Iceberg Lake — Oct. 4–5, 2025
I’ve wanted to visit this high alpine lake below Mt. Whitney since I first saw a photo of it on a trip report of the Mountaineers’ Route. I’ve already summited Whitney once via the JMT and wasn’t interested in doing the Mountaineers’ Route, but this lake definitely piqued my interest: nestled beneath the towering spires of Whitney and its sub-peaks arranged in a perfectly symmetric manner. On the first weekend of October, I finally made this trip happen.
Iceberg Lake is just four miles from the Whitney Portal trailhead but packs a whopping 4300 ft of elevation gain in that short distance. At 11AM, I set off from the trailhead and quickly peeled off from the Whitney Trail to head up the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek. Before I knew it, I was at the base of the fabled Ebersbacher Ledges — a system of ledges on the north side of the creek with considerable exposure and some scrambling. Or at least that’s what most of the trip reports I’d read said. It can be a bit hard to contextualize these reports with the writers’ experience level, especially since the Mountaineers’ Route draws a large number of climbers by virtue of it being on Mt. Whitney.
Accessing the Ebersbacher Ledges starts with a steep series of scramble steps over very stable rock and tree roots. There isn’t any exposure on this part but you’ll absolutely be using your hands. Once on the actual ledges, it’s a combination of simple walking interspersed with easy, short scramble moves. The ledges are actually quite wide (several feet wide) so if you don’t like exposure you can simply choose to stay away from the edge. The scramble moves felt like class 2 to me and had no exposure since they generally only took you up 20 ft at a time. A fall from the edge of the ledge (especially the first ledge) would absolutely be fatal but you really shouldn’t ever have to get close to the ledges.
The next part of the route went over wide open granite slabs followed by a faint bootpath through talus. The last part before heading up to Iceberg Lake involved going around a buttress and up a gully. This part featured some light scrambling. I couldn’t see Whitney for most of the hike but was finally standing face-to-face with its east face. I found a wind shelter in which to quickly pitch my tent before heading over to the lake to filter water and try and get some shots of the reflection on the lake’s surface. Unfortunately, the wind picked up overnight which ruined the prospects of getting the sunrise reflection show I wanted.
Overall, this was a fun hike and I’ll definitely be going back next summer in my quest for the perfect sunrise photo.
—Justin
