I awoke at 5:45am just as light began to appear over the White Mountains in the East. After a quick breakfast of Oatmeal, I finished packing up my daypack and headed off for the chute from which part of the Meysan inlet flowed, 6:45am. The climb up to the Class 2-3 rocks in the chute was a mix of gravel and loose rock. Once I reached the series of rock ledges the terrain became much more solid and was easy climbing up to where the chute opened up onto the LeConte/Mallory plateau. From the top of the chute I took a Southwestern heading toward the base of the LeConte cliffs. After a short scramble up to the base of the cliffs I dropped about 100ft down the West Side of Mt LeConte to where the Northwest chute opens up. After a short climb up the chute I encountered the waterfall pitch, which is a fun little climb(the left side is the easiest). From there it is a very short scramble to the summit of Mount LeConte. I reached the summit, my first of the day, around 8:50am. After a short snack break I took off back down the chute for the traverse over to Mount Corcoran. About 50ft above the waterfall pitch I left LeConte’s Northwest chute and traversed South along a ledge across 2 small ribs into another large chute. In this chute a 150ft slide down some loose gravel brought me to another ledge that traverses across several ribs slowly dropping down until I reached a large open chute that branches out several times near the top. This is the chute that leads to Corcoran’s North Notch. It is an easy scramble up this chute, just remember to stay to the right as it branches. As I neared the top the chockstone appeared in front of me, a several ton boulder lodged 12ft above the ground marks the exit at the North Notch. Then after a short traverse south, I navigated some tricky Class 3 boulders to the traverse south to the Southwest side of Mount Corcoran. After the short traverse I scrambled up the wide chute that leads up the Southwest side of Mount Corcoran to the summit. I reached summit number two around 10:05am. After another short break to take pictures and sign the logbook I headed back down for the traverse back to LeConte. Luckily I left many ducks along the route so heading back was a little bit easier. I reached the base of the LeConte cliffs at 11:30am and decided this would be a good time to stop for lunch.
After a short lunch of energy food I headed off on the long gravel/boulder slog to Mount Mallory. The climb up Mount Mallory was very uneventful, but very tiring. I reached summit number three at 12:25pm, took a few pictures, ate some more food, and signed the summit book. I opted for the quick direct route to Mount Irvine, the descent down Mallory’s North ridge. After a short down climb on the right(East) side of the ridge the plateau forced me left and down onto the West Side of the North ridge. The rest of the route down follows some fun Class 3 rock just west of the spine of the North ridge. As I neared the bottom I encountered the infamous chimney on the North ridge that is formed by a 15ft leaning slab. At the base of the North ridge is a small pillar of rock, after traversing around this I decided to drop down a Class two gravel slope to the South slope of Irvine. Here fatigue began to set in, as I pushed my muscles up the slippery slope to the summit. Mount McAdie, which was planned as a bonus mountain, was definitely going to be out of the question. I finally reached the summit of Mount Irvine at 1:35pm. I took several more pictures, signed the summit log and headed back down. The way down flew by, since I was able to almost gallop down the sandy/gravely slope. It only took 15min to reach the top of the East Chute, which leads down the North side of Mount Mallory’s East Ridge. This was the quickest way down, but by no means the most fun. The chute was a nasty mix of loose rock and gravel, and it was very steep. Several times I had small boulders roll over my ankle/foot. I do not recommend this route, because climbing this chute would be very tedious and just may zap your energy. At 2:45pm I reached the edge of Meysan Lake; exhausted, hungry, and ready for a long rest. I laid down in the shade of a large boulder on the South shore for an hour, content to not move for a while. After a second rest in camp I packed up camp around 5:00pm, just as the sun set behind Mount Irvine. I ate a quick dinner, and decided to move halfway down the trail in order to be out early the next morning, but also not wanting to return to civilization quite yet. The original plan was to attempt Mount Russell and Mount Carillon the next day if my body would permit me to do so. I reached a large bench that overlooked Little Meysan Lake around 6:20pm and decided that would be a perfect place to camp. I set up my gear and sat down to a nice view of the Owens Valley below. I fell asleep around 9:00pm as darkness set in. Another early start found me awake at 5:45am again, but this time off on the trail at 6:00am. After a short amount of hiking I realized that my body was not going to allow me to climb Russell on this trip. So after a quick hike out I decided to end this trip with one of the famous Whitney Portal pancakes(about 10” in diameter).