The Grand Tour: A 15 Day Mountaineering Road Trip (Part 2)

Day 7: Hiking up to Upper Boyscout Lake

In the morning from our camp spot we could see Mount Whitney glowing brightly during the sunrise as well as some other cool peaks in the area. We went to the ranger station to get our free permit as well as some beta. The rangers told us that there was 6 feet of snow which non of us even slightly believed. From the ranger station we could see how dry Whitney's East Face was as well as much of the landscape below it. I decided that snowshoes would be a mistake to bring, which was a great decision. We wanted to park at Whitney Portal but the road was semi blocked off 4 miles before the trailhead. "Technically you can park there, but if any bad weather comes in you could be in trouble" the ranger told us before we left.


Lone Pine Sunrise Panorama : Taken December 8, 2011

Mt. Le Conte & Lone Pine Peak

Morning on Whitney and Russell

Mount Le Conte Alpenglow

Rocky Road to Whitney Portal

Sunrise on Mount Whitney

So we did a compromise, we drove to the Whitney trailhead, dropped off Gimpilator as well as most of our climbing gear. Then Michael and I went down 4 miles to the camp ground to park the car and start the adventure. This added 2,300 feet of gain (Whitney Portal is 8,360 ft. while Lone Pine Camp Ground is at about 6,000 feet) and four extra miles to the trip. Rather than taking the road we decided it might be faster to take the Whitney Portal trail. Eventually we decided that it might be best to take a short cut by cutting right up the slope to the road to Whitney Portal. It was mostly loose class 2 with a touch of class 3 getting up to the road. After getting all the rocks out of my shoes we walk along the boulder covered road to the trailhead.

Approaching Mount Whitney

Looking Back Down the Road

Road to Mount Whitney

The Santa Man on the Trail

Looking towards Thor Peak

Cactus

Semi Frozen Creek Crossing

The Scramble up to the Road

When we arrived Gimpilator was reading his book with a bored look on his face. I guess it took us a while to get there. I quickly change out of my shoes and into my climbing boots and get ready for the climb. The approach started out as a easy walk on the Whitney trail. Eventually we come across the North Fork Lone Pine Creek sign which was our turn off spot. As we get higher we encounter a lot of icy sections on the trail, in at least a few places it was blue water ice over a creek. I found that it's best to waddle like a penguin in slow speed rather than to put on crampons at these sections. One of the coolest water falls that I've ever seen was rushing with water in the inside while frozen solid on the outside which we walked over the edge of it.

One of the Many Icy Sections on the Trail

Ice Waterfall

To avoid much icy trail I found a side route that goes up on the side of Carillon Peak that has some scrambling and slab walking. Soon we arrive at Lower Boyscout Lake where we start getting close up views of Mount Whitney, Keeler Needles, and Thor Peak.

Keeler Needles in the Distance	The Edge of Mount Irvine	Getting out of the Forest	Ice Slabs Above
Lower Boyscout Lake	The Detour Route	View from Lower Boyscout Lake	Our Short Cut Up

There was still much ice along the trail to upper Boyscout Lake so we decided to take a variation that went up on the right of some cliffs. This involved some class 2-3 scrambling that had some decent rock. Michael had a bit of trouble because of all the elevation gain we did and some back problem that he has. I helped him find the holds and held onto his trekking polls as we scrambled the rest of the gully. As evening came on we pressed on though the woods and finally arrived at Upper Boyscout lake where we set up our camp. Michael seemed very exhausted from the climb. He is relatively new to mountaineering, but picked up at it at a very rapid rate. But somethings take years to build up including endurance.

A Beautiful Night on Mount Whitney

Gimpilator and I did the usual chores around camp which included cooking, filtering water from the lake, and packing our gear for the next day. Michael looked very cold and miserable. I told him to use my sleeping bag, at first he refused but eventually he changed his mind and took up my offer. Gimpilator had a kind sized mattress which he slept in the middle of the tent. Michael and I were on the sides and were crammed into the tent wall. But it was some what humorous. My feet were quite cold before I went to sleep so Gimpilator let me borrow his booties to sleep in. As I went to sleep we all could hear the sounds of the lake, almost as if it was humming to us. In all my mountaineering I have never heard a lake make such a noise.

