Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Mt. Whitney Summits & Attempts: How Many Have You Made?

Recently, I was checking out the Mt. Everest and K2 websites. Both of these websites list the number of Summit Attempts and the number of Successful Summits made each year. In Cindy Abbott's post, she recognizes the oldest male to ever summit Mt. Everest. When I was at Trail Crest 9/21/10, I met a man who said he has summited Mt. Whitney 40 times. This got me to wondering about how many Mt. Whitney summits or attempts the members of the Whitney Zone have made. If you care to share, I'd love to read about your summits and attempts. Here's mine:

3 Attempts
3 Summits
My age at each summit (Your age if you choose to share):
First summit: 28 yrs.
Second summit: 51 yrs.
Third summit: 57 yrs.

August 2008, 45 years old - One day summit attempt. Made it to trail crest. Got to TC around 1pm. We had several mishaps along the way that slowed us down significantly. Not least of which was me puking my guts up around switchback 90.

November 2008 - Dayhike to LPL with (then) 9 year old son.

July 2009, 46 years old - Three day summit attempt with my (then) 10 year old son and 66 year old Aunt. Spent the night at LPL. Bad weather turned us around before we started day 2. I didn't really expect to make the summit on this trip. but I was definitely planning on Trail Camp and hoping for Trail Crest.

September 2010, 47 years old - Solo Two day summit...SUCCESS!!

I count that as two real attempts with one success.

Lynn, 2 attempts ('09, '10), 1 summit ('10 at age 52). The goal is at least one annual summit from here on out, now that I have a pretty clear idea of what I'm doing.

The all-time modern summit leaders have got to be Bob R(ockwell) & Doug (Thompson) Sr. XXX is the number for these two, it's just a matter of what that first digit is . . .

Richard P(iotrowski) will be going for his 100th summit this coming weekend, and Jack Northam (whtnyn1) is planning his 100th summit next summer I believe. Jack is very low profile and doesn't post much, as is his wife Betsy, who I believe is in the neighborhood of 50 summits.

Jack is famous for doing multiple Main Trail doubles - up and down twice in one day. This past July when I and my family were out there, he summitted 5 times in 5 days, including 2 doubles. It went like this: Tuesday a double, rest Wednesday, Thursday a single, rest Friday, Saturday a double.

There are other regular visitors to the mountain with tons of summits that either are not members of the boards, or just keep their details to themselves. And of course the INFS and SEKI rangers - I would imagine some of the long-term rangers have got eye-popping numbers.

I've only done 3. First time was in June 2008 at the end of doing the High Sierra Trail.

Second time was on day 11 of my 2009 summer hike and I came up from Whitney Portal.

My failed attempt was in September 2009 when I did the High Sierra Trail in 4 days and I didn't have enough time to bag the summit and get down to my ride in time.

I don't think I will plan to do Whitney again though since there are so many peaks with nicer views and allot less people!

6 Attempts
5 Summits
lst summit age 17
5th summit age 70

1954 age 16, day hike badly weathered out & spent the night in a cave near the trail by Consultation Lake.
1962 Labor Day backpacking coming back from Wallace Lake, got in huge deep early season snow storm & decided not to try for the summit at JMT/Whitney Summit Trail & barely made the Portal by nightfall. (LONG DAY!!)

1955 Successful day hike Main Trail.
1958 Successful hike leading summer camp boys from JMT Crabtree Ranger Station & back to Crabtree,JMT & eventually Cedar Grove.
1965 Successful day hike backpacking from Wallace Lake to summit & down to Whitney Portal (ANOTHER LONG DAY!!)
1986 Successful run up and back on Main Trail.
2008 Successful hike up Mt Route following Bob R & two others & back down Main trail.

I say I am one for one on successful attempts. I summited on my 1st attempt in 2007 age 54. My second time up was Labor day weekend 2008. I successfully made Trail Camp in 6 hours was there by 10:00 AM.I should have gone on up to summit and back to Trail Camp as I felt great and strong.I was in excellent shape.I decided to stick with my plan to overnight at TC and summit the next AM and then hike out.The winds started picking up Saturday night. I couldn't sleep a wink due to winds blowing my shelter down and the altitude.By 4 AM the winds were blowing 60-70 MPH. I packed up and headed down to the portal. So by my reasoning it wasn't a failed attempt. I chose not to hike in 70-90 MPH winds. I probably could have done it as some did but that was not my idea of a good or safe time.
What do you guys think? What constitutes a failed attempt? I think if I had started up the swichbacks and physically couldn't make it due to AMS or fatique that would count as a failed attempt. Choosing not to go because of high velocity winds i don't considered a failed atempt cuz I know i could have made if I had chosen to go.

Rod, it's however you want to look at it. Serious mountaineers get blown off summit attempts by weather all the time - some chalk it up as a failed attempt in the math of the thing (the summit was the goal when they set out), some don't. If there's a scorecard being kept, it's your scorecard, man. That's the beauty of this type of individual endeavor - it's all yours and no one else's!

I have been on the lower trail (below the WZ) several times have used both the old trailhead and the new trailhead. My first time on the trail was when I did a dry-run day hike up to Lone Pine Lake two days before my first summit. That was where I started counting the 24 switchbacks between the John Muir sign and the log crossing, and I counted those switchbacks two days later on the way down in the dark.

