Mt. Russell - East Ridge Conditions (or other 3rd Class suggestions)

I'm currently up in Bishop after a job interview last Friday and bouldering with some friends for the weekend. All my friends have left, and I wanna try for a long 3rd class route.

Was wondering if conditions would be okay for the East Ridge of Mt. Russell right now. I'm wondering if anyone has any information about conditions on the approach right now, and I'm also concerned that most of the hard sections on the ridge are bypassed by going on the North side which may mean encountering impassable snow. I'd rather avoid anything requiring an ice axe and crampons, but maybe that's not possible.

Anyone been up there lately or been on the North Ridge in similar conditions? Anyone have any other suggestions?

Williamson's West Face is also looking interesting. I have previously done Tyndall in a day so I understand Shepard's Pass is tough.

I was just up in that area this weekend. There's a lot of rockfall on the road up to Whitney Portal. Prepare to walk a little to get to the trail proper. If you dont want to use an ice axe or crampons getting up to Upper Boyscout is going to be difficult. There is some ice and plenty of snow from Whitney Portal to there. Above there, and definitely in the high country, there is minimal snow. The East Ridge of Russel is actually probably just a romp up scree right now. Your call.

Excellent, thanks for the info.

"The East Ridge of Russel is actually probably just a romp up scree right now."

Whoever says that probably has not done the route. East Ridge is one of the best class 3 scrambles in Sierra. A very worthy outing.
From what I heard, a good trail to upper boyscout/iceberg lake.

My friend and I just did Fishhook Arete and descended via East Ridge on Sunday.

East Ridge is totally "in" right now. It was bone dry - no ice, mostly free of snow (maybe like a total of 20 ft of mandatory snow crossing.) It's an easy scramble just like it's in the summer.

As Adams said, there are some rockfalls blocking the portal road (about a mile from the TH), but you can easily drive around it. There are snow on the road starting about half a mile from the TH.

The trail from the portal to Upper Boyscout is excellent. There have been a lot of people doing MR lately (we counted 13 cars at the portal when we got there!) and the trail has been nicely boot packed.

I'd still bring crampons and ax though for the steep snow approach/descent between the Russell-Carillon Plateau and Upper Boyscout Lake.

It would be a fun outing, go get it!!

Wow awesome! Thanks for the info. I think I may set off tomorrow early morning then.

How was it Fred?

Ah I got up at 4 in the morning after laying in bed for an hour because I was so comfortable and warm. I didn't bring crampons (because I didn't have any and it was too late to rent), but I did bring an ice axe.

The approach to Upper Boy Scout was fine. I didn't notice that I had passed Lower Boy Scout and didn't have to do ledges until the sun came up and I was already above them. The boot pack was nice and firm like you said.

I had doubts about my route finding on the slope from Clyde Meadow to the plateau below the saddle. It took me a really long time to do it because I kept vacillating about whether it was this way or that, but I guess right every time. I found it to be less of an issue to not have crampons here than it was below Upper Boy Scout. I eventually made it to where I could see the saddle at the plateau, but at like 11 a.m. much later than I had hoped.

I decided I would try anyway and turn around at 1 p.m. because I was worried about the descent without crampons. I left most of my gear, and I got maybe a third of the way up the ridge which was totally dry. Dark clouds started rolling in right when I got there which was not in the forecast and a little bit of graupel started coming down. I got to a slightly harder section of the ridge, and decided to just turn around there at 12:30 because of the weather and being by myself.

The way down the slope above Clyde Meadow was a cinch after the top bit and I managed to surf down dirt most of the way. After that it was hairy at times, first on the icy slabs where I was crouch walking everytime I had to cross ice. After that, the parts of the bootpack directly across from the ledges would have been kinda sketchy as the runout for an uncontrolled fall was 30 or 40 feet down into the creek. So I followed the bootpack to the right a little and postholed to safety. First time I've ever been glad to be post holing.

Made it back to the car as it was getting dark and looked up to see where I came from was mostly in the clouds, so I was happy I turned around when I did. Felt like Indiana Jones driving through those massive boulders on the road, super eerie. When I got to the bottom, Inyo County had put up a Road Closed sign.

I will have to go back, hopefully with a friend next time. Thanks for the encouragement though. It was still a great trip.