[TR] Mt Whitney - Mountaineers Route sub 24 hrs 05/05/2021

[dchromey253]

Trip: Mt Whitney - Mountaineers Route sub 24 hrs

Trip Date: 05/05/2021

Trip Report:

 

Pictures will be posted here. Feel free to follow me on Instagram @dchromey253 for more stories and pictures. 

 

What are the odds of my friend and I grabbing permits on the same day when applying for the lottery? Well we were part of the 11% who got overnight permits! 

Started off by flying to SLC to get picked up by my friends in the soon to be lovely off road Prius  Hauled West to Trail Canyon Road for a shot at Nevadas Highest Point. Started at 8am Monday morning yet realized soon I did not drink any water since I was at SeaTac Airport Sunday morning  Talk about me being so stupid. Dehydration settled in on the scree field but I thought throwing up once wouldn't hurt so I gained the ridge of Boundary Peak and kept going. Three other times film and vile came up I knew I was done. Couple hundred feet from the summit of Nevadas Highest Point I told myself to stop and recuperate downhill to get ready for the real challenge and goal of this adventure. A classic climb on Whitney! 

Started at Whitney Portal at 2:30 PM and got to Iceberg lake around 7:30 PM. Felt much better than Boundary since I have been drinking water bottles constantly! only had 27 lb pack due to lightweight gear.My other buddies had 29 and 32 lb packs. No tent just pad and bag at Iceberg. Everything frosted over temps were low to mid 30s. Left camp at 5:45 am. Climbed the chute in 1.5 hours with the variation of the final 400 actually was faster than the normal way up the final 400. Summited at 8:00 am the highest point in the lower 48. No one else up there so we napped till a solo person came up from the Trailhead at 2am and a couple from the Switchbacks mentioned there was hardly no snow on the switchbacks. Hauled down around 9:30. Glissaded the chute it was chunky so the bum was feeling sore!  

All in all a good descent. Got off track a bit above lower and the ledges but retraced our steps to make it back down in under 24 hours. First time climbing in the Sierras and no problems with altitude so sub 24 in 2 days was very nice to get done. oh yes didn't even see 20 people the 2 days we were there! so amazing! Friends had to head back to SLC so I stayed in Alabama Hills and Mammoth till this past Sunday. Will be returning in June with a friend for the Switchback route! Pictures below! 

 

Gear Notes:
Ice axe, crampons, and helmet. First two for another month or so before the snow goes bye bye.

Approach Notes:
Portal to Iceberg Lake the first day. Save yourself from the slog between Upper Boy Scout and Iceberg Lake. No real continuous snow until the Chute. Much different climbing than the PNW norm back home.

Edited May 11, 2021 by dchromey253

[JasonG]

Is that the typical amount of snow for this time of year?  Wow!

[dchromey253]

This year was a much below average snowpack for the Sierras. We are lucky to have any snow in the chute itself! 

[snowball]

Thanks for the TR.  What variation are you referring to for the Final 400?  Thanks.

[dchromey253]

On 5/18/2021 at 1:43 PM, snowball said:

Thanks for the TR.  What variation are you referring to for the Final 400?  Thanks.

We just scrambled up our own variation of the final 400. Climbing 3/4th class rock. We traversed passed the normal ascent up the 400 but decided to bypass and look for more interesting terrain 😎

[snowball]

On 5/24/2021 at 5:30 PM, dchromey253 said:

We just scrambled up our own variation of the final 400. Climbing 3/4th class rock. We traversed passed the normal ascent up the 400 but decided to bypass and look for more interesting terrain 😎

Great!