Whitney Grand Tour 2006 08/27/06 Solo dayhike of: The Cleaver Mt Carillon Mt Russell Mt Whitney Keeler Needle Crooks Peak Mt Muir Discovery Pinnacle I really dread hiking down the Main Trail in the dark. The endless switchbacks and steps really take their toll. Every time I tell myself NEVER AGAIN. And then somehow this is forgotten and I find myself in the same situation time and time again. Yesterday was no different. The agenda for the day was a kicked up version of the "Grand Tour" hike I've done the past couple of years. The first time I simply dayhiked Carillon, Russell, Whitney, & Muir. Last year I added on Keeler Needle and did Whitney's North Face in snow with crampons and ice axe. This time I dreamed up numerous diabolical ways to make things even more brutal. What's wrong with me? Anyway, having missed doing the Cleaver with Bob Burd in the Sierra Challenge it occurred to me that this might be an interesting addition to the loop. Thus, the Cleaver was first up on the list for the day. I left the Whitney trailhead at 5:24am. I reached LBSL in just over an hour. At this point I turned right and headed up the sandy slope to the North. I was surprised to find a very substantial use trail here. Further up the trail disappears and the surroundings turn to thin forest and meadows. The terrain is also very easy to hike on. Toward the upper end of the drainage the meadows give way to boulders and talus. Directly at the head of the valley is the impressive south face of the Cleaver. To the left (west) is a chute that leads to the Cleaver/Carillon Col. By this time I realized I was going more than a bit slower than Bob and Miguel had. This was my first indication that things might not go as quickly as planned and that perhaps I should have spent more time acclimating. As I headed up the chute toward the Cleaver/Carillon Col I noticed that toward the top there were two options. The easier route went up and out of the chute to the left. Directly ahead the chute turned steep and was obviously at least class 3 but looked like it would work. Thinking what Bob might do I opted for the more challenging route. Part way up a few class 4 moves were encountered. At one point, avoiding some loose rock, I did a more solid class 5 move instead. Further up, yet another problem. The easist way to go was a class 4 move on the left side of the chute but it consisted of a bunch of rocks that looked like they were getting ready to let go. I started to try this, carefully testing the rocks, but soon backed off to contemplate this move. It occurred to me that while I had notified someone that I would be doing Whitney and some other surrounding peaks, I had not mentioned the Cleaver. I was also reminded of Joyce Lin's recent accident during the Sierra Challenge that resulted from a large rock pulling loose. I felt compelled to attempt another more difficult move on solid rock toward the right of the chute. This was low class 5 but the holds were rather limited. Scratch that. I also considered going back down the chute. But by now I had already done at least one somewhat exposed class 5 move that I knew I couldn't easily reverse. Thus I returned to the potentially loose move. The more I looked the less I liked. Most of the rocks above rested on a single precarious rock. If that one moved they would all come down on top of me. Though there wasn't much solid to work with I finally worked it and hauled myself up. No more problems were encountered and I reached the Cleaver/Carillon Col though I had wasted a significant amount of time in the process. Beyond the Col I traversed along the west face of the Cleaver until i reached the NW ridge. At this point I traversed back onto the west face a bit higher up on slabs and then up (class 3) until I topped out. This turned out to be very close to the summit which I reached at 9:26am. From the summit I got a look at Whitney's North Face (which I was intending to climb) and was surprised to see how much snow was present. After signing the register (placed by R.J. Secor) and some photos I descended part way down the NW ridge itself. There were a few places here that had insanely deep dark slots in the ridge that I stepped over. You would definitely not want to fall in one of these! I then dropped back down the west face and returned to the Col. From the Col it turned into a fairly enjoyable class 3 climb up to Mount Carillon. I was now pausing for breath far more often and I was disappointed that I was not performing at the level I felt I should be. At any rate I summitted Carillon (10:43am) and then made my way down to the Russell/Carillon saddle. As I began to work my way up to the east ridge I was really beginning to struggle. Lack of sufficient acclimation was apparently taking it's toll. I've come from see level to 14K before without this much trouble. I had attempted to acclimate the day before by hiking up to Trail Peak and spending the night at Horseshoe Meadow but that apparently had no effect what-so-ever. Half way up the east ridge I stopped and fell half asleep. I wasn't nauseous but I was feeling very lethargic. I had no energy. At this point I was about ready to just give up and head down. I probably wasn't going to accomplish much more for the day. It was also fairly clear that I wouldn't be able to go up Whitney's North Face as planned due to unexpected snow. After a few minutes I continued on. Getting to the summit of Mount Russell seemed to take an eternity (or so I thought). Apparently my sense of time was also being effected. While it seemed like it had taken well over 2 hours it had actually only taken about an hour and a quarter from the saddle. It was now 12:18pm. From the summit of Russell I examined Whitney's North Face for weaknesses. Without snow gear I would have to find a route that navigated around the snow fields. This