Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Mt Whitney mid-May solo

Hi all,

I'm after a bit of advice. I'm in California for a couple of weeks in May and have obtained a day hike permit for Whitney on 19th May.

I was wondering if attempting a solo day hike in mid-May on the main trail was too ambitious? I'm comfortable with crampons etc and I was planning on doing a couple of acclimatizing hikes for two days before.

I'm travelling over from the UK so will not have the kit necessary to spend a night at trail camp.

Thanks

It can certainly be done, and often is. You will probably need ice axe and self-arrest skills. Other important skills include setting a turn-around and sticking to it. Good plan to hike high for a couple of days: sleep as high as you can comfortably as well.

Michelle, I won't be as positive as saltydog. It may be possible, but only for a few.

Whitney can be done as a day hike hike when the trail is nearly snow free, but in mid May, that won't be the case. You will have maybe a third of the distance through snow, though there will be tracks through it, so much of that will be consolidated.

You can do it if you are in really great shape -- if you hike regularly and are in top aerobic condition, then you have a fair chance of making it. If your condition is less than that, you should go, but as salty recommends, stick to your turn-around time.

You will want to get a super early start -- 3 or 4 AM might be good.

Do not worry about permits -- mid May is so early that few people will be hiking, due to the extra snow.

Thanks very much for the advice Steve C and Saltydog

Would you be able to help with timings?

If I started at 3am what time do you think I should aim to be at the bottom of the 'chute' by the switchbacks, be at the summit and turnaround if not successful?

Steve is right: I did not mean to be overly optimistic about the summit prospects. You can still have a great hike: that's why I emphasized the turnaroud: more likely than a summit.

If your first time on the trail, I would err on the side of caution and make every effort to be no higher than Mirror Lake by sunset. There are some very tricky turns above Mirror that have been missed in the dark with bad results. I would also not assume that you will be moving a lot faster downhill than up, until you descend to Mirror, so you may just want to cut your time from start to dark in half, and set your turn around time for say noon. You also do NOT want to be on the chute after it has iced up again in the afternoon, so an earlier turn around than you might expect would be called for for that reason as well. Others can give you better specific turnaround advice, but these are the major considerations that I would be aware of.

If you leave at 3 AM, and if you can reach Trail Camp in 4 hours, you will be on a great schedule. An hour later would mean your progress is likely to make you late to the summit, and maybe consider turning back at Trail Crest.

In summer, a person in good shape can make the summit from Trail Crest in one hour, but it took Shri S. 3 hours on April 19! So it really depends on how well you move over the snowy or icy path to the summit.

That's a good place to start with the planning.

Thanks guys!