East Buttress of Mt Whitney

I’ve found other people’s trip reports useful on several of my past trips, so I’ve decided to put up a few with respect to several climbs I’ve done over the last few years, including this one.

Me, Matt D, Eric K, and Mike V left Whitney Portal mid-afternoon. Carried two thin ropes, two small racks, two ice axes, and two pair of crampons for the four of us. On the Hike up we found the climbers trail quite easily a little way up the trail.

 However, we failed to find the Ebersbacher Ledges and ended up bushwhacking through thick brush up wet slabs.
 After not too long we were back on trail. Gorgeous hike up.
 A ways up the weather started to turn though, and before we knew it, we were in a full on snow shower. About half-way between Boy Scout Lake and Iceberg Lake we decided to make camp under big rock.
By next morning, weather had cleared and we were excited.  A little snow on the way up, but not much of an issue.
Awesome area.
 Once we got on the climb, it was for the most part pretty straightforward. Best pitch was a 5.7 slab section, with a bolt (I think).
It was pretty cold though. Route was sizable.When we got to the top, weather changed again and we heard some thunder and even felt some electricity in the rack.  So we got the hell out of there pretty quick.

Getting over to Mountaineers route took a little searching. My memory is that we had to head back off where we summited a little ways, and it was pretty steep at the top. Gradually it eased and we hiked down the snow with little problem.
Hike out was pretty uneventful.

looks rad! what date did you go?

headed that way next week. bringing an axe, but think you could get by with micrspikes instead of crampons?

Descended mountaineer's route after climbing the keeler needle 3 days ago and we did not bring crampons or ice axes, nor did we need them. My partner has very limited alpine experience and she did just fine. 

Fan Yang wrote: Descended mountaineer's route after climbing the keeler needle 3 days ago and we did not bring crampons or ice axes, nor did we need them. My partner has very limited alpine experience and she did just fine. 

awesome! thanks for the beta! 

means I can trade the weight of crampons and ice axes for summit beers!