From Alltrails
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A group of 4 of us attempted to summit this mountain as a day hike this past Saturday, July 20th. We were on the trail hiking by 3am and made it to base camp around 8:30am. One of our team members began experiencing altitude sickness on the switchbacks at 12,500 feet and couldn’t continue onward. We had them stay back at basecamp (12,000 ft), as we moved onward toward the summit. Although the switchbacks were challenging, we felt the most difficult part was traversing across the backside of the mountain once you got to the top of the switchbacks. There is a sign that says Mt. Whitney summit 1.9 miles away, but it is incorrect due to the reroute that you have to do (and we weren’t aware of). It’s probably more of a 3 mile trek once you complete the switchbacks before you hit the summit. The route actually takes you away from the summit and then backtracks you to get to the peak. At this point, still 3/4 mile from the summit, and at an altitude of 14,065 feet, a couple more hikers in our group began to feel the effects of the altitude. I personally ran out of water with still 45 minutes to get to the summit. I went through 4 liters on the way and then ran out. We weren’t planning for the ascend to take over 9 hrs, which was another factor of not refilling before we hit the switchbacks. We ended up turning around with less than a mile to the summit and finished at an altitude of 14,065 feet. It was an extremely tough decision after coming so far and being so close to the top. It took us 9 hrs to get to the point where we turned around, and another 7 hrs to get back down to the parking. Our group was all very experienced hikers and extremely physically fit. Without having more adequate time to adapt to the altitude, we were stopped dead in our tracks. I would highly recommend staying the night at basecamp (12,000 feet) and ascending the summit the following day so your body has time to acclimate. We only had single day permits so this wasn’t an option for us. I’d also recommend starting at either 1am or 2am at the latest if you want to get back down to your car in daylight. We started at 3am and didn’t get back to the parking lot until 7pm...and we stopped 45 minutes from the summit. Make sure you top off your water at the basecamp before the switchbacks because it’s still a long ways to the summit and you don’t want to run out like I did. My hat goes off to all of you who complete this feat in a single day!
