East Face (Mount Whitney)

The East Face of Mount Whitney is a technical alpine rock climbing route[1] and is featured in Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.[2] Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States.

Photo of Jules Eichorn, Norman Clyde, Robert L. M. Underhill and Glen Dawson taken the day after the first ascent.
East Face of Mount Whitney
East Face of Mount Whitney seen from the Whitney Portal.
LocationHigh Sierra, California, United States
Coordinates36.57860°N 118.293°W / 36.57860; -118.293
Climbing AreaMount Whitney
Route TypeTrad/Alpine
Vertical Gain1,000 feet
Pitches13
Rating5.7
GradeIII
First ascentRobert L. M. Underhill, Glen Dawson, Jules Eichorn, & Norman Clyde, 1931.

The first ascent was on August 16, 1931, by Robert L. M. Underhill of the Appalachian Mountain Club, and Sierra Club climbers Norman Clyde, Jules Eichorn, and Glen Dawson.[3] By the standards of climbing in California at that time, the route was considered very exposed, especially the famous Fresh Air Traverse.[4] Steve Roper called this route "one of the classic routes of the Sierra, partly because of its spectacular location and partly because it was the first really big wall to be climbed in the range".[5] Porcella & Burns wrote that "the climb heralded a new standard of technical competence in Californian rock climbing".[6] Underhill himself commented that "the beauty of the climb lies chiefly in its unexpected possibility, up the apparent precipice, and in the intimate contact it affords with the features that lend Mount Whitney its real impressiveness".[7]

References
  1. High Sierra Climbing, by Chris McNamara, Supertopo LLC, 1st Edition, March 2004 ISBN 0-9672391-8-4
  2. Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. pp. 277–281. ISBN 0-87156-292-8.
  3. Roper, Steve (2008). "The Whitney Region". Above All: Mount Whitney + California's Highest Peaks. photographs by David Stark Wilson. Berkeley: Yosemite Association and Heyday Books. ISBN 978-1-59714-107-9.
  4. Croft, Peter; Wynne Benti (2008). "Chapter 1". Climbing Mt. Whitney: The Complete Hiking & Climbing Guide (3rd ed.). Bishop, CA: Spotted Dog Press. pp. 99–104. ISBN 1-893343-14-6.
  5. Roper, Steve; The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books; 1976) ISBN 0-87156-147-6
  6. Porcella, Stephen P.; Burns, Cameron M.; Climbing California's Fourteeners: 183 Routes to the Fifteen Highest Peaks (Seattle: The Mountaineers; 1998) ISBN 0-89886-555-7,
  7. Roper, Steve; Steck, Allen (1979). Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. ISBN 0-87156-292-8. page 279
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