Much of the rock at the Portal is white granite, with some smooth glacier
polish, fields of knobs and swirls of intruded rock. The climbing here is
on quality rock, although some rotten rock does exist.
One of the must do routes at the Portal is Bony Fingers (11a), located on
the Whale crag, some of the best rock at the Portal is on Candlelight Buttress.
The longest routes can be found on the Whitney Portal Buttress.
Ghostrider
One
of the newer routes on the Whitney Portal Buttress, Ghostrider is a modern
route, with four pitches of crack climbing and four pitches of bolted knob
climbing. The first four pitches of Ghostrider, including the 10c crux (face
climbing) can be avoided by climbing the first three pitches of Satori.
The upper four pitches consist of beautiful knob face climbing with reasonably
spaced bolts. After the 8th pitch you can continue to the top of the Portal
Buttress by climbing the last three pitches of Satori or you can rappel back
to the base of the route. Two 195 foot ropes are required for these raps.
View
an enlarged topo.
To reach The Whitney Portal climbing area, turn west at the stop light in
Lone Pine onto Whitney Portal Road. All approaches to the crags are made from
the last 1 1/2 miles section of this road.
Many, if not most of the routes at the Portal were established ground-up
and some are quite serious propositions. Please respect the first ascensionalists
and the climbing community and do not add bolts to established routes.
Please also be aware that the Whitney Portal is home to California Black
Bears and take the necessary precautions to protect your
food and vehicle from them.
Route Information to the other Whitney Portal crags can be found in Alan
Bartletts now out of print Rock Climbs of the Eastern Sierra. A new
guide to the area is currently being compiled.
