EISPIRATEN

It was Tina's "30th" birthday and she wanted to summit Russell. Ten of us got a 0445 start up the old Whitney trail (which is far superior to the new one IMHO). It was still dark when we hit the north fork of Lone Pine Creek, split right at the magical pine tree and scrambled up the elephant ear and e-ledges. The sun started to rise as we hit Lower Boyscout Lake... I was very sleepy:


We kept plodding along until we passed Upper Boyscout Lake and Bob suggested we take a really cool (and quicker), ice-covered ledge system to Iceberg Lake:


Great views of the needles and surrounding area.



We took a break at Iceberg before continuing up and over the Whitney-Russell Pass. More great views:


From there we lost a few hundred feet of elevation before slogging up the sand, scree, and boulders which makes up the south gully route of Russell:




At the top of the gully we arrived at a headwall with an obvious 3rd/4th class ramp. I set a belay at the top for the safety (and peace of mind) of some of the group members.




From there we traversed a couple hundred more feet on some "airy" 3rd class before reaching the summit.





Summit Group:


Birthday Girl


View of Her Majesty and the Kaweahs way in the back:


We made it down some time around 1900 and went out for swine-covered pizza. Good times.

PS: Some of the photo's, credit Bob Huey.

Good job guys! It seems there is no way of hiking that peak without a scree slogging extravaganza. I can't decide which scree slope sucks more, the south face slope or the slope above Clyde Meadow.

When you head north without a permit with a eager young lady who wants to spend her birthday on top of one of the 14'ers you had better have "Lady Luck" on your side.

We made it for the 11 AM "Whitney Zone" lottery on Friday morning looking to get one to hike/climb Mount Russell on Saturday and so did 27 other groups that were waiting at the Visitors Center on Friday morning. We unfortuneately picked #13 and #18 with no chance of getting the any of the four morning permits being released. We came back at 1 PM to be ready for the 2 PM lottery praying that (literally Tina was praying next to me as we waited) we would at least get some of the 22 permits left over from the hikers/climbers that no-showed, we were told. By 1:59 PM 2 had shown up to take theirs and 4 more had shown up at the Main Ranger Station in Bishop to get theirs. Then it was time for the second "Lottery", with 10 groups waiting impatienly and wanting in on the action. First the ranger had the three ladies standing around reach in the box and pick their numbers, then three guys quickly rammed their hands in the box to get their numbers, and then he gently turned the box my way and I gingerly reached in and pulled out "you guessed it" Lucky number 1. We were in business and I cannot discribe the beautiful smile that that put on Tina's face - her birthday wish had been granted and her prayers had been answered

Cannot begin to tell you how much fun it was to be with some very experienced climbers/hikers that knew that route very well. The combination of experience and friendly atitude by everyone made for one of the best wilderness days I've ever had. Russell is not that easy of a mountian to climb and the last section will test the nerves of anyone who's not had the chance to walk across ledges and edges with some serious exposure. I had a moment where I was ready to walk away but everyone's confidence in what they were doing made me feel very safe and reassured my ability to finish what we had come to do.

I want to personally thank Bob, Charles, Zach and Giga Mike for their great demeanor, cheerful smiles and willingness to help everyone have a successful climb of Mount Russell. Zach was great in setting up a belay for the down climb of the small "chimney" we went up and down approximately 75 feet it had enough exposure that it could have been ugly had you lost your footing or lost your grip on one of the hand holds.

I don't know if you've ever had the chace to sing happy birthday to anyone at 14,086 feet, but I highly recommend it it made for a very special day for everyone involved.

Zach, those are some great pictures, once again thanks for all your help, it was greatly appreciated.

Hope to do some more climbs like that - what a great day. Also thanks to Tina for inviting me to join her to celebrate her 30th birthday.

Great job, you guys--especially birthday girl Tina! It was fun chatting with you at the Pizza Factory.

Congratulations everyone! I'm glad you all got permits and it looks like you all had another wonderful adventure. Tina, you've really had an impressive 2010...

NICE route. Good stuff! That's true Sierra peak bagging.

Happy B-Day, Tina.

HJ

This was truly one of the best bday's i can remember (then again with my age i can't remember too much...haha)
It was great to climb with good friends and meet some new ones.
Thanks again: Zach attack, Charles in charge, Patrick, Norma, Giga Mike, Ryan B., Bob Huey, Brian and Sean.

Dave G wrote:Great job, you guys--especially birthday girl Tina! It was fun chatting with you at the Pizza Factory.

Good to see you and Phil as well.

Can't think of a better way to spend your B'Day than with your friends in the Sierra!

Glad y'all had a wonderful experience.

Outstanding effort! Congratulations!!

yep, it was a totally bitchen day! thanx Tina for having a birthday and pulling together 10 friends to climb with. what a great group of enthusiastic hikers. thanx to Zach for the belay and to Mike for the lead back down the east ridge. i can't say i liked the seemingly never-ending scree slog from Iceberg Lake over the Whit/Russ Col and up the SW chute but i can say i LOVED the scrambling once we hit rock and the decent of the east ridge. i haven't looked at my pix yet, but i hope there will be some worth posting. in the meantime...
Happy Birthday dear Tina, Happy Birthday to YOU!

What a great day! Thank you Tina for the invite and I hope you had a fantastic Birthday.

My pics:
http://www.digitalalpine.com/2010-Pictures

finally got my pix up. here are a few worth sharing...

the evening before our climb, the sun rays beam to the heavens over Russell as if announcing our anticipated hike in a few hours


Tina, Mike and Zach charged up & beaming on the E Ledges


Ryan and Patrick lead the long scree traverse to the Whitney-Russell Col


getting ready to ascend the ramp and chimney on Russell's south face


don't believe her...


...Tina loved the chimney!


the exposed east ridge makes for lots of fun scrambling! Next two photos courtesy of Bob H.



Bob and Mike at the end of the east ridge scramble


the Sierra Sapphire... beautiful Lake Tulainyo as seen from Russell's east ridge


rest of my pix are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma8 ... llSept2010#

norma r wrote: ...Tina loved the chimney!

Pardon me but this cannot be Tina. There is no designer label on that jacket. What have you done with our Tina?

norma r wrote:the Sierra Sapphire... beautiful Lake Tulainyo as seen from Russell's east ridge

Tulainyo. Heck yeah!

HJ

Awesome trip -- congratulations and Happy Birthday!