Despite the fires, I was determined to be at the summit on my birthday, and I was!
I arrived from Denver by way of Carson City, NV on Sunday July 17th. I checked in at the hostel and convinced my hostel mate to accompany me. Yay! I was worried about having someone to go with but was assured that I would find someone, and I did. We changed my permits from a one day to a two day and were on our way Monday afternoon.
First stop was the Whitney Portal Store for a famous pancake. Yum - undoubtedly the best pancake I have ever had and I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Doug for a period of time. At this point I should state, that I only started planning this adventure approximately three prior. Everything I needed to know I learned from these message boards and the Whitney Portal Store website/message boards. Very good information on all these sites - Thank you everyone!!!!
We started around 3:00pm and headed to Outpost Camp 3.5 miles in. We arrived at 6:00pm and set up camp and had a bit to eat before going to bed at 7:30 or so....My eyes were so bothered by the smoke up there from the fires in Sequoia that they wouldn't stop watering so it wasn't hard to sleep with the sun still up.
Woke up at 1am and headed out at 2am. Weather was good but we had several layers on. Snow in some places on the switchbacks but it was all definitely passable. Use caution when needed. Cables were scary, but again, passable.
Arrived at the summit a little before 10am. The wind chill up there must have been in the teens. We tried to warm up in the Smithsonian Shelter but it really was so cold. I shared part of my pancake with four others in the shelter at the top in celebration of my birthday. It was really fun to celebrate that way but, I couldn't feel my fingers despite having gloves on. I left my smartwool ones in the tent DUMB! Lesson here...bring your warmest gloves! A few pictures at the top and I was ready to head down.
We passed a father/son a little after Trail Crest. The son, 14 years old, had AMS. Father didn't quite know what to do. My partner offered to carry his pack so he could carry his son. I gave the son a couple of Tums and the Dad told me he had already given him some ibuprofen. As a nurse, I explained what was happening and urged him to get the son down, as that is the only way to "cure" AMS (they were camping at Trail Camp, 12,000 ft). He stated the son had a headache the night before at Trail Camp and he had given him ibuprofen and then he was better. I suspect the ibuprofen probably masked some of the other symptoms of AMS until it was too late. This poor kid was dehydrated, nauseated, vomiting and generally he really was in bad shape.
Otherwise, out trip down was uneventful - just long. We got to Outpost Camp at 5:00pm and packed up camp and headed all the way down to the Portal. Arrived at 7:30 - Exhausted! We even drove to get our stuff out of the bear locker cause we were both spent.
A couple of things. I heard that there were freezing temps at Trail Camp and wasn't interested in camping there which is why we ended up at Outpost. After getting there with just my daypack on I wasn't interested in carrying my 30 lbs pack up another 3 miles....something to consider. I might have also considered spending an additional night once we arrived back at Outpost Camp, but I really wanted a shower
Sharon
