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Re: Planning first Whitney Hike
Bulldog34 #6997 08/31/10 09:57 AM
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Oh, fantastic! The poor station will probably get sick of me very soon.

What are thoughts of going alone for this 'scouting' hike? Depending on chances of getting 1 permit instead of 2? I'd probably only do 6-7 miles.

-David

Re: Planning first Whitney Hike
Sublatum #6998 08/31/10 10:07 AM
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Solo is fine David. The first few miles up the trail will seem very similar to what you've done at Baldy. You can also take your time to explore and kick around without having to shepherd other folks.

Yes, you'll get on a first name basis with the rangers at Bishop who man the phones, but they're used to it. Between my wife and I, I bet we called 70-80 times in July before we finally nabbed two cancellations - and that was two days out.

Re: Planning first Whitney Hike
Bulldog34 #6999 08/31/10 10:28 AM
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I'll give a perspective that is somewhere between where you are and where Bulldog is.

I have yet to reach the Whitney Summit. In August 2008 I made it to trail crest and had to turn around due to the lateness in the day. Of the four who started, only two of us made it to trail crest. And I was pretty iffy since I got a nasty bout of AMS on the switchbacks (I had to drop elevation until I felt better and then proceeded back to Trail Crest). I did one warm-up hike to lone pine lake the day before trying to summit...and that was my acclimitization effort. I didn't spend any time at horseshoe meadows to get acclimated. Altitude sickness is real and I am doing everything I can to avoid it this time.

In November 2008, my (then) 9 year old son and I did a day hike to Lone Pine Lake.

In July of 2009, my son and aunt started out on a 4 day attempt (Portal to Lone Pine Lake, LPL to Trail camp, TC to Summit to TC, TC to Portal). We spent one night at LPL and then turned around due to stormy weather.

I'm doing the hike a week from today and I am doing it solo. And I am really looking forward to doing it alone. I like the idea of going at my own pace without worrying about slowing others down or having to worry about others.

A one day summit is a long grueling hike. A lot of people talk about the downhill being harder than they thought. For me, the downhill was a cakewalk. I kept a very nice pace and rarely needed to rest. But I was feeling the uphill on the switchbacks.

I'm taking two days this time so that I can take time to enjoy the views and explore if I want to explore and socialize if I want to socialize or screw around if I want to screw around. The point being, if you are looking to summit in one day you have to have a pretty focused mindset of putting one foot in front of the other.

Of course, for some of the regulars here, they can leave the portal after breakfast and be back shortly after lunch.

The biggest thing that I can recommend is to get properly acclimated. In 2008 my training wasn't that dedicated. And I had plenty of gas in the tank to complete the hike and I assure you that I am nothing special in the conditioning department. But the altitude sickness caused enough of a delay that it prevented me from summiting. And while I was sick, I was truly incapacitated. There wasn't a question of working through it and taking the pain, I seriously had no choice but to drop elevation quickly.

Last edited by tdtz; 08/31/10 10:38 AM.
Re: Planning first Whitney Hike
tdtz #7001 08/31/10 11:22 AM
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Originally Posted By: tdtz
But the altitude sickness caused enough of a delay that it prevented me from summiting. And while I was sick, I was truly incapacitated. There wasn't a question of working through it and taking the pain, I seriously had no choice but to drop elevation quickly.


Sounds disturbingly familiar, Tom. What was that old Yogi Berra line - "deja vu all over again"? When AMS jumped me on the switchbacks in 2009, it was all I could do to safely put one foot in front of the other while descending from 13,000' to Outpost Camp. Worst headache I've ever had, roiling nausea that made me sweat, dizziness, incapacitating tiredness out of the blue - but more sleepiness than anything else. I just wanted to lay down and go to sleep and didn't much care what happened afterwards. It took every bit of determination I could summon to stay on my feet and keep going down rather than plopping down and taking an extended time-out from reality. Once I was at about 10K' - Outpost Camp - the symptoms all receded, just leaving me feeling washed out. By the time I was back at the Portal, enough normalcy had returned that I could actually handle a burger and a beer.