didn't leave many options. I figured about the only chance was a rock rib to the far right that appeared free of snow. It looked class 3 but I couldn't be sure there would be a few class 5 surprises along the way. It would also be hard to hit the correct rib when climbing from below. At any rate it would be a crap shoot. The sure bet was to simply drop over to Iceberg Lake and take the Mountaineers Route; that is if I didn't just call it a day. The other option afterall was to climb back down Russell's east ridge and use the sandy slope above UBSL for a quick and easy descent. This option sounded a lot more agreeable. Given my state I really didn't think I had the energy to get up the Mountaineers Route. Not wanting to completely give up just yet I opted to descend down to the Whitney/Russell pass. This time the scree and talus below Russell's south headwall didn't seem quite as bad as the last time but it still wasn't pleasant. At Whitney/Russell pass I met two backpackers who were doing a Whitney circumnavigation. We talked for a few minutes and then I continued over the pass. It was now 1:20pm. Above Iceberg Lake was a large snowfield. This was in my way if I were to give up and head down. Thus, I traversed above the snowfield over toward the Mountaineers Route. If I could just summon the energy perhaps a Whitney summit would still be a possibility. Far above I heard and then saw climbers on the East Buttress. Damn. That's the last thing I wanted to see. Since I hadn't planned on going this way I hadn't brought a helmet. Having been caught below rockfall from climbers a thousand feet up here before I was reluctant to enter the chute. I took this opportunity for a break and attempted to carb up. I downed the Monster energy drink that I had been saving for just this moment. Perhaps it was just the surge of caffiene but I decided to go ahead and push for the summit. I stayed on the rock to the far right side of the chute hoping this would be further out of the line of fire. I found the climbing here to be rather enjoyable and I pushed on as quickly as possible to limit my time below the climbers. I was still going slower than I wanted but my pace has accelerated. Perhaps my body finally got a clue and started pumping out more red blood cells. At the notch two climbers were resting (one was totally asleep and had altitude issues) and two more were heading up the chute above. Two more were also starting their way down. After a few minutes I too entered the chute and did my best to keep myself out of the line of rockfall. The two climbers going up above me took the left side. I took the right side as I have before. I topped out first and made my way to the summit hut. It was now 3:15pm. Though quite tired I was pleased with this result. This was far better than I had expected. On the summit I took a break and then signed the register. This was my 13th Whitney summit. Next up on the agenda was Keeler Needle. While an easy scramble from the Main Trail in an exhausted state it's harder to convince yourself. I almost decided to skip it but finally decided to haul myself up there. Next up was Crooks Peak. From the Main Trail this one looks nearly identical to Keeler Needle. For that matter almost all the needles look the same. On Crooks I took a self photo (the only one of the day) and then hiked down the Main Trail to Mount Muir. Again I had difficulty persuading myself but decided I couldn't stop now and reached Muir's summit at 4:57pm. Back on the trail I reached Trail Crest at 5:30pm. It was getting late but I had one more summit on the agenda: Discovery Pinnacle. Like a few of the others it hardly seemed worth the trouble but within minutes I was on top (5:39pm). Finally, my last peak of the day finished. It was now just a long downhill hike on the Main Trail. I managed to get down just past Outpost Camp before having to fish out my headlamp. Fortunately I only had to hike in the dark for a little more than an hour before returning to the Portal -- but it was a long hour. I returned to the Portal at 9:04pm for a dayhike of 15 hours 40 minutes. This was followed by a somewhat difficult drive home. Log 05:24am - Left Whitney Portal TH 05:40am - North Fork trail jct 06:06am - Ebersbacher Ledges 06:23am - Sunrise 06:28am - LBSL 08:56am - Cleaver/Carillon Col 09:26am - Summit the Cleaver 10:02am - Returned to Cleaver/Carillon Col 10:43am - Summit Mt Carillon 11:00am - Russell/Carillon saddle 12:07pm - Russell's East summit 12:18pm - Russell's West summit 01:20pm - Whitney/Russell Pass 01:48pm - Reached MR chute above Iceberg 02:47pm - Whitney Notch 03:15pm - Summit Mt Whitney 03:26pm - Signed register and left summit 03:50pm - Summit Keeler Needle 04:10pm - Summit Crooks Peak 04:21pm - Returned to Main Trail 04:40pm - Muir cairn along trail 04:57pm - Summit Mt Muir 05:13pm - Returned to Main Trail 05:24pm - JMT jct 05:30pm - Trail Crest 05:39pm - Summit Discovery Pinnacle 05:45pm - Returned to Main Trail 06:42pm - Trail Camp 07:09pm - Trailside Mdw 07:46pm - Outpost Camp 08:04pm - Log Crossing 08:46pm - North Fork trail jct 09:04pm - Returned to Whitney Portal TH Stats Total Time: 15 hrs 40 mins Time from Trailhead to LBSL: 1 hr 4 mins Time from Trailhead to the Cleaver: 4 hrs 2 mins Time from Carillon to Russell: 1 hr 33 mins Time from Whitney/Russell Saddle to Whitney (via MR): 1 hr 55 mins Time from Russell to Whitney: 2 hrs 55 mins Time from Trail Crest to Trailhead: 3 hrs 34 mins Food Consumed 3 PowerBar energy gel packets 2 small packets of fruit candy a handful of trail mix a handful of gummy savers 1 can Monster energy drink Water Obtained water in the North Fork, Carillon drainage, and Trailside Mdw on the way out Had 1 liter + the can of Monster from the Cleaver to Trailside Mdw Tanked up before leaving the trailhead with a bottle of orange juice and a Monster drink