East Buttress of Mt. Whitney July 10th, 2011

[RAM]

The difference between a Saturday and a Sunday in the High Sierra? On Saturday
we watched groups line up for the East Buttress and got peeks of them on the
ridge, from the lonely East Face. On Sunday, we had the entire east side of the
mountain to ourselves, which was surreal. The East Buttress climbing was
startling. One great pitch after the other, climbing to the sky. We relaxed our
way through the day of 11 roped pitches, summitting at 3:30 PM. After an hour on top, we descended the Mountaineers Route again, to complete the back to back Whitney days up these fine classics. We tore down camp and headed down to Upper Boy Scout Lake, arriving in low angle sun, but bright light, positioning ourselves for Mount Russell the next day.
Pictures?

https://picasaweb.google.com/aramv14/WhitneyEastButtressJuly10201102

[tanya]

Sunday in Utah is nice! Nice photos!

[optikal]

Wow! Looks like so much fun. I'm envious! Nice work :thumb:

[Bo_Beck]

Awesome photography once again! Ram, I climbed the East Buttress maybe 6 years ago with 3 friends. We did the climb in August as well. There was a whole bunch more snow in your photos than the ones we took:haha: Iceberg Lake was completely ice and snow free. Did that sailplane fly over the top of Whitney? That is so cool to see! Thanks for sharing! In Sept. I'm sponsoring a slideshow/presentation by Jack Tackle. Hope you might be in the area? I think it might be a darn good show?

[Bo_Beck]

We did the climb in August as well.

It was almost 8 years ago to the day! A couple pics.

[RAM]

Awesome photography once again! Ram, I climbed the East Buttress maybe 6 years ago with 3 friends. We did the climb in August as well. There was a whole bunch more snow in your photos than the ones we took:haha: Iceberg Lake was completely ice and snow free. Did that sailplane fly over the top of Whitney? That is so cool to see! Thanks for sharing! In Sept. I'm sponsoring a slideshow/presentation by Jack Tackle. Hope you might be in the area? I think it might be a darn good show?


Thanks for the kind words from you and everyone else. Our climb was on July 10th this year, which was a big snow year in general. That explains the abundant snow. Is a sailplane a glider? This fellow buzzed the summit for a few hours at least 2 days in a row. A bit cool, but also annoying. He stayed for a long time, I guess assuming his presence was desired and added to everyone's experience? I am in Utah in September. What date is the show? BTW the flake you have a hold of in the next post is still there ;-)
Ram

[scarbones]

Some great shots. I climbed the Mountaineers Route several years ago. Obvioiusly, not as technical as East Buttress. Photos 33 and 34 look like a nice slab with some decent exposure. Very cool stuff indeed. Good job!

[BlakeC]

Great Post. I'd love to do the east buttress, I have done the mountaineers route as a youth and would love to make it back!! Thanks for sharing.