July 3rd - 8th, 2006 - High Sierra climbing with Dan A.
Dan A. and I finally linked up for a week of climbing in the High Sierra. The initial goal was Keeler Needle, an offwidth chossfest of ill-repute that had had Dan drooling since he was old enough to read guidebooks. It should be mentioned that Dan is a bonafide mountain man. I get to altitude and lose my appetite; Dan's swells to the size of two men. His climbing preferences, already addled, morph further to fit the surroundings. Long? Great. Wide? Even better. Loose? Sublime.
Unfortunately (?), funky weather kept us off of Keeler, but we got in a couple of high quality routes on neighboring Mt. Russell (Dan was undeterred by the stellar rock quality), and later in the week managed to claw up Dark Star on Temple Crag. Here's the Whitney area below, with Whitney the big one in the middle, Keeler the spire immediately to its left, and Russell the blob on the right (with its south face not visible).
Dan was to be the "offwidth specialist" on Keeler, and I was to be the "belay specialist". As the offwidth specialist, Dan was inexplicably interested in bringing lots of big gear on the 4000', seven-mile approach hike. Unclear how I would be helped by this, I was opposed. Dan won. The packs were heavy.
Dan on the approach:
Plenty of water at this time of year still in Lone Pine creek. I tried to get Dan to walk on the wet logs for the camera, but he wouldn't do it.
The bivy for Keeler and the Whitney and Russell climbs is at Iceberg lake, which is set picturesquely right at the base of Whitney. The Mountaineers route ascends the low-angle snow on the right side of the picture below.
Wanting to acclimatize, we first set our sights on a few of the well-recommended climbs on Mt. Russell, Fishhook Arete and the Mithral Dihedral. In the photo below, Fishhook Arete follows the right-hand line, a striking and continuous 8-pitch arete that spits you right onto the summit of Russell. Mithral Dihedral takes the left-hand line, gaining a perfect left-facing corner after a few pitches, following this for a few pitches, and then "4th-classing" to the summit for about 500 feet after the corner ends.
Fishhook was first. Dan following the first pitch. We led in blocks, with me getting the lower pitches and Dan the upper.
Dan belaying somewhere around p3 or 4.
Dan leading off around p5. The summit of Russell is visible to the left, with about 20 perfect looking handcracks splitting the face. If Russell was any closer to the road, it would be a mob-scene.
Below picture was taken at about 9am, looking back towards Whitney and Keeler. Not the perfect Sierra weather that we were hoping for. Luckily Dan climbs FAST. After leaving the tent at about 5.30am and slogging up and over the Russell col and down to the start of thc climb, and climbing 8 pitches, we were on the summit at 10am.
