East Buttress 

Pitch 3-5 and 6 above; I headed for the right side of the Peewee, and passed it on the right.

This is an outstanding route. Much more 5th class climbing than the East Face. You can start off right at the 1st Tower (start of E Face) and do a 5.8 inside corner, or go around the base of the buttress (N) to the standard start. There are variations all over this route, but staying on the Buttress is probably the most fun. I was most struck by the amazing rock formations, great belays and outsanding views.

We did this route, as a party of 4, car to car in 24 hours. Although I don't remember exactly, we needed much less than the listed 11 pitches- more like 6 or 7 with a little simul-climbing thrown in.

Classic, fun route. FP's description is right on. Watch where you traverse. You can also top out direct on the summit through some devious overhangs right near the top. 5.9?? maybe more like 5.10.

I climbed this a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. Supertopo makes a very good route description and diagram for detailed beta(as does the description above).I do remember reaching a huge block on the final pitch of which the only feature was a crack system to the top of the block. My friend went up the crack and thought it to be more like 5.9, not 5.7. My partner and I took an airy step around the left side of the block (climbers left) and the move was not more than 5.7 and was easily protected (for the leader, at least).
I would recommend this route as a classic Sierra climb.

Did this today; not what I expected. It was 4th class, with four 25' sections of 5th class. Long way to haul a rope for that. Good rock though, and great scenary and position.

That's not how I remember it Buzz.

Bill McConachie & I did the East Buttress route in a day from Whitney Portal at the end of last summer (2007). We left WP at 4 am and arrived at Iceberg Lake around ~ 9am, started climbing around 10 am, and reached the summit at 6 pm. We went v. light...our packs (including rack & rope) weighed 18 lbs (mine) & 22 lbs (Bill's). We used a 50 meter, 9 mm rope with a modest rack of cams, stoppers, carabiners, and lots of slings. We took rock shoes, helmet, & head lamp each. For clothing I brought long pants, parka, gloves, long sleeve synthetic shirt, wool cap & approach shoes. We were fortunate to have excellent weather. For food we brought crackers, cheese, salami, energy bars, chocolate, and dried mango. We carried a H20 pump w/filter, so we started the approach from WP with only 1 liter H20 each. When we arrived at Iceberg Lake we filtered 2 L each for the climb. The water filter, light rack, and good weather were the keys to success.

The E Buttress starts very close to the start of the E Face route, near the Tower Traverse. Basically you're looking up at the left side of the 2nd Tower at the start. Check out the SuperTopo for this route...it is fairly accurate. The climbing is easy to moderate but exposed with 4 or 5 pitches in the 5.6 to 5.7 range.

We descended the Mountaineer's route and filtered H20 again for the hike out. The Mountaineer's route is basically a gully of flowing talus (i.e., it sucks). The Ebersbacher ledges are fairly straightforward to go up, even in the dark, but descending these ledges in the dark is another story. You have to be very careful and we ended up retracing our steps several times before we made it down these ledges. It took us all night to get back to WP in the dark. In retrospect we should have descended via the hiking trail from the summit not the Mountaineer's route. I'm sure we would have made it back to WP by midnight. Instead we arrived back at WP at ~5 am the next morning.

Get fit, Go light, Be safe, Have fun!

My notes from 2002:

- 5.5 hr approach from Whitney Portal to Iceberg Lake via N. fork of Lone Pine Creek

- 5.5 hrs on route (5 x 60m pitches + 300' 3rd class)

- 1.5 hr descent via Mountaineer's Route w/o crampons

Duke Cutter and I climbing the East Buttress last week. Permits were easy to obtain at the Lone Pine office mid-week. Be sure to ask for North Fork permits.

6/24: Hiked to Boy Scout lake with 45 pound packs. 3 hours.

6/25: Climbed East Butt of Whitney on 6/25. 2 hours approach to base of climb, 3.5 hours on the route with some simul climbing and soloing, 2 hour descent back to Boy Scout Lake.

6/26: Climbed Fishhook Arete on Russell and hiked back to the car. 3 hour approach, 5 hours on the route, 2 hour descent down the 3rd class East Ridge, 2 more hours to the car.

Highly recommend this 3 day itinerary.

The supertopo is helpful for general landmarks on the East Buttress, but we found it to be otherwise useless. We passed 3 parties on the first pitch via the 5.8 variation (though didn't find the pitons as listed on Supertaco). This variation is fun and the rock is relatively solid. However, on the rest of the route the rock is suspect in many places, breaking off on occasion and falling from above as well. Bring your helmet!

Overall a fun adventure, though perhaps not as aesthetic as Fishhook Arete.