Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports TR for 7-14-11, and a Thank You!

My trip report will be brief, because I want to spend time on my Thank You!

I started up The main Whitney Trail on July 12 with 2 other people. We left 1 person at the Trail Head, as she decided she didn't want to even try. (I should mention here that we were supposed to be hiking the John Muir Trail, heading north bound.) We spent our first night at Outpost Camp, to acclimate. The next day, we moved up to Trail Camp, again spending the night to acclimatize.

This section was extremely easy for me, being my 12th time up Whitney. However, another of my companions decided that he could NOT pick up his pace, spending 7 hours to make the 2 1/2 miles from Outpost to Trail Camp. At this point, I know that our JMT trip is cancelled! There was no way that he would be able to hike the entire distance. I decided to go for the summit by myself the next day while they stayed at camp.

Summit day was a breeze! It was absolutely clear, the temp was perfect, being cool enough to make you want a light jacket but not cold enough to make you shiver. The few snow fields I encountered, just below Trail Crest, were firm, not icy, and very easily crossed. A few people had used the "chutes" the day before but I did not see anyone use them this day.

I reached the summit at 12:30, and stayed until almost 2. The trip down to Trail Camp was uneventful.

Now, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who helped me with my memorial video project. My climbing mentor (Charlie Pou) wrote a poem entitled "Ode to a Mountaintop" when he first climbed Whitney in 1968. Charlie died this past year, and I wanted to honour him in some small way. So, on this Whitney summit day, I asked several people to read Charlie's poem from the summit. I am going to use all of these wonderful voices in a video montage and present it to Charlie's family.

For those of you who helped me, THANK YOU!! You will always be my friends! Your voices tell of your own tales of mountaineering, achievement, losses, and emotions. Some of you could read the entire poem, while others broke down in tears. This only goes to prove the power of words, and that you truly understood what Charlie's Poem was all about. I will send you all a copy of the video when I get it finished.

Again, I THANK YOU!!

Cheers!

Jim

Jim,

I got to the summit as you were getting ready to pack it up, so I didn't assist you with the video, though some in my group did. Will be post a link to the video on here when it's complete? I'd love to see it.


-Chris

can you share the poem with us?

Jim:

Thank you for inspiring us!

"Ode to a Mountain Top"

But could I tread in my own slow way
To some distant peak in the long past,
To look upon the Earth as it was.

The peak is the same: It will stay.
Intruding steps are not fast, they vanish away,
Leaving the peak as it was.

But the Earth is altered, "For the Good" most declare,
Though when viewed from the Mountain Top,
There is cause for despair.

The Mountain, being the same
Allows the Ones that know
to return again and again.

Relieving that pang, that longing in their souls;
Not for the Earth as Men have made it,
But as God would have it be.


Charles G. Pou
1921-2010
Written on the summit of Mt Whitney, 1968.