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East buttress of Whitney

Original Post
Jeremy Lehman · · Your Local Crag, CA · Joined Dec 2018 · Points: 0

Anyone know how the east buttress on Whitney looks? I was hoping to climb it early June 

Gumby King · · The Gym · Joined Jun 2016 · Points: 52

Check out the Facebook group "Mt. Whitney"

Most of the post are from hikers but you could get a good sense of what the conditions are like.

My guess is that there won't be much snow since it was a dry(er) season.

Kevin Mokracek · · Burbank · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 363

The E Butt will be clear of snow but the approach and mountaineers route will have some snow to deal with.  Beware the final 400 when starting down the MR, it can get icy and dangerous until it melts out.  

Kristian Solem · · Monrovia, CA · Joined Apr 2004 · Points: 1,070
Kevin Mokracek wrote:

The E Butt will be clear of snow but the approach and mountaineers route will have some snow to deal with.  Beware the final 400 when starting down the MR, it can get icy and dangerous until it melts out.  

Falls on ice descending the upper section on the Mountaineers Route, from the summit plateau to the notch, have resulted in several fatalities over the years.

J B · · Cambridge, MA · Joined Nov 2018 · Points: 20

If the descent ends up being a bit too hairy and you can't find a safe way to rap past the hazards, you can always walk down the Mt Whitney trail and redo the approach. This adds ~18-20 miles of trail running. I did this when I climbed the route a little too soon after hurricane Hillary which created uniquely hazardous conditions - a fully melted out choss pile at the top of the mountaineers route, covered by ~4ft of light and fluffy snow.

If you're a little bit more confident, down climbing the route can also work. The crux would probably be reversing the summit pitches, because that's where the route gets most ambiguous.

Christian Hesch · · Arroyo Grande, CA · Joined Aug 2017 · Points: 55
J B wrote:

…you can always walk down the Mt Whitney trail and redo the approach. This adds ~18-20 miles of trail running…

The main trail is 11mi, each way. If you’re at the top, and choose this (the longest) option… what am I missing? Are they supposed to take a 9mi detour along the way?

Chris Henry · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2020 · Points: 51

@christian

I think JB is imagining stashing gear below the east buttress, descending the MT (~11 miles), then reascending the NF to recover gear (~4.5 miles), then re-descending the NF approach (~4.5 miles). The math works out ... and walking down the MT can be nice, but I would carry everything up & over in that scenario.

Bob Harrington · · Bishop, CA · Joined Apr 2015 · Points: 5

Lots of snow up there.  Looking at a 5/13 satellite image, it appears to start in earnest right above Lower Boy Scout Lake.  As noted above, there have been many fatal accidents on the upper part of the Mountaineer’s Route due to falls on snow/ice. 

Allen Sanderson · · On the road to perdition · Joined Jul 2007 · Points: 1,100

Pfft, just schlep yer stuff up and over. That is, the route is not that difficult. So go light, climb the route to the summit, and walk down the trail. EZ - PZ.

Alois Smrz · · Idyllwild, CA · Joined Dec 2019 · Points: 1,637

Well, this time of year, the descent can be quite icy. I had pretty scarry time many years ago. Miguel Carmona and I were descending the Mountaineers Route. I put crampons on, Miguel did not.

Just a few feet down from the summit, he slipped and flew down the slope. I was sure he was gone. But he arrested after quite a ride.  He put crampons on right away.

Be careful at the start of the descent. It can be very slippery when the snow is hard..

  

Bob Harrington · · Bishop, CA · Joined Apr 2015 · Points: 5
Allen Sanderson wrote:

Pfft, just schlep yer stuff up and over. That is, the route is not that difficult. So go light, climb the route to the summit, and walk down the trail. EZ - PZ.

That’s a good plan, especially when the MR has snow on the upper part. 

Astro Guy · · Las Vegas · Joined Jul 2016 · Points: 15

I was on the final 400 a month ago and it was still covered in snow. If you're okay with leaving some slings, I think you can rap the whole thing in 3-4 rappels with a 60 I believe (that's a guesstimate) by staying climber's left in the small cliffband. We slung a boulder at the lip to rappell over the steepest top part of the final 400, then down climbed about 200 feet of snow to the final 4th class section, and rapped off a cordelette someone had left to get to the base of the 400. A local guide said other guides are constantly taking away tat so come prepared to leave rap anchors behind. 

I imagine the chute of the mountaineers route still has a fair amount of snow too so be prepared for that On the descent.  But that's just based off of the still significant amounts of snow I saw one month ago...

B O · · San Diego, CA · Joined Mar 2018 · Points: 76

Has anyone of yall seen the mt route avalanche before?

Christopher Antimie · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2022 · Points: 30
B O wrote:

Has anyone of yall seen the mt route avalanche before?

Tyler Karow has a video of an avalanche on the approach

Lucas Parisot · · Boston, MA · Joined Mar 2017 · Points: 0

I climbed the East Buttress two days ago and there were plenty of climbers in the area about to set off this weekend. Some snow on route still but it can be avoided easily with maybe some additional 5.6-5.7 climbing. Things seem to be melting out quick. Mountaineers route had snow a good bit of the way with a rock section on the upper gully and maybe 200 feet of scree on the top of the lower gully. Plenty of rap slings freshly placed by folks doing the MR to avoid downclimbing any difficulties. For sure still need crampons and an axe. 

Jeremy Lehman · · Your Local Crag, CA · Joined Dec 2018 · Points: 0

Thanks for the recent beta! Do you happen to remember what pitches had snow on the ascent?

Lucas Parisot · · Boston, MA · Joined Mar 2017 · Points: 0

All the 4th class terrain above p8 had patches of snow. I also had to traverse high to cross a snow field before the summit block around p10ish. IIRC the biggest blocks were the 5.6 ramp on p2 was filled and avoided by pulling a short overhang climbers right and the 5.7 fingers on p7 was filled with ice but was avoiding by moving up some delicate flakes and cracks on the face. Referencing beta from the supertopo. 

Jeremy Lehman · · Your Local Crag, CA · Joined Dec 2018 · Points: 0

Successfully summited East Buttress, thanks for all the beta. On 6/7, snow was still existing, but not too troublesome to work around. P2, P4 had touches of it and there was some to navigate around the scramble pitches 9-11. MR still had lots of snow on it, we ended up rapping down the upper section. In case anyone else stumbles up on this thread. 

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Southern California
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