After 18 hours of uncertainty trapped on icy mountain face, Mt. Whitney climbers are rescued

As the late September sun set on the East Buttress of Mt. Whitney, two climbers realized they were in a treacherous situation — they were stuck in their climbing harnesses, attached to the steep rock wall by ropes as the temperature plummeted toward freezing. “More often than not, people are surprised by the snow when it’s late August, early September, but we’re up at 13,000 feet and those storms can absolutely bring snow,” he said. Whitney: A perilous trek to the top of California’s record snowpack Even without much snow, the standard spring hike to Mt. The Whitney climbers set out from the base of the mountain at 1:30 a.m. on Sept. 21 with plans to summit via the East Buttress route, which includes 11 pitches, according to the incident report.