Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Whitney to Tyndall over Shepherds pass

Good Morning

So we left the portal at 2:00 AM on the 9th . As usual i awake to Tracy still in sleeping bag firing up the camp stove for an early morning packet of Oatmeal. Great have you ever really enjoyed food when you are still dreaming of lying on the beach in Hawaii? NOT me , anyhow she was spunky and ready, me something was off... not sure why but certainly not myself. We eat our packets and load packs on back , close up camper and head out. A perfect morning, our destination Whitney to Tyndall coming out over Shepherds pass 45 miles and it was going to be tough. Off we go. As we headed up we encounter some folks who had left at midnight , wow i say hope they will be okay. We are moving at our normal pace and we see another guy , who had just had a bear encounter and was near heart failure , so we talked him through it and walked slowly for a bit to encourage him to sleep at outpost camp since he had overnight gear and we were just approaching the camp. We start up the switchbacks out of Outpost I look at my watch, shoot 30 min off the time. What is wrong ? We make it to Mirror lake and it hits me. I have to lay down because my head is killing me, Tracy said whats wrong? I just need five minutes . At this point all I could think of was Back Guy and every other person i have heard about and making good verses bad decisions, so I look back and Tracy says we are going back to the truck, hoping to find that dream of Hawaii again, and fighting my pride. Really turn around? Never once have i said this.
Anyhow so off we go to the truck somewhat confused about my decision , but knowing if i get over the top of Whitney and down the backside i am in deep , and not feeling well could result in a real bad day! So now we encounter peeps as we call them one after another all asking how the Summit was I found myself speechless , as for the first time I didn't have the happy GREAT . Instead I was dead tired and head pounding, as we approached the portal at 6:15 am i crawled in my bag and out i went sleeping like a baby as did Tracy. 3 hours go by and we awake to the hustle and bustle of the day hikers and people getting ready. We decided to stay there for the day and rest and try again in there morning.
We head to the store for some of the best Eggs Bacon and Hash browns ever , as we walk through the door there is Richard P looking as exhausted as we were from his 40 mile day the day prior . We all chat hang out eat and sleep some more . Back to the store at 1:00 Pm this time for a burger and some more great company Richard, Doug, Dougy, Aimy and Miles all telling great stories of there trips up the mountain in the last weeks, Miles and Aimy telling there story of hanging off Keeler Needle for ten days straight Richard just back from a huge day and us finishing a week of Whitney, Williamson, Agassiz and San Mac lake, now headed out for a forty five mile double 14,000' peak day. I must say the company from everyone there was so perfect for a real rest day... some of the most frequent visitors of Mount Whitney. in fact Richard P is the master of the week to week Whitney summits , he being our first inspiration to do Whitney on a weekly basis and is a super great guy. Doug the store owner and his family just top notch people. We spend hours telling tails of Mountain climbing and rehydrating, dinner at 6;00 PM and back to the camper for more sleep after two gallons of pedialyte water and electrolyte drinks the body. Fed rested, and hydrated and ready with a new enthusiasm for our journey!
Day 2: we awake at 1:30 AM this time spry and normal and ready , off we go at 2;07 am we reached the summit at 6:47...thats more like it! 10 min break some baby food and off we go down the trail towards Crabtree. There were several through hikers making their way up the backside as we descended to Crabtree we continued on over to Wallace Creek, Wright Creek, then Tyndall creek, and up the backside towards Shepherds pass with Tyndall in view .
We make it to the base of Tyndall at 1:30 pm right on schedule. We had some more food and made an executive decision to drop the Tyndall climb as we wanted to be back before dark this time so we ran down the pass to our commuter truck and were happy to be there. Our journey was 42 miles in 15:25 with 10,507ft of climbing... and had a BLAST, met some super great people on the Muir trail and had the best day ever at the Portal .
Thanks again to ALL at the Portal Store for feeding us and letting us revive at the coolest trailhead in the Sierra Mountains!
Hope this wasn't to much rambling..........
MW85

Nicely done - we've all had an off day in the mountains, don't sweat it.

Wow -- all you needed was a rest day. Glad day #2 worked so well.

One question: You wrote, "...10 min break some baby food and off we go..." Do you actually carry baby food for trail snacks? If so, that's the first I've heard of it, but it makes sense, since the pureed stuff would be easy on a hiker's stomach, and the single-serving containers are small and ready to pack.

