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

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Steve cleaning up the last pitch.

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

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5.0 from 3 votes

Mike Forest

Jul 22, 2019

“good climbing”

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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

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.

Amazing exposure on Fishhook 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.

East Ridge Descent

Andrew first pitch

Steve cleaning up the last pitch.

good climbing

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

the arete

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

Eric Burt negotiating the crux of Pitch 3.

Fishhook Arete & Mithral Dihedral

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

The money pitch, just above the prominent notch.

Lucander following pitch 1

Lost in the maze of leaning flakes- p3 Fishhook Arete

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).

last pitch before the sun goes down

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

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

Upper pitches of the route.

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

P1 of the Fishhook Arete

The beautiful East Ridge descent.

Start of pitch 5 form the notch.

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

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

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)

whatever you do...

the start of the 5.8 squeeze chimney pitch

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

It can get a little chilly up there in early Spring.

Looking south from The Notch.

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

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

Mt. Russell as seen from Whitney-Russell pass

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

starting up the arete

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

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?!"

Looking down the route from pitch 5.

Near the top.

Looking down the route from pitch 7.

Christian pulling onto the ridge

Melody Wong in the same gap on a chilly day.

Pitch 3 Crux

Fishhook and the East Arete from Whitney

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

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

Russell from Iceberg Lake