Mountaineers Route Conditions - Climber.Org Trip Report

Mountaineers Route Conditions

9-10 Jun 2007 - Jonathan Willy (view Who's Who entry)

Peaks: Mt Whitney
(sorted/filed as Whitney)

Difficulty: class 3

just returned home from the mountaineers route. there is no snow up unto the notch above iceburg lake. upon gaining the notch, there is some ice at the base of the roue, this was avoidable by travering a few feet right. the left side of the mountaineers route was very good and clear up until the final 25', then it became a technical climbing situation, where .5-#2 camalots seemed to be the order of the day if you wanted pro on perhaps 2 5.6ish moves, or you could place a good .75 and then traverse right across the top to gain an easy exit. at the large boot flake, be careful, the move feels very good but the large chockstone that is in the crack seemed very wobbly and I worried about it dislodging and tumbling quickly down the route onto followers.

i would recommend traversing right at the first substantial ledge system and climbing the standard right side of the route, be careful of the snow and ice in the cracks. it seemed like slippery 4th class on the downclimb. all and all, we didn't need crampons or axes, a rack of large nuts a .5, .75, and #1 camalots would have been sufficient, the #2 was luxury.

a side note, the trash situation at upper boyscout was gross. not as bad as it will probably be in august, but simply throwing your trash under a rock is assinine. as for the fellows who decided to pitch their camp on the very edge of the lake, why don't you just try and see if those fancy pieces of fabric will float on the thing?

all in all, the route is in very good shape, axes and crampons did not seem at all necessary and would probably serve to slow you down rather than help your ascent.

have fun, jonathan

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