Mt. Russell via the Fishhook Arête

Climbers who are intent on the ascending Mount Whitney often overlook Whitney’s smaller neighbor to the north. We believe that they are making a mistake. Mt. Russell offers great views and one of the best long rock routes around. As one of the fifteen peaks in California that are over 14,000’ in height Russell is popular, but generally via a less-technical route. The Fishhook Arête could also be called the South Ridge of Russell. It lives up to its name with a lower aesthetic curving swoop that takes four pitches to climb and then an arête direct to the summit.

The Climb
We have two options to start the ascent:

• The direct start is 5.9 and features intricate face climbing to link tiny crack systems. This start starts inthe shade and can be cold and chilly.
• The variation start knocks a grade off and renders the route 5.8 (the variation is 5.7, the 5.8 is higher up). Thisvariation has the benefit of being in the sun if the weather is cold.

Both starts meet at a notch where the climb becomes a true arête: narrow and steep for several pitches, this area of the climb is exhilarating and fun. The first pitch out of the notch is superb – steep, but covered in perfect holds and by now the sun has warmed the rock and it is hard to imagine a better place to be. After ten or so pitches of mostly easy fifth class the route ends right on the summit.

This is our video description of what it is like to climb FishHook Arete.

For better quality video you can go to our YouTube Site and click the "watch in higher resolution button".

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You can also get our unpublished SMC Guide to Whitney here.

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