Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Badwater to Whitney MR Duathlon

Hello All,

My name is Eli, and I am interested in attempting the Badwater to Whitney MR Duathlon this year. I am posting this with the hope of determining if late April is a reasonable time to attempt this route, as I do not have a reservation. If I can acquire a reservation through the unreserved selection I may do so, but I generally want to avoid trying to select a date so far out for a route in which conditions and weather matter. I would prefer to ascend Whitney using the Mountaineer’s Route for the following reasons:

1. I love snow climbs, and if I had to pick any way to ascend Whitney alone, it would be that route.
2. 132 mi of cycling in Death Valley in the summer is not ideal, to put it mildly.

I am putting in considerable effort to make sure I am fit enough to attempt such a challenge among others planned, and if needed I will responsibly decide to postpone this attempt until Spring 2022. I will also be conducting significant research into the route itself and the execution of the cycling, as well as likely enlisting the help of one of my friends to stay “on-call” in the desert to assist in the event of heat complications.

To provide a little background information about me in the interest of demonstrating why I think this is a responsible challenge for myself: I am a Colorado 14er Finisher, with several couloir snow climbs under my belt to bolster that resume. I know that the standard list of Colorado 14ers are not as technically challenging as those of California, but I have also soloed up to 5.4-5.6 alpine routes - one of which was included as part of a 26 hr, 30 mi, 17k vert multi-peak day-trip from the car. I have completed several very large days (30+ mi, 10k+ vert) in the Colorado mountains, including a 24 hr, 32 mi, 19k 12-peak circuit that had never been completed before. I have also bike-packed across a majority of Washington state.

In a typical snow year in Colorado, I look to complete snow climbs in late April – early June depending on the aspect of the climb itself and of course conditions. How does this compare to the best windows for Whitney? Given that the MR is a western aspect, will late April be too early and I should look more seriously into reserving a permit for mid to late May?

Thanks!

Based on the resume you provided, this should really be a walk in the park, unless you are trying to break the FKT for this. The weather in Death Valley is going to be hot really no matter when you do this if you are doing it between May and September. If you are trying to solve for the easiest conditions, I would start the bike ride shortly after sunset (~8pm or so) such that you are arriving at the top of Whitney Portal around sunrise (assuming you are a moderately fast cyclist). This way you will summit around 12pm (give or take depending on fitness) and down off the top in case there are any T-storms.

As for the permits, you can take one of three approaches:
1) Get a permit well in advance and plan accordingly.
2) Be a bit more ad hoc and look to find a permit when you see one available on the site
3) Don't get a permit and risk it (less of a risk if you do the MR)

As for route choice -
Personally my preferred route is up via the MR and down via the MWT. Climbing the MWT after a 8-10+ hour bike ride sounds horrible, and descending the MR after 12+ hours of exertion seems horrible too. Based on my read of the snowfall accumulation this year (https://cdec.water.ca.gov/reportapp/javareports?name=PLOT_SWC), I would estimate that the MR will be snow free by the end of July (assuming you take the scramble on climber's left on the gully and take the class 3 section on climber's right on final 400).

Hello, Eli. I did the Colorado 14ers in the 90s, all in summer or fall. I’ve also climbed all over the Sierra. We should speak the same language.

When the Mountaineers’ Route is dry, it involves a lot of class 2 and 3 rock, with the “Final 400” being solid class 3. It’s probably no big deal for you. In April, there will be a lot of snow, and you may find ice on the Final 400. You know better than I do whether you belong on snow-covered class 3 rock with boots, crampons, and an axe.

Snow conditions could be anything in April: mush, breakable crust, firm pack, a little powder on top of whatever is underneath, all of the above, etc. Ben is right. You don’t want to start up late in the day, when the snow could be mush. On the other hand, this is a relatively dry year. Here is a trip report from April 2019. I hope this helps. Post again if you have specific questions.

Thanks for the response BFR. That was almost my exact plan for the bike ride to take advantage of the cooler night temperatures. If I can line that up with a full moon that would be ideal, but I'll have to see based on scheduling. I appreciate the advice on the permit options. I'm not familiar with the likelihood of acquiring a permit through the harvest season, so I was erring on the side of attempting this before quota season - hence the late April tentative target date.

Okay, thanks for your suggestion about the route direction. As I do more research on the route in snow, I'll probably get a better idea of whether descending the MR sounds reasonable. And you already did a portion of my homework by linking the CA SWC plot I know how to find Colorado but hadn't quite poked around for California's. As bobpickering mentioned above, if the snow is more of an ice/mixed condition by late April there's a fair chance I will just wait for that to melt out for the top portion, and enjoy the snow further below. I do love a good snow climb straight to the summit.

Thanks for the response, bobpickering. I appreciate your insight given our shared experience in Colorado. I usually tend to stick to this general rule of thumb for steep snow lines: solid freeze at tree line the night before, be off East aspects by 8-9 am, South by 9-10 am, West by 10-11 am, North by 11-Noon. So unless things are substantially different than Colorado, I would hope the snow is still fairly agreeable in late April compared to mashed potatoes. Consolidated lines in crampons/axe is pretty manageable on Colorado class 3 even if I pucker the whole way, but ice/mixed conditions on California class 3 does give me pause. Thanks for the advice. Thanks for the link to the Trip Report!

TieDye, The mountaineering guide services lead groups up the MR often during March & April. They rope their clients on the MR, but most independent groups don't. This being a low-snow winter, you can probably go earlier than normal years. The Ebersbacher Ledges should be useable early, just not sure how early.

Getting a permit in April is easy since it is before the quota and lottery. In May, and even early June, there are always noshows for people who got a permit in the lottery. But I'm not sure if or how the no-shows permits might be made available. Everything is going online more and more, and making the noshows available online is something that they are working on.

I don't recall reading about anyone doing the duathlon you are working on. It's got to be a monumental effort! I once thought riding 100 miles in a day was huge, but now I know two guys locally who have completed double-centuries. Good luck, and we'd sure like to see a report afterwards.

Hey All,

Just wanted to provide an update that I decided to forego this attempt for next year. I took a new job in late February, and April really snuck up on me. Between the permit acquisition, having enough PTO, and not feeling ready from a fitness standpoint it's just not the year. So this is now a very high priority for Spring 2022!

Thanks everyone for the replies, and I look forward to sharing the results of my adventure next year!

Eli