Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Mineral King to Whitney Portal

Chris B: Enjoy the family. They're even more important than the mountains. There can be long gaps between hikes with kids and jobs, etc.

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Mineral King to Whitney Portal, July 2014
Day 6 - 7
Day 6 was my big climb to Discovery Pinnacle from Crabtree Lakes. Looking at the map and calculating, I knew it was a relatively short distance, only the elevation gain was considerable: starting at 11,300, climbing to 13,500 at Trail Crest.

Since I planned to stay on the summit overnight, I needed enough water to drink on the climb, and then several quarts at for the overnight. I was only carrying a quart bottle and a 20 oz Gatorade bottle. These started full, and I consumed them during the climb. But I also carried four quart and several gallon Ziploc bags. I filled the quarts, placing two in a gallon bag, then double-bagging the gallon bag. The plastic zippers may leak, so the gallon bags were essential. Two quarts went into the top of my Ursack cylinder, and two on top of that. I didn't lose a drop. On the climb, I drank only 3 pints in 6 hours of climbing. I felt fine, but it took another quart at the summit with some electrolytes and Kool-Aid before all systems were "back to normal."

Yellow Columbine along the climb. There were many of these at Sawtooth Pass, too.


I started the climb at 10:30, and went too high too soon. Along the way, I found footprints going up so I followed, only to top out at a window between Mt Hitchcock and Discovery Pinnacle. I then had to descend and traverse over bouldery terrain more than half a mile. It would have been much easier had I stayed lower to cover the eastward distance before climbing. If there is ever a next time, I'll head to the upper Crabtree Lake, then head westward to about 12,400', then switch back northeast to climb to Discovery Pinnacle.

I stopped for lunch about 2 PM at an overlook just short of Discovery Pinnacle. It was a high-altitude Sky Pilot garden, with the flowers' sweet smell in the air.


Here's a picture from Discovery Pinnacle. Mt Muir, the needles, and Mt Whitney.
Note the Mt Whitney Main Trail down in the corner.




Moving on to the hut, I encountered another lady walking up (at 3:30 pm). Talking to her, she said she was ready to turn around, but her 22 y.o. daughter was up ahead gunning for the summit. I told her I'd go on (and carried a bottle of water for the gal), and she could sit at the junction and wait (and nap -- they had been on the trail since 2 AM!!) I did my best to keep up with the kid, still carrying my 25+ lb pack. We reached the summit by 5 pm, I snapped several pics for her, and she hurried off to meet mom. They would probably return to Whitney Portal about midnight. I'm wondering how they did. I think I convinced the kid to stay in a motel in Lone Pine, telling her there were at least 5. She was first talking about driving all the way to So.Cal. after the hike.

I had enough time after that, so I descended the "Final 400" section of the Mountaineers Route, and then tried the "Easy Walk-off" alternate route to the summit, from the MR Notch. That will be a separate report.



Sunset from Mt Whitney


I set my alarm for 5:30 so I could see the sunrise. About the same time, I heard hikers arrive. It was cold, but beautiful.




I left the summit at 6:30; the trip down was uneventful. This marmot was sunning above Trailside Meadow:


This hiker had carried his Ukelele on the JMT, so I recorded his playing on the summit at dawn.



                    A fitting end to an epic hike -- both his and mine.