Approach
The hike in begins at 8:00 am at the Whitney Portal trailhead, which is the same trailhead as for the main Whitney Trail. This is one of the busier trailheads in the Eastern Sierra so expect some company at the parking area—sometimes quite a bit of company.

We start on the Whitney Trail but after thirty minutes or so leave this for the relative solitude of the Mountaineer’s Trail. This is a steep, seldom maintained route with sections of scrambling, boulder-hopping, and loose terrain

We usually reach Lower Boy Scout Lake (10,300’) in time for lunch and gain Upper Boy Scout Lake (11,200’) by mid afternoon.

We take a good rest there and gather strength for the final hour push to camp Iceberg Lake. This is a very hard day with a gain of about 4,000’.

The Climb
This is the original climbing route on the mountain and is one of the 50 classic climbs of North America. (For more info see Secor’s Peaks, Passes, and Trails and Steck/Roper’s 50 Classic Climbs.) Classic more for its history than the quality of the climbing, this route is mostly third class, with several notable exceptions. For our summit attempt we often get up quite early (4am or so) depending on the weather and how many climbers are in the area. We make our way past Iceberg Lake on increasingly steep scrambling, eventually arriving at the roping up point at about 13,200'.

The first pitch is the famous Tower Traverse—not too difficult but surprisingly exposed (this will wake you up if you're not already). Shortly after this pitch we arrive at the start of the three pitches that take us up the Washboard, a third class stretch of climbing.

The sixth or seventh pitch is the Fresh Air Traverse. It's fun to think back to the first ascent party who had hemp ropes, klettershoes, and pitons for protection. The moves are still stout today and many folks are happy to call this pitch 5.7 but at sea level you'd probably call it 5.4. A couple of chimney pitches lead to the Giant Staircas

We and the final summit blocks. This is one of those rare routes that ends right on the summit; we un-rope on the very top.

Descent is via the Mountaineer's Route, to the north. With some fourth class rock and usually a bit of ice or snow it's not a giveaway, but the technical climbing is over quickly; an hour or less after leaving the summit we reach the top of the Mountaineer's gully and it's all third class or easier back to camp.

Notes
The best guidebooks are Supertopo's “High Sierra Climbing” by Chris McNamara. and Peter Croft's “The Good, The Great, and the Awesome”.
Get them from Maximus Press.

You can also get our unpublished SMC Guide to Whitney here.

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