

From the notch, it was fairly straightforward class 2 almost all the way back to Iceberg Lake, although I was very underwhelmed by the Mountaineers Route overall- it seemed like it would be an unenjoyable slog up loose rock and scree, really something only worthwhile with snow. It took me about 1:15 to descend from the summit to Iceberg Lake, and I found my pack soaked from the rain and hail that had briefly come down while at the summit. After a short break, I repacked my things and started down the use trail, just in time for the skies to open up once more, this time as unrelenting and torrential hail and rain. I briefly hid in a small alcove hoping to wait things out, but it quickly became clear that this storm would not be letting up any time soon.

It was 1:30 by the time I reached Upper Boy Scout Lake, now thoroughly soaked, taking another 40 minutes to reach Lower Boy Scout Lake, made more challenging by the rock slabs running with fast water.

The rain began to let up as I neared the Ebersbacher Ledges, thankfully allowing me to get through the last bit of class 3 without active precipitation. From there, it was easy trail all the way back to the car, the entire day taking about 14 hours. I hopped in the car and dropped into Lone Pine, grabbing an early dinner before the long car ride back home for a very sore day at work the following day.

---