Highest Point in Lower 48 States

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Good morning from Bishop, CA, where it is HOT! Thankfully, we spent the night in the cool, sagebrush desert of the Buttermilks, after four days in the high alpine above the Whitney Portal... and we just sent the best route of the trip so far.

The Whitney Portal is the trailhead for one of the most popular hikes of the area - the Whitney Trail. After camping a quiet night there - free of bears, marmots, squirrels, and even mosquitos - we began the three hour approach to our wilderness campsite at Upper Boyscout Lake. With 50-60 pounds on our backs, we gained about 3,000 feet of elevation - yikes! After dropping our packs off and establishing camp, we humped our gear up to Iceberg Lake - another 1,300 feet of vertical gain - to avoid carrying it on our climbing days. (Although camping at Iceberg Lake is recommended by many to shorten the approach to the actual climbing, we decided to camp at treeline in an alpine meadow instead of setting up shop in a barren talus-field next to an icy lake.... seemed worth the extra two hours of hiking each day).

So our first day, we warmed up with a cruise up the classic East Buttress of Mt Whitney, (for those into numbers, Whitney is the tallest peak in the lower 48, at ~14,500 feet). Topping out was interesting, as the summit is full of hikers who came up the Whitney Trail. We learned that 16,000 applications were submitted to a lottery to get permits for it this season. Nothing kills a wilderness experience like hearing 'I've got 5 bars! Who should I call first?' Although the traffic was unexpected and perhaps unwelcome, the best part of our whole summit experience was meeting Father Mac. An episcopalian reverand from Napa Valley. His smile and genuine interest in our morning brightened our day... AND he made us the best turkey wraps I've eaten ever, AND he told us stories about climbing with Mugs Stump! So, big shout out to Father Mac!

We enjoyed a rest day hanging out at our campsite (more acclimitization, since we were still at 11,500'). We took a walk around Upper Boyscout Lake, wandered down to the trees (we were just above treeline, so if you wanted shade that wasn't from a rock, it involved a little walking), and enjoyed some quiet and solitude. Speaking of solitude, did I mention the marmots? These devils look cute, but coordinate a pretty mean attack. I had the Caddyshack theme song in my head the whole time we were there.

After our rest day, we got an alpine start for Mt. Russell, an adjacent 14er. Our approach was about 2.5 hours to the base, so we got a really early start and caught sunrise on Whitney as we hiked on by. What did we climb, you ask? The Mithril Dihedral - another 'classic.' It was as good as they say and despite chilly 39 degree temps at the base, we fired the route in six long pitches with no topo. The route was an obvious and incredibly exposed line on the west face, a 300 ft laser cut dihedral with sustained jamming including a 20ft offwidth section... all at 13,500 ft!

We had planned to climb a full day on Russell by linking Mithril with the Fishhook Arete (yet another classic... as you can see, the term gets thrown around a lot), but after our fabulous morning on Mithril we decided any other line on Russell just wouldn't compare. The East Ridge, a long and exposed descent, took us back to camp where we packed up and headed all of the way back down to the Whitney Portal trailhead in time for dinner. So in our long alpine day, we woke up at 11,300... hiked and climbed to 14,000... and then hiked from above 14,000 back to 8,300 feet in one fell swoop... a lot of down. It was a long but absolutely beautiful day on a steep, remote peak, with wild climbing, and great burgers!


Peace to all and thanks for all the comments, we miss all y'all and wish you were here.

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Photos

Mt. Whitney
Mt. Whitney, the tallest point in the lower 48, reflected in Iceberg Lake.

Camping in the Buttermilks
Like the smell of sage? It's everywhere around us as we set up camp for the night before heading up to Whitney.

The long approach to Whitney
Because we camped about 1,500 feet below the base of Whitney, we did this approach over and over and over.... Philippe says it's shorter than the Diamond approach, and way shorter than any approach in Patagonia (in other words, no sympathy).

East Buttress of Mt. Whitney
You can see just barely see Iceberg Lake in the background... complete with real ice. When I first saw the ice, I was glad that we chose to camp a lower elevation.

Our Lower Boyscout home
This was the scene around our campsite... pools of water and soft green grass sitting in the middle of the granite peaks all around us.

A Rest Day Walk
On our rest day, we took a stroll around our campside lake, Upper Boyscout.

Are we there yet?
This is Mt. Russell, taken 90 minutes into our approach... still a long way away. The Mithral Dihedral climbs the left buttress, while Fishhook Arete climbs the right buttress in the photo (the one that is shaped something like... a fishhook!)

A Whole Lot of Down
Mt. Russell in the background, we are descending the East Ridge... the beginning of a long hike down to our car and cheeseburgers!

Comments

[Louis and Christine]

Wo
You guys are living the dream, awsome pics!

[NZ Steve]

4 July
I'm enjoying reading about your travels. Snow to sea level here lately while you bask in the sun! Have fun!