Here are my times in the Whitney Zone:

July 1994 (Age 40) - Summitted in a group of 14 day hikers. My car pool passenger had leg trouble below Trail Crest and the two of us went down separately into the night.

July 1999 (Age 45) - Summitted with one other person. Several people did not reach the summit when one member of the group developed heart problems just before the final needles. That person was airlifted out of Trail Camp the next morning.

July 2000 (Age 46) - Summitted with 5 other people (including one of the people who did not summit in 1999). One person had problems coming down but was escorted by a Whitney veteran. (This was the first time I had a post-hike meal at the store).

July 2004 (Age 50) - Summitted with three other people. Three additional people in the group decided to turn back at Trail Crest.

In July 2005 there was still a lot of snow still on the trail, so the group decided to turn around before the cables. Several first timers did not feel comfortable hiking in the snow.

In October 2007, I intentionally did a day hike up to Trail Camp to view the fall colors.

Bulldog,

I like the way you think about Rod's attempt and counting it as a summit.

I have 30 summits in 30 attempts. No failures, though I once settled for Muir when I intended to climb "Whitney and/or Muir." Muir was enough with a foot of fresh snow in January.

I've been up the trail (6x), the Mountaineers' Route (11x), the North Face (1x), the East Face (9x), and the East Buttress (3x). I had a rope for the East Buttress climbs and one of the East Face climbs.

I once skied from the summit to the usual winter "ROAD CLOSED" sign, but it wasn't nearly as fun as it sounds. My fastest trip up was the East Face in 3:29 from the car. I did my first one-day double earlier this year.

Sheesh, Bob! You're the animal I'd like to be.

Oh Lynn - and speaking of doubles, Mr. Pickering's Mountaineer's Route double this past summer was amazing. Up and down the MR twice in one day - a route that many people overnight on just to complete once.

Steve pretty much summed it up: uber-mountaineer in the house.

I guess I'm not a serious mountaineer after all. It's been 7 1/2 years and 209 summits since I had to turn around. Maybe it's summit fever, but it might have something to do with living where I can pull the trigger when the conditions are right.

Let's see...

One was too many, but one was not enough...

That means I did it "at least" two times...

My secret is safe...

No one will ever know...

Just gotta...

Have fun.

Bob, I don't think even Ed Viesturs has that kind of record. That's some kinda streak you've got going!

No way.....are you kidding me??? You skied from the summit to the winter Road Closed sign??? That's insane. The Winter World of the Whitney Zone sounds like an entirely different world than the one I see in summer. All you guys sound like the guy who was messing around at the Grand Cyn yesterday and ended up falling 500 ft to his death. You guys are dare devils. I sure hope your wives don't read the posts on this website, because if they do, you're all going to be grounded till death do you part.

Gary:

Ed Viesturs does a lot of climbs that ordinary mortals like me would never dare to attempt. At least 90% of those 209 climbs were either easy, something I had climbed before, or both. I try to set realistic goals and plan my climbs so that I never have to decide whether to quit. When the conditions aren't right, I climb something easier or I stay home.

Lynn:

I began by hiking short distances in the summer. Over time, I hiked further, higher, and in the colder months. I began with easy rock scrambling and low-angle snow and slowly worked my way up to more technical rock and ice. I started backpacking in the summer and little by little gained the experience and gear to do overnight winter climbs. I've done a few stupid things while climbing, but I don't consider myself a daredevil. Yes, I like to test my limits, but I don't like telling stories about what almost went wrong. Climbing is hopefully about experience and good judgment, not big balls or super-human powers.

As for the ski down Whitney, it was a ton of work without much fun or danger. We did it in mid-March, and the trail down to Trail Crest didn't have quite enough snow. We scratched our skis on quite a few rocks. Trail Crest to Trail Camp was lousy snow. We ended up doing as many kick turns as real turns. We had heavy packs from Trail Camp to the truck. We had sections of soft snow and sections of breakable crust. It was slow going with partial moonlight and cheap headlamps. The road down from the Portal had lots of frozen boot/ski/snowshoe tracks that were a real pain. As I said, it wasn't particularly fun or dangerous, just a lot of work. But it sure sounds cool, doesn't it?

Bob

Hi Bob,

I'm in awe and deep respect of you after having read how many climbs you have made, and especially because you seem to finish every climb you begin.

Thank you for your kind response to my outlandish response to you skiing down from the summit. I've been a downhill/alpine skier all my life and I've always loved to ski FAST and the thought of nordic skiing from the summit never came to mind when I read your post. As I read your post I saw the summit in my mind as it appears to me from the backside of the windows... to me it looks like an Olympic ski jump and I pictured you flying down on your skis into the abyss or racing down the tiny trail on the backside with the cliff to your right, it seemed unbelievable. You brought out the fiery Italian side of me and I blurted my thoughts out on the WZ. I've calmed down. I'll try to keep myself in check from now on. Thanks for listening.

I hope everyone will continue to post their summits and attempts. I was really enjoying reading all the posts. I'm inspired to summit again because the number of summits I have are so few compared to others.

...and RichardP made his 100th summit yesterday. Awesome!

Pretty special. He made his 100th on 10/10/10. Amazing how that happens.