Well, earlier in the year when climbing Whitney via the Mountaineers Route and looking at the incredible 2,000 foot vertical piece of white granite that makes up the East Face, I really caught the "bug" to climb it. The catch was that I wouldn't do it unless teamed with someone who was a very good climber and someone I totally trusted. Now I not only had motivation, but the means and opportunity as well.
So, I called Lisa and she, in typical fashion, said: "GO".
That said, we both took care of domestic duties on Saturday, met on Sunday, fueled up, and made the four hour drive across Death Valley to Lone Pine.
On the drive over, we talked about the climb and made the decision to climb the East Buttress instead of the East Face. Although the East Face route is the classic, we opted (especially Simon) for the Buttress route because it's a direct line to the summit, somewhat more difficult (5.8 vs. 5.4), with big exposure and views.
When we got to Lone Pine we checked into a motel to get a few hours sleep before the 2 a.m. wake up.
Before I knew it we were stuffing down bagels and yogurt, and heading to the Portal. We hit the trail at about 3:00 a.m. and set a good pace to the North Fork of Lone Pine creek where we left the main trail to make the arduous scramble to the base of the climb. This was where my contribution to the climb came in as I'd made this trip a couple of times before and the route is easy to lose especially on a dark, new moon night like this one was.
Fortunately I only got us off route once for about 15 minutes in the thick brush of Clyde's Meadow before the sun started to come up.
At about 6:30 we were treated to one of the greatest views, I think, the Sierra's have to offer -- the Alpenglow from the morning sun on the East Face of Whitney.
Around 7:30 we made it to the base of the climb and, psyched to get on it, we quickly geared up. This didn't take too long because all we had were helmets, harness, a small rack of a half dozen nuts, cams, slings, and draws, and a lightweight, 65 meter rope. I wore climbing shoes but Simon did the whole thing in his approach shoes.
Our goal was to have lunch on top which meant we'd have about 4 1/2 hours to climb the 8 or so long pitches to the top.
The easiest sections of this climb are the first pitch and the last several hundred feet to the summit (3rd and 4th class). This is a photo of the first pitch.
A little 4th class climbing at the end of pitch 4.
Coming up to Simon on the 5th pitch. We're now about a 1,000 feet above the horizontal world.
Simon at belay
Looking down on Iceberg Lake from the sixth pitch belay.
Coming up to Simon on the seventh pitch.
The view to Lone Pine from the seventh pitch belay.
Iceberg Lake from the seventh pitch belay.
Great exposure at the eighth pitch belay.
Looking down the North Fork drainage to the town of Lone Pine.
Looking to the southeast with Mount Irvine and the Owens River Valley beyond.
Mount Russell to the north.
Simon at the end of the last pitch just below the summit.
Bob at the end of the climb.
Our goal was to be on top by noon and we actually topped out at 11:30. As usual, there were at least a dozen people on top who had summited via the normal route. It was fun watching their expressions as we climbed over the last summit blocks to stand on top and stow our gear. Making it to this place the way we did was also a big deal for me and I'll always be thankful to Simon for helping me get there.
After stowing gear and eating lunch we set out for the long 11 mile walk down the normal route back to the Whitney Portal.
About five miles down the trail at the end of the 100 or so switchbacks that lead to Trail Camp, I really twisted my ankle. Thankfully I had my trekking poles (although I cussed them on the climb) so I, with Simon's help, managed to limp out the last six miles to the Portal.
This was one of those days that will always be a highlight for me. In all it took us about 13 hours and I'm still amazed how we packed so much of life's best into so little time. Cheers!