My first full Whitney Glacier Attempt
Posted: Sat Sep 07, 2013 7:20 am
Here is a video I shot on my first (and so far last) full Whitney Glacier attempt starting from Bolam TH located at 5,600 feet. The road to the TH was very rough and rocky and the approach to the glacier very long through various cross-country terrain which discouraged me from repeating the route. However, I fell in love with this glacier and have been climbing it practically every year since then but through Hidden Valley. Unfortunately, entering Whitney Glacier just above the middle bergschrund cuts off more than 50% of excitement such as additional crevasses, rock falls and of course the bergschrund itself. All of these may not be noticeable early in the season and look more like a snowfield but be very broken up and intimidating (or interesting) in the late season. I’ve tried a few times to take others on Whitney Glacier but had to retreat even before getting down to the middle bergschrund. So I’ve been climbing it alone and never seen anyone there. This year I got the idea of starting from North Gate TH and setting up my base camp on the H/B ridge to safe some elevation and cross-country travel but the camp was too far and we (a team of five) ran out of time to complete the route. At least we climbed some interesting icefalls, Whitney Glacier Icefalls , which in fact resurrected my desire to climb both parts of the glacier again (in late season, of course). This old video (I thought I lost it years ago) reinforced my desire. I started writing a TR (not sure when I finish it) to complement the video. The video itself does not reveal what we really had to go through but shows some of the terrain, conditions and a crushed airplane . The guy who climbed with me had no previous glacier/ice experience and it was his first Shasta attempt.
http://youtu.be/3r7oPp95s6k
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r7oPp95s6k[/youtube]
http://youtu.be/3r7oPp95s6k
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r7oPp95s6k[/youtube]