Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Mt. Whitney Solo Hike 8-11 thru 8-13

Just a note to thank everyone on these forums for providing so much helpful information that allowed me to complete a solo hike to the top of Whitney on 8/12. I had only started doing any serious hiking a year or so ago. I did a ton of reading and lurking on this forum reading all of the comments from so many gifted hikers and learning as much as I could before I started up. I also spent a lot of time sleeping and hiking at higher altitudes and really had no problems with the height other than just thin air. Even slept like a baby at Trail Camp which I was concerned I might have trouble sleeping at that altitude.

I do have a question though about a section of the trail past the JMT junction on trail crest. There are several areas where you pass some rocky outcroppings on your left (as you go up the trail). One of these which I believe was near the last of them has a spot on the trail that seemed to me to be a very dangerous spot. Just before you reach the outcropping there is a place where the trail dips down a few feet and the only foothold I could see (there was snow in the area and no footprints in other areas) is a very narrow step just wide enough for one foot which you sort of have to step down onto and back up. The problem is there is nothing but air to the left of that step and no really good places to put a pole to give you some protection if things go wrong.

I have watched the old videos by Peter Wagenleitner several times and couldn't find this step down. I realize his video of the Whitney trail is several years old but it certainly seems to my uneducated hiking skills to be a location that is a much higher risk of things going wrong. Maybe I just looked at it wrong and didn't find the correct spot to walk but I couldn't see any other way to get past. Obviously, I did do it, but wow.

Anyway, again my thanks to all of you for helping this 65 year old guy check another tick on my bucket list. It was an amazing experience and one I am sure will only get better (and more exaggerated) with time.

laguy442, can't visualize the exact spot you're referring to, but that backside of the crest does have some exposure in places. A stumble or loss of balance in the wrong spot can have disastrous consequences. I recall someone accidentally going over the side along here within the past couple of years - dry terrain, but fatal fall. Many first-timers wig out about the windows, but these have never struck me as particularly exposed (icy conditions, high winds excepted).

Could the presence of snow possibly have affected your perception of exposure? A great example of this is the long, last switchback meandering to Trail Crest. It traverses the snow chute that's used to ascend in winter conditions, rather than the switchbacks. In dry summer conditions, you probably won't even notice this trail traverse as it passes over the chute. Add a couple of inches of snow and it terrifies many.

Congrats on your summit!

Thanks Bulldog34. Funny, I had feared the windows for a long time in preparation for the hike (I have always had a fear of heights) but actually the windows weren't bad at all.

Probably just looked over the side when I shouldn't have and it got the better of my imagination.

laguy, congratulations on your successful summit. I am about to attempt my first solo day hike, and although I've summitted three times already, I'm still a little nervous. I'm inspired to read about your successful trip. For the record, I can't think of any particular difficult step either as you have described it. That whole stretch there is a little chancey, but there wasn't one particular step that stands out for me.