Anyone been up Russell recently? Wondering about conditions...particularly up the South Face Right Side route....any help would be appreciated....

This is as of two weeks ago. N'joy and hope this helps...

Summited late Saturday (8/27) and it is still bone dry. We were halfway up Mithral when the hailstorm slammed us, but after hanging around for an hour or so, the rock was dry and there was no trace of inclement weather.

As of 8/18






Chief, I must've missed you on Whitney by only a couple days

I am up there on a regular basis all Summer long....

Thanks guys....looks fantastic....appears the snow has finally loosened its' grip on the high peaks...what a year...looking forward to the trip up and will let you all know how it works out...thanks again.

Made it to the top of Russell this last week (Thursday). We had some interesting weather and the snow was holding (5-8 inches) on the Northern aspects of the ridge. Headed up the South Ridge Right Side and found that it was a great climb. I was wondering if anyone else feels that the last 150 feet up should rate Class 4 instead of Class 3 as rated by Secor. While the handholds and footholds are good, there is a good deal of exposure and it is steep...particularly when compared to a Class 3 like Middle Palisade. There are at least two pitches of Class 4 climbing at the end...in my opinion.

All in all, great climb with magnificent views. We camped at Iceberg Lake and had an opportunity to watch a lot of people give the Mountaineer's Route a shot. It sounded like it was a 50/50 proposition Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday...but seemed to be clearing up on Friday. It was amazing to look across the Whitney-Russel Col and see 30 people on top of Mt. Whitney while my 2 climbing partners and I sat on the top of Russell....

As a side note, I think the climbing community gets blasted when camping areas get trashed. I wanted to point out that the bivy areas that I saw around Iceberg Lake were in really good shape and that there was little or no human based debris to speak of....bravo folks in the climbing world.

BTW, the downclimb on the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek trail hammers you with a full pack....still feeling it a couple of days later....much steeper than it seems on the climb up....but that is probably always the case...

huntersthompson wrote:Made it to the top of Russell this last week (Thursday). We had some interesting weather and the snow was holding (5-8 inches) on the Northern aspects of the ridge. Headed up the South Ridge Right Side and found that it was a great climb. I was wondering if anyone else feels that the last 150 feet up should rate Class 4 instead of Class 3 as rated by Secor. While the handholds and footholds are good, there is a good deal of exposure and it is steep...particularly when compared to a Class 3 like Middle Palisade. There are at least two pitches of Class 4 climbing at the end...in my opinion.

All in all, great climb with magnificent views. We camped at Iceberg Lake and had an opportunity to watch a lot of people give the Mountaineer's Route a shot. It sounded like it was a 50/50 proposition Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday...but seemed to be clearing up on Friday. It was amazing to look across the Whitney-Russel Col and see 30 people on top of Mt. Whitney while my 2 climbing partners and I sat on the top of Russell....

As a side note, I think the climbing community gets blasted when camping areas get trashed. I wanted to point out that the bivy areas that I saw around Iceberg Lake were in really good shape and that there was little or no human based debris to speak of....bravo folks in the climbing world.

BTW, the downclimb on the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek trail hammers you with a full pack....still feeling it a couple of days later....much steeper than it seems on the climb up....but that is probably always the case...

It sounds like you had a nice climb. I'm not a technical climber and have never had much interest in being one, but I do enjoy scrambling up nontechnical routes and there is a gray line between Class 3 and Class 4. Sometimes Class 3 seems like Class 4, and sometimes Class 4 seems like Class 3. I guess it all depends on what the early mountaineers thought it should be rated back in the day when people spent more time in the mountains because they didn't have the option to spend their time bickering with other members of the mountaineering community on internet forums.

Any conditions update for the region/peak? Thinking it might be a nice weekend to scramble the east ridge...

ChugachMan wrote:Any conditions update for the region/peak? Thinking it might be a nice weekend to scramble the east ridge...

MMSA Ski Patrol Snow Sesame Study Sensor (located at 8903") has recorded 24.4" of snow since Tuesday eve.

I now work at the MML Airport full-time and can tell ya that looking up Convict Cnyn, Morrison and the surrounding area, looks like Winter has hit the Eastern Sierra.

395 is clear all the way past Bridgeport but all the Passes are closed as of this eve.

I am guessing that the Whitney/Russell Region (above 10K') got at least 18" of fresh snow in the past 48 hours.

Thanks Chief - that's a decent amount of snow! Is there any base below that? It's been months since I've been up that way sadly.

Working helos at the airport?

No base that I know of.

Nope... working the ARFF, General Field Maint and Snow Removal.