This past weekend, (8/8-8/9), I had the wonderful experience of climbing Mt. Whitney with my 17 year old son Rob. We summitted via the Mountaineers Route on Monday morning at 10:15AM. This was our first trip to the Sierra, and we were both blown away. I really wanted to do a special trip with my son this summer before he goes into his senior year of high school. I thought the significance of hopefully getting to the top of the highest peak in the lower 48 would sort of set the tone that he was ready to handle any challenge that could come his way. That probably sounds a bit silly to some, but I would imagine many of you "get that".

I only came up with the Whitney idea about 30 days ago, and as I started planning the trip I quickly stumbled across the Whitney Zone and Whitney Portal Store Boards. I created a long in, posted a question or two, but mainly just sat back and tried to learn from some of the helpful links and the knowledgeable people on this board. I soon discovered that especially due to the permitting issue, Whitney is a bit more complicated than just grabbing your pack and heading for the trailhead. I would like to thank Bob Rockwell, Bulldog, Steve, and a couple others who provided some very helpful advice on planning our trip.

As I started thinking about Whitney I was initially pulled toward the MR as several years ago I was a moderately active climber. I guess it is fortunate that I am semi retired from climbing and a bit rusty or I would have probably wanted to go for the East Buttress. After seeing the rock routes from Iceberg Lake I determined that trying to take my son up one of the technical routes would have likely been a mistake. As I researched Whitney and received advice from both Bob R. and Bulldog, I changed my mind on the MR and had decided to hike the main trail instead. They convinced me that the odds were significantly better for success on the MT than the MR especially considering we live in Florida, had never be to the Sierra before, and might not have the opportunity to come back any time soon. I started immediately calling for permit cancellations and pretty much did so every day with out luck. I would always ask for overnight MT permits, then inquire about day hike permits, and occasionally ask about North Fork permits just in case. I continued to get shut out on all fronts, but with the knowledge gained from this board went ahead and made airline reservations anyway hoping for two "no show permits" for the main trail once we got out there. I called one last time on Friday, 8/6, which was our day of departure, and went through my normal routine....nothing for overnight on the MT, no day hikes in the zone, and just by chance I asked him to check the North Fork.....bingo...they had two cancellations! I figured it was a sign, so quickly jumped on them. Unfortunately most of my route research and pre determined hiking plan had been for the MT and I was now flying out in 3 hours now with permits for the MR. Oh well, a little adventure is a good thing. I threw two helmets into my already packed gear and we were off to the airport.

We arrived in Lone Pine on Saturday morning, (8/7), picked up our permits, and headed for Horseshoe Meadows to start the process of getting our sea level bodies adjusted to altitude. We only could spare one day for acclimatization, which I knew would be cutting if very close, but it was all the time we had. Once we arrived at HM we took a nice and easy hike up to Trail Pass. We camped at HM that night, which I believed helped us a great deal. I was very worried about AMS as other than skiing in CO when he was 10; Rob had never been higher than the top of Mount Mitchell in NC, (a lofty 6,685'). Neither of us did any specific training for this trip other than what we normally do. (Rob plays lacrosse and basketball, we workout together, and I run quite a bit). It ended up that we were fortunate and neither of us had any trouble or got AMS other than I had a bit of a mild headache. After a night at HM we slept late and headed to the trailhead around 11:30. We ran into Doug Sr. on the road right before we got to the TH, which was great and gave me the chance to ask a couple of last minute questions. I set a purposely slow pace, so it took us about two hours to get to LBSL and another hour to get from LBSL to UBSL. The route finding was easy and we felt the E-ledges were straight forward and fun, (see notes at the end). The view from LBSL looking up the canyon was spectacular. We arrived at our camp at UBSL and had the place to ourselves except for two brothers, (Robert and Matt I believe from Louisville, KY & Concord, MA if I recall). Robert and Matt have made it a point to meet up regularly for backcountry trips for many years, which is pretty neat. The brothers were climbing Mt. Carillon the next day. We set up camp and found out first hand how quickly the Sierra weather can change. Our warm blue-sky afternoon quickly disappeared as the temps dropped and we were chased into the tent by light snow, hail, sleet, and rain. Nothing extreme, but it was a very quick and dramatic change. After the short storm passed, Rob and I ate dinner with Robert and Matt and enjoyed their company.

