Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Russell/Whitney combo

Is there more than one logical route? What's the most route efficient way to do this?

Thanks

Hello,
This is a big day. I attempted it a few years ago but was zonked after descending Russell (Russell was my primary objective after climbing Whitney a few times previously). I went up Russell East ridge then down the Fishhook Arete descent route (south face?)

Next would be up the Whitney North Slopes and down the Whitney trail.
Or Vice versa if you want to summit Whitney first.

Here is a previous post withthe route referenced:

http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/topics/21541/Advice_re_Nor
th_Slope_of_Mt_Wh



The crux will be the North Slopes of Whitney - most people encounter 4th class sections and the route fining is a bit difficult and the route not traveled very frequently.

I’ve done Whitney, Muir, and Russell together three times:
1. Russell up the east ridge and down the south face, up the north face of Whitney, down the trail to Muir, back to Whitney, and down the Mountaineers’ Route. This was a 10-hour day in 2002.
2. Up the east side of Muir directly from Trail Camp, down the west side and up the trail to Whitney, partway down the Mountaineers’ Route, traverse over the saddle NW of Iceberg Lake to Russell, up the south face of Russell, and down the east ridge. This was a day hike in 2003.
3. Up the Mountaineers’ Route to Whitney, down the trail to Muir and back, partway down the Mountaineers’ Route, traverse to Russell, up and back down the south face, and back to camp at Iceberg Lake. This was in April 2009 with lots of snow.

I found some rotten class 4 on the north face of Whitney. The east side of Muir was supposedly class 4, but I couldn’t find a route that easy. Otherwise, all the routes I did were pretty straightforward. I would do Russell first. If you’re really comfortable on class 4, the north face of Whitney may be faster. Traversing to the Mountaineers’ Route is easier and safer, but it’s a bit of a slog. Good luck, Ben.

Thanks all.

Bob, 10 hours for this route sounds ridiculously impressive. Curious for your beta on the best path to the Russell-Carillon saddle and then the beta for the north slopes of Whitney.

Thx

I just go up the sandy slope north of UBSL. Look for the less steep terrain and grab or step on rocks when convenient. There are many ways up the North Face of Whitney, but I didn’t find one that I would recommend. It was mostly class 3, but I found some class 4, some rotten rock, and a little bit of snow, ice, and wet rock.

When I went up last year, I kept looking for the path of least resistance and didn't really find it. Found it pretty taxing although the upside is that the descent back to UBSL felt like it took 10 minutes.

Do you find the class 3 route up the south side a quicker route?

Beware of descending the south side of Russell. A party had to be rescued by helicopter a month or two back because they descended the wrong way and got to a spot where they could neither descend or climb. I'd want to climb it first to make sure I remembered which way to descend.

Descending via the east ridge would be hard to get off route.

Steve is right, but I have a hunch that you are better at route finding than the party that got rescued. If I were going to or from the portal, I would use the sandy slopes. If I were going to or from Whitney or Iceberg Lake, I would use the south face. But I have no quarrel with somebody making a different choice.