Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Thanksgiving at Trail Camp

Hey Ed - great points.

1. No AMS symptoms that I noticed (other than general tiredness and shortness of breath from the exertion...probably could have taken it a bit slower), and I didn't take meds - sleeping at the Portal campground the night before definitely seemed to help. I was also in good health/spirits and drinking a few liters of water a day in the week leading up to the trip, which definitely didn't hurt.

My decision to turn back was purely based on my comfort level with the conditions that were being reported up at Trail Crest with deep snow and slick conditions where the runout was bad - I decided to take the other hikers' word for it and didn't feel like ascending further just to come to the conclusion myself. The conditions (wind, temperature) got a little better shortly after the sun came up, and I never felt particularly at risk during my ascent up the switchbacks.

2. I consider myself in pretty good shape - I try to work out/run a few times a week and generally do a lot of solo backpacking at elevation with a relatively heavy load. In the last year or so I've done multi-day trips through Yosemite, Grand Teton, Sequoia, and Denali NP (not a Denali ascent). The Yosemite and Sequoia trips have included November-February visits with the same gear, so I had experience with the same level of conditions as last weekend (otherwise I would have been pretty hesitant).

EDIT: I should also note that I did a Whitney trip this past May with some friends - the snowpack was still insane from the record winter, and the trip involved a fair bit of crampon travel. My trip out to Grand Teton NP this past July also involved a bunch of crampon/axe travel up the Middle Teton glacier/winter route to the Lower Saddle at ~12,000' due to similar record snow last winter (probably something like 1000-1500 vertical feet over a few miles).

In general I feel like I have a pretty healthy outlook on risk assessment (and a relatively low risk tolerance when I'm traveling alone), so I wasn't worried about being able to call it and turn around if I felt uncomfortable (which I did) - though definitely agree that it's not always straightforward to identify and evaluate all the risks once you're out in the thick of it.

Definitely agree/recommend that other hikers make an honest assessment of their experience and comfort level, plan for contingencies, and listen to their bodies/gut when they're out there - and don't let your ego get in the way of being honest with yourself when you probably don't have the experience to do something safely.

-Matt