4 days, 3 summits: Mt. Whitney, Mt. Russell and Mt. Muir in California

Why choose when you can do it all? On this tour, we will summit 3 of southern California’s 14,000′ peaks in only 4 days: Mt. Whitney, Mt. Russell and Mt. Muir. Even if you are not an experienced mountaineer, you can still join us! This tour is rated as a low, Class 4 difficulty level and is suitable for active beginners.

Despite being located only 210 miles north of Los Angeles, these mountains in the Sierra Nevadas are surrounded by natural beauty. The Sequoia National Park, Inyo National Forest and John Muir Wilderness border the peaks on all sides.

On our first day, we will meet at the Whitney Portal trailhead and make our way up Lone Pine Creek until reaching Upper Boy Scout Lake (11,300′). We will set up our camp beside the lake and spend the afternoon resting and relaxing in preparation for the following day.

From Upper Boy Scout Lake, we’ll be able to see the Alabama Hills, Death Valley, Owens Valley and the Inyo Mountains. The views from here are really quite spectacular. You can even go for a swim in the lake!

Our first summit will be on Mt. Russell (14,086′). After a good’s night rest at our base camp, we will ascend Mt. Russell via the East Ridge. Along this ridge, we will do some fun (Class 3) scrambling. Not to worry if you don’t have any prior experience – this is a great time to learn!

On our way to the summit of Mt. Russell, we’ll have views of neighboring Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. We will also catch a glimpse of the stunning Tulainyo Lake. This lake, nestled between mountain peaks high in the Sierra Nevadas, is the highest lake in the Western Hemisphere.

Once we have reached the summit of Mt. Russell, we will retrace our steps back down to our base camp on Upper Boy Scout Lake. You’ll want to get to bed early in order to be well rested for our double summit the following day.

We will ascend Mt. Whitney (14,508′) via the alternative “Mountaineer’s Route”. This lesser-traveled path to the summit will take us along trails and over rocky terrain. You can expect to climb up slopes ranging from 25-40°. At times, we will need to use both our hands and feet to climb on granite. Again, this is not technical terrain and no previous rock climbing experience is required.

Once we reach the summit of Mt. Whitney, we will continue roughly 1.5 miles along a trail toward nearby Mt. Muir (14,012′). Like the previous two summits, we use our hands and feet to traverse a steep section leading to the mountain top. From the summit of Mt. Muir, we will retrace our steps back to Mt. Whitney before descending to our base camp.

Tired and satisfied, we will spend a final night camping beside Upper Boy Scout Lake. The following morning, we will return to the trailhead at Whitney Portal and say our goodbyes.

You can find a day-to-day itinerary for this ambitious, triple summit tour below. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time.

It’s not everyday you have the opportunity to climb one, yet alone three, 14,000′ peaks in as many days. That is exactly what will do on this tour, however! Click “Request to book” to get in touch with us and reserve your spot. We’d love to have you come along on this triple summit tour. 

If you don’t have the time or energy to summit all three peaks, we understand. You can join us on this tour of Mt. Whitney instead.

We look forward to seeing you here in the Sierra Nevadas!