Sequoia National Park: Mount Whitney via the Mountaineers Route
Climb the Lower 48's highest peak on a route with all of the thrills but none of the crowds.
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What you can do and what you should do are often two different things. You can march straight to the summit of 14,497-foot Mt. Whitney, the tallest peak in the Lower 48, and be back in Lone Pine for happy hour. But what you should do is savor your time in the backpacker’s utopia known as the Whitney Zone and extend your climb to three or four days. You’ll camp in cathedral-grand cirques, kick back by diamond-clear streams, listen to whistling marmots, and ogle the rosy granite spires of the Sierra Crest, a ridge perched two miles above the Owens Valley.
Whitney’s premier climbs both start at Whitney Portal (8,365 feet), a trailhead 12 miles west of Lone Pine. The Mount Whitney Trail, 21.4 miles round-trip, is easy and popular–and totally worth it. Go in April for guaranteed solitude and no permit hassles (bring an ice axe and crampons and know how to use them). But for a spicier ascent, try the Mountaineer’s Route (see map above for route details). You’ll see far fewer people but need to be comfortable on steeper terrain.
Hike 0.8 mile before veering right off the main trail to cross Lone Pine Creek and begin a cross-country romp connecting Lower Boyscout, Upper Boyscout, and Iceberg Lakes, navigating a series of class 2 ledges along the way. Camp at sheltered Upper Boyscout (2.8 miles in) if weather is dicey, or push to Iceberg, a secluded tarn at the base of Whitney’s east face. From Iceberg, it’s a class 3 stair-stepper up an obvious couloir, often snow-filled until July, to a ridge. Hang a left to round the corner and attain the summit. John Muir climbed this route more than 130 years ago, but he hiked from Lone Pine. Now there’s someone who knew to take the scenic route.
Permit: Self-register from December to April. From May to November, quotas apply. Enter the Mt. Whitney Trail lottery before February 15. Doing the Mountaineer’s Route? Forty percent of permits are reserved for walk-ins. (760-873-2400, fs.fed.us/r5/inyo)
Guides: Sierra Mountaineering International offers guided trips up the Mountaineers Route. sierramountaineering.com
-Mapped by Steve Howe
Trail Facts
- Distance: 16.1
Waypoints
WPT001
Location: 36.587054, -118.240342
Trailhead
WPT002
Location: 36.58693, -118.245306
Leave established trail and take climber’s trail along drainage.
WPT003
Location: 36.585856, -118.253051
Skirt ledges. Caution: Can be super icy after snowstorms or during cold days.
WPT004
Location: 36.584199, -118.259594
Lower Boy Scout Lake
WPT005
Location: 36.580615, -118.284789
Campsite: Good place begin an alpine start for the peak the next morning.
WPT006
Location: 36.579489, -118.293781
Notch
WPT007
Location: 36.578615, -118.292021
Summit of Mount Whitney