Steve

Yes, i take baby food ,easy to digest easy on the stomach and they make it in squeeze tubes that compact well after they have been consumed.

MW85

Burchey

How was the climb on LP peak?

MW85

It went sideways several times, but we made it. Met some great folks on the route as well, and the weather was beautiful. Forgot to laser you I was so tired at the top.

I was sleeping any how ,Ha next time.Glad you had an adventurous day some day i will get up that way........

Sounds like a great trip. Was there any snow on shepherd pass? Has anyone heard about forester? I'm planning on backpacking over both next week.

edit: according to mountainwalker85 there was only about "40' of snow to cross" when he went last week.

Shepherds pass has about 40' to cross at the top easy to pass without any gear forester I am not certain, but i would expect some snow. I am planning a long day wednesday doing a loop that includes Forester i WILL report back after that hope this is helpful.......

MW85

That would be great. It will be my girlfriends first time backpacking, so it would be nice to know what to expect.

Whoa! That's a mighty big pass to climb for a first-time backpack! Make sure she's packing light, or there won't be a second trip.

Steve

Yes you get to carry the weight, and she will love you for it ,and her love affair with the mountains will start , and i see many more trips in the future. Have a blast WE will get you a trail report.....I will say the south side is clear, we will check north side out.. have a great day....

Where can I get me one of those?

There is always some old guy (almost 75) kicking in with his two bits worth of opinion. Would you consider perhaps doing Kearsarge Pass as her lst backpack rather than Shepherd (which is a tough long haul) and Forester(which is a tough one right after Shepherd) instead. Once over Kearsarge you could go north to Charlotte Lake and then even to Rae Lakes area which is gorgeous. OR you could go south up Vidette Meadows area to the Center Basin area which many consider very beautiful too. Both these areas are favorites of Rosie, a John Muir Trail Veteran of many hikes and I know from my own backpacking experiences since 1948 that both these places are tough to beat. Of course if you are determined to do Forester, going south from Kearsarge would let you judge the northern condition of Forester and you could end up doing it and go over Shepherd down to the trailhead, essentially your route in reverse but starting with an easier pass, Kearsarge. Actually I was not sure where you intended to exit if you went in over Shepherd and Forester so perhaps Kearsarge was your intended exit route. If so, I still would recommend doing Kearsarge lst.

I agree with CMC2: If you ARE going over Kearsarge to exit, then reversing the route would make lots of sense. Kearsarge is far easier, since the trail head start is at 9k rather than 7k.

Yes CMC2 is correct however you look at it, this trip will be one to remember I am sure you will choose the route that works best , we will still follow up with a report on the snow conditions for you, good excuse for another pass to pass day....

mountainwalker, you're booking it dude! That's a great pace to carry for such big gains in elevation at that altitude.

I was in the Whitney area about two weeks ago. Acclimated more than I've ever done in the past, and still got a monstrous case of AMS. I was puzzled to say the least. Surprised by you too considering you're from Bishop and up there so often. Something's in the air???

Excited to be heading back to the Palisades in less than a month.

How about some picturese to accompany these stories...

2600fromatari wrote:
> Acclimated more than I've ever done in the past

I am curious: How did you acclimate on this recent trip?

The best way to view our photos is on our flickr site which is www.flickr.com/photos/mccoy_images/ or you can visit our website @ mccoyimages.com lastly our face book account @ face book. Davey mccoy we carry a camera on all trips always putting them on one or all of those sites, feed back is always welcome........

MW85

Art. Fantastic pictures from the Langley to the skiing shots. I love taking pictures and always try to capture "the moment". The pictures are always a let down when I view them at home. Your pictures make me feel like I'm in the Sierra again.



Steve, usually it's just a day either at the Portal or the Horseshoe Meadows. This time, I was able to spend a day going to Trail Peak, then sleep at the Horseshoe Meadows. Did a quick hike up to the E-Ledges the next day to lounge and take pictures, then slept at the Portal. That's an extra day for me. Last time I did half of that and had zero issues. Felt like I could run up the MR. It was so bad this time I was stopping every few steps on flat ground on the MT to catch my breath. It was unexpected, and painful.