Mt. Mallory and Mt. Irvine

All maps and photos

Google Photos

Weekend trip with Nolan from Whitney Portal up to the Meysan Lake area. We originally hoped to bag Lone Pine, Peak, Mt. Mallory, and Mt. Irvine, but ended up skipping LPP because of rock fall. 

We left the TH after dinner on Thursday, and hiked ~5 miles mostly in the dark up to a small lake just below Meysan Lake (Grass Lake??). We had some difficulty actually finding the lake in the dark because it was so small. And once we did find it, it turned out that the lake was too small and dirty to filter water from, so we picked out a spot along a creek near the inlet. We heard nearby rockfall as we tried to get to sleep. 

The class 2 route up LPP that was shedding boulders

The next morning we got up planning to head up LPP. As we started out, we noticed that the rockfall we had heard was coming straight down our class 2 ascent route. We opted for an easy hike around the nearby lake basin and eventually up to Meysan Lake. We scoped out the route up to the plateau between Mallory and LeConte, which we'd ascend the next day. Nolan fished with good success. 

Nolan caught about 20 fish in 20 ninutes at Meysan Lake

Starting up the route to Mallory from Meysan Lake

Above Meysan Lake

On Day 3, we got up early, hiked up to Meysan Lake again then up the Burd's class 3 route to the saddle between LeConte and Mallory. Secor's class 2 route was covered in ice. We summitted Mallory then traversed over to Irvine. As we arrived, a party of 4 women were finishing their ascent of the northeast ridge of Irvine from Meysan Lake. Though Secor didn't mention the route, we decided to descend it. It ended up being a mix of loose class 2 and class 3 with fun route finding. The party of 4 opted for that route because apparently Burd's class 3 route up from the south end of the lake (the one we chose) was also spewing rocks during the night. Fortunately, it let up long enough for us to ascend without any issue. When we got back to camp we packed up and headed back to the car.

Nolan and Mt. LeConte in the distance

Whitney Crest from Mallory

Kaweahs from Mallory

Lone Pine Peak

The bowl between Mallory and Irvine, talus field hell.

Me and Nolan atop Irvine

Glider

Whitney Crest

Starting down the northeast ridge

Williamson in the distance

Looking back up the ridgeline toward Irvine from near Meysan Lake

Almost back to the lake