Mount Whitney Mountaineer's Route, August 10, 2018

Plus video of the Ebersbacher Ledges
Mount Whitney from the Best Western motel in Lone Pine, CA
Whitney from town
Mount Whitney from the Alabama Hills east of Lone Pine, CA
Whitney from the Alabama Hills
An SUV looks small compared to the rocks in the Alabama Hills.
Perspective
Houses and cars look tiny compared to the landscape.
More perspective
The different scales - from rock to hill to mountain range.
Big rock, bigger hill, bigger mountain
A heart shaped arch in the Alabama Hills.
Heart shaped arch
Mount Whitney through the Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, CA
Mobius Arch
Sunrise over the Inyo Mountains, Whitney Portal, CA
Sierra sunrise
The trailhead at sunrise.
Trailhead
A young buck marks the point where you leave the main trail and head up the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek.
North Fork trail turnoff
The trail starts out pretty clear.
North Fork Trail
The North Fork of Lone Pine Creek canyon, not far from the start of the Ebersbacher Ledges.
North Fork canyon
The Ebersbacher Ledges are on the cliff face across the canyon. See the video to get a feel for what they are like.
The Ebersbacher Ledges
View down to the Owens Valley and the Alabama Hills after exiting the Ebersbacher Ledges.
A long way down
Lower Boy Scout Lake with Mount Whitney in the background
Lower Boy Scout Lake
A faint trail leads towards Upper Boy Scout Lake. It soon disappears. Lower Boy Scout Lake is in the background.
Leaving Lower Boy Scout Lake
Looking up towards Upper Boy Scout Lake. The correct path stays close to the brush until you can cross over to the granite slabs on the other side of the creek.
Towards Upper Boy Scout Lake
Upper Boy Scout Lake. The trail turn left here and climbs up to a valley at the base of Whitney's east face.
Upper Boy Scout Lake
Climbing up towards the valley below Iceberg Lake.
Heading to Iceberg.
Looking back at the Owens Valley from the valley between Upper Boy Scout and Iceberg Lake.
Owens Valley 8000 feet below.
The east face of Mount Whitney from the valley between Upper Boy Scout and Iceberg. The correct path stays low until right before the face. A doable path up to Iceberg is obvious at that point.
East face of Whitney
The east face in closeup.
East face closeup.
The Mountaineer's Route goes up the gulley on the right side of Whitney to the obvious notch.
The Mouintaineer's Route
Iceberg Lake. It's a good place to rest and refill water bottles before tackling the gulley to the Notch.
Iceberg Lake
No trail as such, but staying to the left in the gulley seems to work best.
Mountaineer's closeup
Looking down the Mountaineer's chute at Iceberg Lake.
Iceberg Lake from above.
Looking north at Mount Russel from the Notch.
Mount Russel
Looking down at Lone Pine and the Owens Valley from the Notch.
In the Notch
Looking at the west traverse and the Final 400 from the Notch. It's 400 vertical feet to the summit.
The Final 400
Looking west into Sequoia National Park before turning left and ascending the Final 400.
On the traverse.
Turn left and scramble 400 feet to the summit.
Left and up
A small glacial tarn below Mount Russel.
Glacial tarn
Looking back at the Notch from the traverse below the final 400.
Looking back at the Notch
Hitchcock Lake in Sequoia National Park.
Hitchcock Lake
Looking north at three small tarns from about half way up the final 400.
North from the Final 400.
Mount Russel from the Final 400.
Russel again
The last twenty feet before the summit plateau.
The Final 20
Off the Mountaineer's Route and on the summit plateau. Walk south to find clear trail and follow it left to the summit shelter.
Summit Plateau
Looking north from the summit plateau.
North
Looking northwest from the summit plateau.
Northwest
Looking west northwest from the summit plateau.
West northwest
Looking west from the summit plateau.
West
Looking southwest from the summit plateau.
Southwest
Looking south from the summit plateau. The jagged ridge is the back side of the sharp needles visible to the left of Whitney from the east.
South
The Needles from above.
The Needles
The summit hut at the top of Mount Whitney.
Summit hut
National Park Service sign on the summit,
Summit marker
Keeler Needle from the John Muir trail.
Keeler Needlw