The description in all the guidebooks tries to (desperately) make this route an all out scramble. The easiest way to go is to follow dirty and loose gullies on the far right of the buttress. Not sure if John Mendenhall climbed it that way on the first ascent in 1935. He was after all an amazing rock climber for his times and a true Sierra pioneer!
A much better (but technical) way is to stay on (or extremely close) to the buttress all the way to the 1st Tower. If you stay on the buttress, the climbing is 4th and easy to mid 5th class, but it is clean, steep and on solid rock.
At the BASE of the 1st Tower, go all the way to the LEFT EDGE of the tower and climb straight up the tower. It is steep but not too difficult. We roped about 100 feet of it. I thought there were some moves on the Tower, but Penelope said "easy peasy", (she followed it!!). A friend soloed the buttress a few weeks later and thought the 1st tower had some solid 5.7 on it, but either way, the difficulties are short and soon you are at the top of the first tower.
Once you get to the top of the 1st tower and the notch behind it, there are two ways to go. 1. Go left 2. Go right.. Either way it is 3rd and 4th to the summit.
See my drawn topo of the route here on SP. If you stay on the prow all the way to behind the 1st Tower, I would rate the climb about 5.6/5.7 or so, but the rock is steep and solid and climbing enjoyable. Pitty this route does not get done more often. When done as a technical rock scramble ON THE BUTTRESS, the route is quite nice. Just don't try to go the easiest way (skip the loose and dirty gullies on the far right of the buttress!).
P.S. In the summer of 2012, we found the conditions at the Trail Camp area of the Whitney Trail quite appaling. Trash, feces in bags strewn around, about 100 people trying to camp in this fairly small area, a huge mess. If you hike up the right side of the Inlet that feeds the Trail Camp lake, you'll find wonderful flat area a few hundred yards up, water near-by and total solitute. This is THE spot to camp for East Buttress!
Not sure how this may affect conditions on the East Buttress route, but a huge rockslide swept down the East Buttress/face of Mt. Muir on Sunday, late morning on Sept. 8. Haven't heard our found much in the way of news, but there is a big rock scar visible 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up the face.
My wife and I went to solo the route, so looked carefully for the easiest way. All guides show the original class 4 Mendenhall route as a line moving to the right side of the first tower (class 5 variations noted above go to the left side). There appears to be no 4th class route this way. We ended up traversing way too far right along a sloping ledge (looking for the easy way), then followed 4th class slabs and several short steps of 5.6-5.7 climbing on unstable rock, back up and left to join the ridge above the towers. Maybe we can get our route-finding errors published in the next edition of Secor's guidebook too :)
asmrz - Jul 19, 2012 8:14 pm - Voted 10/10
Route Description-All Guide BooksThe description in all the guidebooks tries to (desperately) make this route an all out scramble. The easiest way to go is to follow dirty and loose gullies on the far right of the buttress. Not sure if John Mendenhall climbed it that way on the first ascent in 1935. He was after all an amazing rock climber for his times and a true Sierra pioneer!
A much better (but technical) way is to stay on (or extremely close) to the buttress all the way to the 1st Tower. If you stay on the buttress, the climbing is 4th and easy to mid 5th class, but it is clean, steep and on solid rock.
At the BASE of the 1st Tower, go all the way to the LEFT EDGE of the tower and climb straight up the tower. It is steep but not too difficult. We roped about 100 feet of it. I thought there were some moves on the Tower, but Penelope said "easy peasy", (she followed it!!). A friend soloed the buttress a few weeks later and thought the 1st tower had some solid 5.7 on it, but either way, the difficulties are short and soon you are at the top of the first tower.
Once you get to the top of the 1st tower and the notch behind it, there are two ways to go. 1. Go left 2. Go right.. Either way it is 3rd and 4th to the summit.
See my drawn topo of the route here on SP. If you stay on the prow all the way to behind the 1st Tower, I would rate the climb about 5.6/5.7 or so, but the rock is steep and solid and climbing enjoyable. Pitty this route does not get done more often. When done as a technical rock scramble ON THE BUTTRESS, the route is quite nice. Just don't try to go the easiest way (skip the loose and dirty gullies on the far right of the buttress!).
P.S. In the summer of 2012, we found the conditions at the Trail Camp area of the Whitney Trail quite appaling. Trash, feces in bags strewn around, about 100 people trying to camp in this fairly small area, a huge mess. If you hike up the right side of the Inlet that feeds the Trail Camp lake, you'll find wonderful flat area a few hundred yards up, water near-by and total solitute. This is THE spot to camp for East Buttress!
RyderS - Sep 10, 2013 6:22 pm - Hasn't voted
Possible Route AlterationUpdate as of 9.8.2013
Not sure how this may affect conditions on the East Buttress route, but a huge rockslide swept down the East Buttress/face of Mt. Muir on Sunday, late morning on Sept. 8. Haven't heard our found much in the way of news, but there is a big rock scar visible 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up the face.
haishan - Sep 11, 2013 1:10 pm - Hasn't voted
Does "Mendenhall Route" exist?My wife and I went to solo the route, so looked carefully for the easiest way. All guides show the original class 4 Mendenhall route as a line moving to the right side of the first tower (class 5 variations noted above go to the left side). There appears to be no 4th class route this way. We ended up traversing way too far right along a sloping ledge (looking for the easy way), then followed 4th class slabs and several short steps of 5.6-5.7 climbing on unstable rock, back up and left to join the ridge above the towers. Maybe we can get our route-finding errors published in the next edition of Secor's guidebook too :)