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Whitney Summit 9/20
#40352 09/24/14 12:16 PM
Joined: Jul 2014
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Kyle Offline OP
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Joined: Jul 2014
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After talking about hiking Whitney with friends for several years when driving by on my way to Mammoth, I decided this was the year it was going to happen.

My initial try on July 20 ended just before the switchbacks when a lightning and snow storm hit at around 7 a.m. chasing us off the mountain. We were bummed to turn around, but as they say, the mountain will be there and there's really no reason to tempt fate.

Here are the things I learned on that trip: 1) trail running shoes are fine until you get caught in an unexpected snowstorm, 2) lightning above the treeline is pretty scary 3) people aren't kidding when they say it can get cold and snowy in mid-July and 4) when your hiking partner is getting water, make sure he uses the iodine pills and not just the neutralizer pill (he turned green and was burping like Barney from The Simpsons).

After that experience, I obsessed on the recreation.gov site looking for permits to open up, bought some proper hiking boots and rain gear and lucked into a couple of permits for September 20.

This time, I couldn't convince any of my friends to go with me and with the window on this season closing, I opted to make the trip by myself.

I arrived the day before, picked up my permit and set up camp in the early afternoon and the very nice sites Whitney Portal Ravine walk-in campground. It was only me and one other couple. The rest of the spots were vacant and it made for a very nice evening under the stars and a good night's sleep.

I woke up around 3 a.m., drank a bottle of water and half a giant Gatorade and hit the trail.

The hike up to Trail Camp was easy since I had done it a couple of months earlier. The moon hadn't risen when I started and was only a sliver after it came up, so the stars were really unbelievable. I stopped several times and tuned off my headlamp just to take it in.

Up until Trail Camp I had drank 2 liters of water/Gatorade (in addition to my pre-hike hydration) still had over 3 liters of water. In hindsight, I carried way too much water and food. On the bright side, I was super-hydrated and had no problems with altitude sickness. Last opportunity to filter water was at Trail Camp.

The switchbacks, as advertised, seem kind of endless. As I closed in on Trail Crest, the wind picked up and got colder, but the clouds in the distance looked pretty tame so I kept going.

I had met lots of friendly people on the trail and we were all sharing Peanut M&M's, Corn Nuts and Advil. Even though it was a "solo" hike I made several trail friends that I enjoyed talking with.

Past Trail Crest, the remaining 2 miles to the summit are much more difficult than I had anticipated due to the combination of altitude and rough trail. The amazing views more than made up for the difficulty of the hike, but don't underestimate that section even though there's less elevation gain.

Despite being in good shape - currently run a couple of marathons per year and do crossfit 3-4 times per week - it took over 8 hours to reach the summit. I could have pushed and gone faster (or carried less weight), but the hike was more physically demanding than I had expected. In hindsight leaving some of my extra items in my pack at the intersection of the JMT trail would have been a good idea.

As I got to the summit, clouds continued to build so I signed the book, hit the easy button and took a few photos and headed back down. Descent back to Whitney Portal took about 6 hours - making for an almost 15-hour round trip.

The Whitney Portal store had closed the grill early so I missed out on the burger and fries. I ended up driving down to Lone Pine for a burger and a beer. While I was there, the lightning and rain fired up and I was glad to be off the trail and have my fancy new rain gear remain unused.

Re: Whitney Summit 9/20
Kyle #40353 09/24/14 12:48 PM
Joined: Oct 2009
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Bravo Zulu on your summit.

Glad you made it down safely to see the light and sound show at a safe distance.


Journey well...
Re: Whitney Summit 9/20
Kyle #40356 09/24/14 04:21 PM
Joined: Sep 2009
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Great report, thanks! Congrats on making the successful hike.


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