We left camp at 6:00AM on Saturday, as I wanted to avoid route finding via headlamp. Again the pace was purposely slow and steady hoping AMS would continue to stay away. The route finding on the hike from UBSL to Iceberg was again straight forward, but the trail was pretty steep. I believe it took us a 1:10 to get to Iceberg where we found a friendly family of four packing up camp who had summitted the day before. We rested and hydrated for about 40 minutes and headed up the 3rd class chute to the left of the main MR gully. I was surprised to see a fair amount of snow in the lower portion of the main gully, so going left seemed to be the way. As we made our way up the chute on the left we reached what appeared to be a bit of a dead end. I thought I remembered the route traversed right at some point to join the main chute, so I had Rob stay put while I scrambled right to check it out. I could tell this wasn't correct so I starting traversing back left about the time "Jim F" came up to us moving fast. Jim quickly showed me the obvious line, which was just 5' right of the dead end and straight up on some fun low angle rock ribs and cracks. The line was very obvious and I was not quite sure why I thought the route traversed all the way to the main gully at this point? As Jim passed us he said "you guys feel free to pass me if you want". Rob and I chuckled Jim was moving pretty fast, so that clearly wasn't going to happen. Since we were going to be directly behind Jim, I knew we should probably stay put for a while to stay out of any rock fall. However, as I watched Jim's efficient style I could tell this wasn't his first rodeo, so I had a feeling this guy knew what he was doing and we would be okay. We could see Jim up a ways in front of us the entire time, but the man never so much as dropped a pebble on us. Once we transitioned into the main chute/gully, we got our first taste of an old fashion Sierra scree beat down. We tried to hug the left wall as much as we could, but there is no way to completely avoid the scree and we found this part of the route to be the hardest and least enjoyable. We reached the notch to find Jim resting and looking somewhat concerned at the amount of ice on the final 400'. Jim explained that it looked to be a little worse than normal for this time of year due to the previous night's snow/hail/sleet/rain. Jim had obviously done the route many times, so if this guy was a bit concerned, I certainly was with my 17-year-old son in tow. Jim walked over to the base of the chute to take a closer look and said he thought that ice could still be avoided. We agreed to all three go together. I told Rob that he and I were going to back off if at any time I didn't feel good about the ice situation or the ability to down climb what we were coming up. Clearly Rob let me know that he wanted no part of bailing within 400' of the summit, but I told him that was the way it was going to be if I felt it was the least bit sketchy at any point. His safety was far more important than the summit. As it turns out, we could pretty much avoid 99% of the ice and found that once we traversed right and got past the ice, it was just picking your way up the path of least resistance up the easy/enjoyable climbing on the right side of the chute. I am not a very emotional guy, but I have to say I was close to letting my emotions get the best of me as I topped out with my son on his first real mountain. Jim also understood the moment and turned and said something really eloquent and profound to Rob. I was a bit choked up and think I could only get out a short and bit mumbled, "I am proud of you son". To see the young man who seemingly just yesterday was my little boy stand on top of Whitney and take in the sights was something I will never forget. Words can't describe how proud I was to share that moment with him. I believe it was around 10:15 when we signed the register, took a couple of photos, and enjoyed the sun on top for about 45 minutes. We said good-bye to our new friend Jim as he was heading down the MT on a long day loop, while Rob and I went back and down climbed the final 400'. The down climbing was easy if you are accustomed to down climbing, though we did have to wander around just a bit to make sure we avoided the ice.

It seems like I often have some kind of mini-epic moment when I am in the mountains, and today was no exception. About ¼ down the scree gulley, Rob said "Dad, I have a hole in my shoe and I am getting rocks inside it". I thought...yeah right; you don't have a hole in your shoe. I then hear Rob slip a little and fall on his butt. I playfully asked him what his problem was and he immediately blamed the shoe. I turned around to notice that side of Rob's left shoe, (actually an old pair of my approach shoes), had completely de-laminated and split down the entire length of his shoe revealing a 2" wide gap of exposed insole and sock. Just perfect....the shoe was toast and we had a long way to go! I grabbed my handy duct tape I always keep wrapped around my Advil container and did my best to repair the shoe trying to hold the thing together by sort of splinting it with the scree gaiter and duct tape. Since I had no idea how long this amateur repair job would hold, and how the duct tape might affect the friction properties of the shoe, I swapped shoes with Rob. We made it back to UBSL, packed up tent and bags, and arrived back at the TH about 5:00PM just about the time my left shoe complete disintegrated. As per numerous recommendations from the board, we finished the trip with two fantastic cheeseburgers, and a couple of cold beverages for Dad from the Portal Store. We also got to thank Doug Sr. for the route beta and great grub. The crux of the day was then the four-hour drive back to Vegas that night.
Again, thanks to all for their helpful advice, especially Jim F, Bob R, Bulldog, and Doug Sr. What a great father-son bonding experience for this 48 year old and his 17-year-old son! We had a great time and will be back, (with new shoes). I will probably lose my big toe nail on my left foot due to wearing the blown out shoes down the mountain, but it was well worth it.

Cautionary note to other first timers on the MR: As Doug warns in his book and many others do on the boards, the MR is not really "easy" or a beginner's route. While we were clearly first timers on Whitney, back in "my day" I used to climb a bunch, lead trad, etc. Rob was never a serious climber, but has taken several weekend climbing trips with me over the years to Southeastern crags, so we were both comfortable with the exposure and the scrambling. There is nothing on the route that requires more than just proficient scrambling skills, but there are many places where a fall is just simply not an option. If the exposure on the ledges bothers you, I would strongly advise you to turn around as the exposure on the final 400' and even in the 3rd class chute to the left of the main gully are both considerably greater on more difficult terrain. As most know, down climbing is always significantly harder than heading up, so don't make a move you can't reverse. This is especially important if you plan to come back down the final 400' and the MR like we did. It is all easy, you just can't blow it! We chose to wear helmets in the main gully and up the final 400', as I read about a recent and fairly serious rock fall event on the MR. If you are comfortable with 3rd class scrambling on "no fall" and a bit exposed terrain, can handle off trail navigation, and don't mind gaining the same 6,150' of elevation in 1/3 the distance of the main trail, (read steep)....go for it! With the exception of the scree gully from hell with a buggered up shoe, it was a great route and experience!

I will never forget my boy's first real mountain and the experience we shared together. He was strong, fit, solid as a rock, and the best climbing partner I could have asked for. I have attached a link to a few pitiful photos below, (I am apparently a better shoe fixer than photographer). Interesting....when we left for the trip, I am pretty sure I was about 1/2" taller than Rob. As you can see the photos seem to show that he is now over 6'1" and appears to be about a 1/4" taller than I am. I thought he must be standing on a rock, but that doesn't seem to be the case. What the heck do you guys have in that Sierra water? I guess the trip turned my boy into even more of a man.

Kent Williams
Maitland, FL

(hopefully this link works)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53010181@N04/sets/72157624599411735/with/4891622922/