Climbing in Whitney Portal

Keradactyl
Jul 6, 2015
2 min read

What do you do when you finish hiking almost 200 miles through the Sierra Nevada? Well, you climb of course.

Whitney Portal wears many hats. It's the gateway to Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous US. It's the end (or beginning) of the John Muir Trail. It's an insanely popular tourist destination, and the only tourist destination that requires its guests to pack out their own poop (in government-issued wag bags). On top of all of this, Whitney Portal is host countless classic routes on clean, gorgeous granite.

Joined by my epic adventure-babe-tastic friends John, Kori and Nick, we meandered through Lone Pine and Alabama Hills on our way to Whitney Portal. To be honest, our sights were set on Mt. Russell and other alpine climbing in the area, but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of climbing in and around 8,500 feet. Before our hike up to Russell, we tackled Boney Fingers, a classic 5.11b finger crack on Whale Dome. The granite was speckled by mafic (black) inclusions that were more resistant to weathering than the surrounding sea of granite, and thus would create perfect lens-like features for your feet and giant jugs for your hands. A double rope rappel got us safely to the ground after two fun pitches and four sun burns.

While climbing, we had a great view of all of Whitney Portal, and the weather converging in the sky above it. The weather in the Sierra can be tempestuous but somewhat predictable; thunderstorms commonly well up in summer afternoons. Keeping this in mind, we descended from Boney Fingers and started our trek up to the base of Mt. Russell.