Inyo National Forest

Location Description

Sub-locations

Whitney Zone

73 photos

John, Trevor and Rachel sort gear before attempted...
Rachel, Trevor, and John, on the hike in.
John (foreground) and Rachel and Trevor (background)...
Trevor and Rachel pick their path between snowdrifts on...
Rachel and John taking a rest. Niels' backpack (with...
Trevor (I think) seeks a ford of a river.
John goofing off for the camera after finding a place...
Fast forward two days: Trevor, Rachel, John and Niels,...
Day one GPS route.
Day two GPS route (Niels only).
John, a mile or two up the Mountaineer's Route (Class 3)...
Joel, on the infamous Ebersbacher Ledges. Apparently a...
Joel, hiking up the talus slope between Lower Boyscout...
A big cairn, set on a boulder between Lower Boyscout and...
Joel, doing some dishwashing or something near Upper...
Did I mention it was cold? The forecast for the Whitney...
Joel, preparing for our ascent of Mt. Russell. Our camp...
John, starting the hike up Mt. Russell, with (from right...
Marmot! These little guys were everywhere. Fat, furry,...
John, higher up on the way to Russell, with an even...
Joel, with Whitney, the Needles and Muir in the...
Here is Phase 2 ahead of us: a relatively flat, broad...
Joel, starting the third phase of our ascent of Mt....
Joel, again with Tulainyo Lake in the background.
Lake Tulainyo, which lies north of Mt. Russell and Mt....
Joel, startng to scrable up the eastern ridge of Mt. Russell.
Joel climbs up over some rocks on the East Ridge of...
A lake just west of Tulainyo lake, which seemed to be...
Joel continues the scramble along the East Ridge of Russell.
Joel, stopping to gaze across at Mt. Whitney (not...
Joel, on the East Ridge of Mt. Russell.
Joel, scrambling up the East Ridge as it starts to get...
Joel pausing to smile for the camera on the East Ridge...
On top of the world: Joel on the summit block of the...
Joel, on the west summit of Russell, with the summit...
John, on the summit of Mt. Russell, with Mt. Whitney in...
The East Ridge of Russell: we just climbed from...
Now comes the fun part: down-climbing a nearly 5th class...
Here Joel cautiously backs down a 40 foot section of...
Joel, pausing to look up at the wall we just climbed...
Joel, walking down the talus and scree slope on the...
Joel, with a whole bunch of lakes that feed from Whitney...
Iceberg Lake, at 12,600 ft was the other place we were...
Tomorrow's climb: East Buttress of Whitney (5.7). The...
Day 3: Joel, weighed down with climbing gear, starts...
Some wildflowers growing in a sheltered spot under a...
Taken as we approached the base of our climb. Whitney...
On the climb: Joel follows on the first pitch (out of...
Joel, at the top of the first pitch, with Iceberg Lake...
Joel belays me from near the top of one of the first...
Again, you can see the rock climbing here is in many...
Joel, on I think the 5th pitch out of 13. The lake...
Here is a shot looking east from about 14,000 feet. In...
A view north from around 14,000 feet on Whitney's East...
The last several hundred feet (pitches 9-13) were easy...
A beautiful Sierra sunset as seen from the summit of Mt....
In short, this was a cold, cold evening. Joel and I...
We started seeing the first morning hikers around 4am. ...
Mirror Lake. Catching the brightest sunshine in the...
My 18 inch pancake bought at the Whitney Portal Store...
Joel and I speculated that for each order the chef...
After a bit more recuperation, we were ready for the 3...
Joel, with the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek in the...
Joel, pointing out a great water slide.
Looking back down at Owen's Valley from about 10,500...
Now on the hike down: Joel hikes through a patch of...
Joel, happier to be carrying a light pack. Our...
Joel skirts around a waterfall on the hike out.
Driving down Lee Vining Canyon toward our secret camp...
On Sunday, the weather was even worse than Saturday. For...
Smoke and flame in the desert sagebrush of the White Mountains.
Pretty view back west toward the Sierra Nevada
View of the Whitney Crest from our ditch camp in the...