Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Nov. 12 Summit?

Greetings All,

I've been reading through the forum and have obtained some great information from you all. Thanks! However, I've come to all with an ambitious itinerary and wanted to hear your thoughts.

Long story short, I was going to head up to Denali this week for my birthday but, my friend who is a Denali guide said it wasn't a good time to visit AK or Denali (soft snow) and suggested I hit up Whitney instead. Thus here I am trying to rapidly plan a hike.

Experience Brief: Made summit of Mt. Elbert and another 13er in CO last winter and did Shasta this past May. Experienced winter camper but no expert. Fit marathon runner.

So I'd like to summit Whitney on my Birthday, Nov 12th (the big 3-0). I work until 830pm tomorrow (Tuesday) night. I was going to pack up and hit the road around 500am weds and drive the 6.5 hours to Lone Pine from San Fran. Grab lunch, wilderness pass, crampons/poles, fuel, and then hit the trail. I know it's dark early but I was hoping I could maybe still hike the last hour in the dark to Trail camp. Is this possible and safe enough? I'd set up camp in the dark, eat an MRE, and pass out. I was thinking to then wake around 2-4am to summit on my birthday then make my way back down. Or wake up with the sun, summit, then camp another night on the mtn.

Is this doable given the current conditions on the mountain? I know I'm overlooking some factors besides weather, rapid accent, energy, pack weight, and trail conditions....what else should I consider?

-Jarrett

This is sure an ambitious challenge!

While the weather forecast is on your side, and they say there is only a small amount of snow predicted from the current storm, they could be off the mark. So you won't know for sure how much fresh snow you will encounter.

If you get all the way to Trail Camp, you will be spending a freezing night. An ice axe might be required to get water from the pond at Trail Camp. You might think about camping lower: Outpost Camp. That still puts you in reach of the summit.

In fact, the big unknown is how your body will react to the altitude. (were you ok on Shasta?) You will have effectively no acclimatization (consider getting a Diamox Rx). You might get lucky and be ok, or it might hit you like a truck. Being in great condition makes no difference, in fact, it allows you to get higher faster, which might result in worse AMS.

Ice axe is recommended for the worst spots: Snow is piling up in drifts a few places, so you will be trying to side-slope some steep spots. Review ice axe use: see this post for links.

Make sure you know where the trail goes. People can really get lost in the snow.

And finally, make sure you don't get in too deep. The mountain will always be there for another trip. Good luck!!

Thanks for the advice Scott! Sounds like I'll shoot for outpost camp instead and keep a close eye on the weather forecast and mountain cams.

I have diamox and use it on most accents. I was fine on Shasta and Elbert. Good looking out though.

I have an ice axe and will be renting any other technical gear I may need. I'll review the ice axe post though. Never hurts to refresh ones knowledge.

When I stop by the ranger station in lone pine I will review the trail with staff there. If things get sketchy I'll just turn around and enjoy my time on the mountain.

Updates will follow on conditions once I get there.

Visitor Center staff aren't always the most knowledgeable about the trail, so don't count on them. I hope you are have a map ready to go!

The last storm on the weekend dropped 36 inches on Mammoth Mt, with 20 inches down at 9600 feet.

Going to be a rather sketchy trip to the top of Whitney this week, especially if you don't know exactly where the trail is.

The peculiar thing about Mammoth is that it is in something of a geographic funnel, so it receives way more snow than other places. From the look of the Whitney webcam, the predictions of only a few inches appears to be right.