kellymoe
Expedition Leader
Last week we attempted a route on Mt Russell called Mithral Dihedral rated anywhere from 5.9 to 5.10b depending on what guide your reading. We hiked into Upper Boy Scout Lake at near the base of Mt Whitney and made that our jumping off point for our climb the next morning. I had the misfortune of contracting a stomach bug the 24 hours prior to the climb and was up and down all night running into the boulders to take care of business, I am sure this didn't help with staying hydrated at high altitude. The next morning we hiked the 4 miles or so to the base of our climb. As we began the climb it clouded up and began to hail a bit but as there was no thunder or lightening we decided to go for it. We made good progress up easy 5.8 and 5.9 terrain and into the heart of the dihedral. A few hundred feet of splitter crack climbing at over 13,000 feet brought me to a short off width section. After several attempts to free this section I resorted to a few moves of aid and began the section above. At this point we began to hear thunder in the distance and combined with exhaustion and dehydration I made the call to bail. It was a tough decision but a wise one. I will be back next season to finish what i started. A great climb on a awesome peak.