Day 8: Going for Russell and Carillon

Though out the night I could feel my feet getting colder and colder with a wet feeling. "Why are my feet so wet and cold?" I whispered to myself as I roll over in my sleeping bag. Curiosity gets the better of me just before sunrise which instantly as I get up snow is dripping down on me the more I move. I look above and see that the inside of the tent is lined with frost that is as fine as snow. Now I know something wasn't right as I looked towards my feet. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh... No..." I say aloud as I see chunks of ice at the end of the tent. The tent had a big sheet of ice because my water bottle leaked out the entire liter of water making many things either soaking wet or frozen. The water bottle had a very slight chip in it from Mount Hood (as mentioned earlier) which was just enough to allow water to flow though. My head lamp was frozen solid and completely unusable for a while. Michael was still feeling quite tired so we figured out the best thing to do was to have him wait at camp and dry things out while Gimpilator and I climb Russell and Carillon Peak.


Upper Boyscout Lake Panorama : Taken December 9, 2011

Upper Boyscout Lake

The climb starts out as a hike around Upper Boyscout Lake until it gets to the boulder field which turns into a easy scramble. Our directions were accidently left at the trailhead so we had to make an assumption of which way to go. Gimpilator and I decided to head up a gully we found on the right which for the most part was decent, but had a interesting section. After scrambling up a ways we came to a section that Gimpilator did not feel comfortable climbing without protection. At first it looked like just a class 4 move, but it was a bit to weird and had too much of a lack of hand holds to be standard class 4. I decided I would lead up it considering that it was either this or going back down. I do admit at first I was worried I was climbing up something that I could not down climb, but figured out at one spot that if you lean your back against a rock you can hold your self up as you climb even though there is not very good holds there. The next move there was a bit of loose rock on a small slab making it a little tedious, but nothing too bad. Once I got past this section I brought out the rope, Gimpilator tossed up his personal anchor to me to use for the belay. I belayed Gimpilator up this section using a nice horn for the anchor.

Mount Whitney to the West

Gully on the North Side of Whitney

Mount Russell's Burly South Face

Gimpilator getting to the Bottom of the Gully

After doing a bit more scrambling up slabs and such we arrived in the Carillian Basin which was mostly flat and provided a decent pathway to the base of Mount Russell's East Ridge. The east ridge was both exciting and exposed, there were many sections of icy snow that we had to be careful on. I noticed that my gloves were starting to shred from the rock scrambling, but it was worth it to keep my hands warm. As were climbing along we do some interesting moves to traverse a few spots.

Thunnabora Peak

Mount Williamson to the North

Heading Around a Corner

The Walkable Section

Gimpilator carefully Traversing the Ridge

The Ridge gets Thinner Here

Looking up at the sun we could see that it was late in the day. The fact that there was ice over a very exposed section made Gimpilator and I nervous about the idea of continuing. We were within reach of the summit of Mount Russell, but it still would be a long time before we get off the mountain if we continued. Gimpilator finally announces "Look deep down inside yourself. Is it worth continuing for?". I gave it a moments thought and decided to call it. Yes it was possible for us to continue, but it seemed like we could get ourselves into more scary terrain with limited day light.

Views to the North

Table and Thunder Mountain

Mount Tyndall to the North

Mount Barnard

Views to the North of Mount Russell

A while later we carefully scramble down Mount Russell and back into the basin where we start heading for Carillon Peak. Carillon took us about a half hour, the high altitude slowed us down a little bit. On the summit we enjoyed good views of Whitney, Russell, Lone Pine, and many other peaks of the Sierra's.

The Ridge We Attempted on Mount Russell

The Cleaver

The Sun Setting over Mount Whitney

As we scramble down Carillon, Mount Whitney was already blocking out the sun light. Then we get back to the scrambling and into our gully down to Upper Boyscout Lake. Gimpilator decided it would be best to rappel down the section was climbed up, so he finally gave up the personal anchor that he had been using for years as a repel sling. After the repel it was mostly a walk down the rest of the way to the lake.

Gimpilator on the Summit	Mount McAdie	Gimpilator Scrambling Down	Contrast on Bright Hills
Hiking down with Lone Pine	Blue Lighting on the Mountain	The Edge of Thor Peak	Looking across Owen's Valley
Heading Towards the Gully	Looking back at Mount Russel	Alpenglow on Mount Russel	Down Climbing the Gully

Repelling Down

Hiking with Mt. Russell

Looking up the Gully

Looking back at Camp

Evening over the Lake

I pressure breathed to get Michael attention in the distance which sure enough he heard me and returned the favor of the previous night and started boiling up some water for us. It was nice to drink unfrozen water at camp and enjoy some hot food with the evening light on Mount Whitney. One of the annoying things about filtering water is not only does the water pump freeze making you have to warm it up, but also the water bottles partly freeze within 2 minutes or so. Michael was feeling a lot better and was feeling ready for Mount Whitney. I was finally able to pick off the last ice chunks from my headlamp to get it to work that night.

Continue the story with Part 3