Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion How safe is leaving food in bear boxes at TH?

Hi,
> At what altitudes have you run?
I ran Horseshoe Meadows to WP last year. 8 hrs day 1 to upper crabtree, 7 hours day 2 to WP via the summit - total elapsed times so include lunch breaks, summit photos etc. I live at sea level, but have experience trail running so whilst I'm rarely acclimatised I am used to how my body performs at altitude - I think 10k ft takes 40% off my performance. [can post a TR is there's any interest - I'd figured it was a bit short to be interesting!]

I have 3 food supply options:
1) Take 2 bear vaults (2 people x 9 days). Heavy and bulky, but not impossible.
2) Take an ursack for the first 4 days, bearbox @ rock creek (on night 3) to get round SEKI Ursack ban. Bear canister then only required for last 5 days. I had previously ruled this out, but now have an email from Inyo confirming Ursacks are legal (after 4 phone calls/face-face discussions stating they were not!). However, I recognise that Ursacks are an imperfect solution.
3) As in my original post - leave what won't fit in the bearvault at the trailhead, run back after a couple of days to collect that excess food and carry it to the bearbox @ rock creek & replenish what's in the bearvault.

Thanks for the suggestions/comments,
Brit