From the onset of the very mild headache at Trail Camp to the full-blown range of AMS symptoms was about an hour, and maybe 800 feet of elevation. I could not believe I actually had AMS after hopping around fourteeners in Colorado a couple of years before without a hint of a problem. It opened my eyes, though, and made me research the why of it. It didn't take long to realize that sleeping in Lone Pine had been the key mistake, even though I was dayhiking to around 12K' in the days before Whitney. Be-bopping around at 13K' and 14K' in Colorado while staying in a hotel still involves sleeping around 8000 feet - you would have to try really hard not to sleep high that deep in the Colorado Rockies. That's why the next trip to the Sierra last month involved sleeping a few nights in Mammoth before heading up the Whitney trail. I can't over-emphasize the importance of getting at least 2 nights' sleep at elevation before trying to tackle 14,000 feet.

Re: Planning first Whitney Hike
tdtz #7002 08/31/10 11:22 AM
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Thanks for the perspective tdtz!

I think i will try a solo trip later this month, unfortunately with my work, going during the week isn't possible, so i gotta hope for a Saturday or Sunday. Glad to hear going solo isn't that big of a deal, i doubt i will get too high in the amount of time i will be there with driving home in one day (That is a lot).

-David

Re: Planning first Whitney Hike
Bulldog34 #7003 08/31/10 11:45 AM
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Gary,
It hit me at around 13,000' too. Started as a mild headache that then turned into a pounding headache and then without warning I skipped the nausea stage and went straight to vomiting. I dropped about 400' of elevation and laid down on a sunny rock and closed my eyes and napped for a little while trying to recover. And as told on the WPS site, I was awakened by by a very sharp stinging burning sensation on the tenderonis. Something, I don't know what, went up my shorts and stung or bit me through the mesh. The resulting adrenaline rush made me feel great...if not a little sensitive below the belt.

I had taken diamox before..but it gave me mild headaches. I am going to try again this year with smaller doses and building up until the day of the hike. But if I can't deal with the diamox, I am counting on the few days at altitude to avoid AMS.

Like you, I have the fever. I am already planning another one-day summit in September and planning next year's hikes (including a MR attempt)....and all the way out to 2013 when I am planning on doing the JMT.

Re: Planning first Whitney Hike
Sublatum #7004 08/31/10 12:06 PM
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Originally Posted By: Sublatum
I think i will try a solo trip later this month, unfortunately with my work, going during the week isn't possible, so i gotta hope for a Saturday or Sunday.

David, if you can snag a reservation for a weekend day hike (by making those repeated phone calls, and paying the $15 reservation fee), THEN you can phone the Visitor Center the day before (or the Friday morning before your drive up) and if you ask, they will leave your permit in the night pick-up box for you.

On Friday evening, you could then drive through Lone Pine, pick up the permit, and proceed to Whitney Portal and spend the night in the walk-in hiker camping area, get up in the morning, and hike up as far as you want.

If you only go as far as Trail Camp (12.5k) you might be ok without any acclimatization. Or if you're genetics put you in the lucky group, you could go even higher without much trouble.

. . . .

Bulldog's and tdtz's experiences with AMS are classic! I wish every Whitney hiker could read those descriptions.

Re: Planning first Whitney Hike
Sublatum #7021 08/31/10 10:06 PM
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Originally Posted By: Sublatum
Oh, fantastic! The poor station will probably get sick of me very soon.

What are thoughts of going alone for this 'scouting' hike? Depending on chances of getting 1 permit instead of 2? I'd probably only do 6-7 miles.

-David


Going alone? On the MMWT? Maybe in the middle of January...hmmm, forget that one.

Figure the MMWT to be like either Ice House Canyon or Ski Hut Trail North. There are always peeps around.

If you can't get a permit for the MMWT, just hiking high all day someplace...Horseshoe Meadow or Onion Valley. It will be a "We're not in Kansas anymore experience". I regretted not doing this before my first trip up the mountain.

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