East Ridge Descent

All Locations > California > High Sierra > 14 - Whitney &… > Mt Russell > Fishhook Arête (5.9 5c 17 VI 17 HVS 5a)

East Ridge Descent

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Andrew first pitch

Steve cleaning up the last pitch.

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4.3 from 6 votes

Ash Gambhir

Jul 30, 2018

“East Ridge Descent”

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Nearby Photos

Fishhook Arete with climbers on P1 for scale.

View looking down on Iceberg Lake, from the Whitney-Russell col

car to car, with one nap... ok maybe a few naps.

View from the Whitney-Russell pass of Fishhook Arete and the 3rd class East Ridge.

Nearing summit

Amazing exposure on Fishhook Arete

A picture of Mt Russell from the saddle near Mt Whitney. Zoom in and you can see me on Fishhook Arete. Shows about all the route with the exception of the sections on other side of the arete.

A quick shot over my shoulder at the tremendous exposure. Midway up Pitch 7 on Fishhook Arete.

Duke leading up the 5.8 chimney.

View of the base of the route. The start is on the left.

The descent gully if going back to Iceberg Lake.

Andrew first pitch

East Ridge Descent

Steve cleaning up the last pitch.

Pitch 4 (the way we did it) on the Fishhook Arete

the arete

Eric Burt negotiating the crux of Pitch 3.

The money pitch, just above the prominent notch.

last pitch before the sun goes down

Lucander following pitch 1

Lost in the maze of leaning flakes- p3 Fishhook Arete

whatever you do...

This is the down climb into the notch. I did not set an anchor at the top of it like SuperTopo suggests at the end of pitch 4 but climbed into the notch and ended pitch 4 where this pic was taken (this is at the base of the wall that is pitch 5).

the start of the 5.8 squeeze chimney pitch

Here's the rappel into second drainage for descent off Russell

another photo of Fishhook and the East Arete from Whitney's E Buttress

good climbing

Fishhook Arete & Mithral Dihedral

We opted for the 5.7 exposure on the arete up around the 7th pitch. Pretty cool.

The epic "Traverse of Towers" pitch(5.7) getting absolutely blasted by the wind!

A 70m rope will get you from the notch to the chimney.

Upper pitches of the route.

Pitch 5 beley on a huge ledge. You can see the pitch 6 "chimney" at the top of the photo.

P1 of the Fishhook Arete

Looking up at Pitch 5 after downclimbing to the notch on Fishhook Arete. Beatuiful!

Melody Wong in the same gap on a chilly day.

Start of pitch 5 form the notch.

Looking down the route from pitch 5.

Looking up pitch 2. You can see all the upper pitches.

The start of pitch 4. Stay just slightly left of the arete.

Russell from Iceberg Lake

This is where you can bail from the notch, end of pitch 4. The cord was fixed.

Tim on Pitch 1. A really good start to an adventurous outing.

Looking down from the Whitney-Russell col to Iceberg Lake.

Fishhook and the East Arete from Whitney

Looking down the route from pitch 7.

Pitch 3 Crux

the Whitney saddle which you cross to approach the route from Iceberg Lake

Angus following pitch 1 of Fishhook Arête, with Mt Whitney in the background

the notch after the 5.8 downclimb (basically a set of 2 short boulder problems, the second of which is in the left of the photo)

Mt. Russell as seen from Whitney-Russell pass

An East Ridge descent offers excellent views. And glad its 2,000' of scree wasn't in the approach.

starting up the arete

The beautiful East Ridge descent.

Looking south from The Notch.

Christian pulling onto the ridge

As seen from the descent. The tiny black speck almost at the summit is a guy called Matt, in the process of shouting "HOW MUCH ROPE?!"

Near the top.

E Arete (recommended descent route unless you have bivy gear stashed at Iceberg)

Leading the exposed seventh pitch high up on Fishhook (zoom).

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