By the end of Part I we were just making our way to Iceberg Lake, the last water stop until we reach the summit and head down again.
The stretch from Iceberg Lake to the summit is where this route really earns its name. Looking up from the lake it was hard for us to imagine a route to the top was even possible. What we would be doing is climbing the chute to a point known as the "Notch". To give you an idea of the route and also a sense of scale, I've drawn on a photo taken on our approach -- Whitney itself is of course the tall peak on the left.
Once in the chute, it became apparent a route was possible -- just slow going. While there were stretches where we could scramble over granite boulders which provided great footing, the majority of this stretch is made up of unsettled scree: bits and pieces of rock that would like nothing more than to shift and slide to the bottom, with you their chauffer. Of course there were bigger rocks strewn about as well, and we had to be constantly vigilant to keep them settled as they could do serious damage to people lower down should they roll (which a few of them did, of course).
I think all in all, it took us close to 2 hours to clear this stretch and reach the Notch.
For reasons relating to time constraints and concerns of safety, we opted to traverse the back side of the mountain rather than continue the Mountaineer's Route for the last 500M stretch (the most technical and exposed stretch of the route). To be honest, though, I thought the traversal was scary enough in it's own right that we might have been better off finishing with the climb. This stretch was a sea of shifting scree and boulders. At one point, Sanny grabbed a desk sized boulder with her left hand only to have it and the entire surrounding area shift roughly six inches. The three of us who were there to see this happen had a look of fear on our faces you could have seen from miles away. No, this part was really not much fun at all.
And finally reaching the summit itself, which we were all very pleased to see (even if we weren't all that happy knowing we still had a 10 mile hike to get back down).
That's Iceberg Lake that Benny is looking down at.
