Mt Whitney Zone Forums Thread Like Summary - Seeking Tips, Gear Experience, Advice

Greetings! Long time reader first-time poster. I'll try to summarize as much as possible to keep this short.

My wife and I attempted Whitney earlier this year, we made oodles of mistakes which we've learned from and are addressing/improving/training more for. We greatly underestimated the initial hike from Portal to Trail Camp which sapped me of my energy, and the next day we decided to just come back down (which also felt like a 100-mile trip in itself). We're on the older side and despite having hiked hundreds of miles in the past several months in preparation, we weren't carrying much weight nor were we doing the uphill (now being addressed with rucking backpack walks and thousands of step-ups).

This past weekend we strolled out to Bishop Pass and into Dusy Basin. Despite my wife previously experiencing zero issues at trail camp earlier in the summer, she got hit with extremely bad nausea just after the pass and couldn't hold down water. We descended enough to get it under control but it has made us extremely hesitant about trying to reach 14,500 after what just happened. We hydrated like crazy for days before/during, had diamox in our possession, had taken ibuprofen, but the vomiting was pretty concerning. I realize sometimes it just happens and there's nothing we can do and won't know until we go.

Two questions:

1) Some hikers we met had suggested carrying oxygen. I've done the Google searches, I've read the reviews, but it seems the "Boost" oxygen gets all the attention yet a lot of the reviews have me skeptical. I'd much more trust testimonials from experienced hikers in these forums. If you have a brand you've used and trust, I'd love to hear about it.

2) Like most of us at altitude, my appetite is gone at 12,000 feet. If we make it to trail camp without sickness and make that next-morning push to 14,500, I'm curious how many calories many of you try to consume. For example, I usually can go a great deal with a simple PB&J and Granola Bar, but I had a complete energy sap again just after 5 miles (and this was descending on the return trip from Dusy Basin to South Lake). I know it's common to continue snacking on the way up, I'm just curious if you load up on a breakfast calorie bomb at 2am before heading up.

I ask about the food because I struggle with coming out of my comfort zone. I initiate many hikes from my home in the early morning where I have the luxury of a normal breakfast, having slept in a normal bed - so starting from trail camp trying to reach Whitney is less of a physical challenge and more of a "become a hiker and stop needing to start from home" challenge. If I thought I could do the 22 miles all in one day coming from the comfort of my home, I'd attempt it, but there's no way I'll ever be able to do that. Those of you who have, my hat is eternally off to you, you are true warriors.

Any advice would be appreciated and definitely will be utilized!

Thank you.

I mentioned earlier this summer I'd be back with a hopefully positive result, and positive it was. Going from a somewhat overweight and out of shape 50something at the start of June, I followed a very strict training program and diet adjustment that made Whitney a very easy hike the second time around.

Things that transformed my fitness and helped transition from a failed June attempt to a very smooth August summit:

1) Rucking. What an easy way to really build up legs, back, ankles, your entire core. Sometimes it was simply walking the neighborhood for a few miles, sometimes it was local mountains with a steep incline. Started at 20 pounds on the back and have worked my way up to 65 (Which I'll likely stay at). I was slightly losing a few pounds here & there from just mid-range cardio and weights, but when I introduced rucking into the mix, the pounds just started falling off. Another added benefit is the carrying 30-ish pounds on your back up to Trail Camp feels no heavier than a bag of feathers.

2) Treadmills on max grade. Kicked it up to a 15 incline and would go for 3 to 4 hours at a slow and steady pace without stopping. This part I believe really helped make the switchback go a lot smoother. The actually grade on the switchbacks rarely felt like it was any higher than around 10.

3) A 12/14/16 Plyometric box. Wearing the ruck bag, usually no more than 50 pounds, doing thousands of step ups/downs. This really helped the knees during that dreaded walk back to the portal that feels 2x as long as it did coming up.


Diamox: We took it. Felt no real problems except frequent urination. Half doses two days prior then upped it on the day we started. Never felt any effects of the altitude.

Pacing: We maintained a very deliberate 1mph pace and never needed to stop for breaks, except when nature called or we forced ourselves to stop and eat/drink something. Was it difficult to go so slow when you were loaded with energy and excited? Yes. Did my wife have to remind me repeatedly to slow down? No comment.

Stray Wag bags: Yes, they're laying around in places, but there's no real point in complaining about it. I've noticed (especially on Facebook groups) that many hikers spend a lot time whining, complaining and judging eithers but that's simply not the way to get inconsiderate hikers to change their behavior. One of the best arguments on why wag bags are so necessary on Whitney was recently posted on the MyLifeOutdoors channel last week, perhaps if more people watched this they'd learn to appreciate the importance of our responsibility to keep the place clean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAfnFpZc2io

NUUN Hydration Tablets: These things are a DREAM. The Ginger Lemonade flavor is the best. The added bonus of these containing caffeine helped avoid the headaches since we were being deprived of our regular morning routine beverages. Goodbye to Gatorade and all that sugar.

What a fantastic place filled with so many amazing and supportive people you meet out there. We made some new friends that I suspect we'll be hiking with in the years to come. Thanks for all the responses and dietary tips in this thread, it helped us change the way we fueled ourselves for this.

Take care all. Onto Langley hopefully after this nasty weather gets out of here!

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I have a lot to learn and the collective wisdom from this place is an absolute treasure.

Socal Jim: We just received the medication from our doctor (and honestly it was intended for our August Whitney attempt) but we were hesitant to use it pre-emptively after learning of the side effects. We didn't anticipate issues since we've been training at altitude almost every weekend for these past few months. I also had learned that if the altitude symptoms already started, it was too late to rely on the medicine and to get lower. A park ranger that we encountered during the ordeal told us pretty much the same, to simply keep descending. Our fitness isn't the issue, we realize altitude sickness can hit anyone of any level at any age. The purpose of the oxygen was just to have an option available in case symptoms start appearing along the way.

And thank you for the info on the oxygen, we'd rather not be carrying the extra weight (and wasting money in the process) up Whitney if it's going to be useless.

fit2climb: Thank you, that's the nutritional data I'm seeking. I'm not much of a breakfast person and I have to make some adjustments, I just hope I find the magic formula to give me the boost I need that morning leaving trail camp. This is probably going to make you absolutely cringe, but Spaghetti-Os are my "fuel food", I grew up on that stuff and whatever goes in there has been my go-to before sports since I was a small kid. I have to do better.

And holy cow, we watch your videos! We had recently been studying Langley and found your channel when we were trying to learn the difference between New and Old Army Pass. We just watched the one where you went up Langley with the two younger fellas last night LOL. Stay awesome man!

Harvey: Great stuff, we'll definitely spend a night or two up high before heading over, we like Parchers Resort which is nearly at 9,300 feet and a few nights there plus a warmup hike wouldn't hurt.

BFR: That's definitely what we are doing. We've logged 500+ miles this year so far plus a lot of ruck training to strengthen ourselves.


I hope to be back here posting a positive trip report in a month and a half, if we simply make it back to trail camp it would feel like a win, anything beyond that will be a bonus even if it's just up to switchback #20. I'll skip the portable oxygen, we'll do a better job on acclimating (and hydrating), and I'll be reassessing my calorie intake and diet days prior to our launch window. Take care everyone!

Carbs have another not so often mentioned advantage over fat. Although carbs provide less energy PER GRAM OF NUTRIENT than fat, they actually provide more energy PER GRAM OF OXYGEN needed for metabolism. In other words, when oxygen is limited, carbs give you more energy for the amount of oxygen that is available. This naturally gives carbs an advantage over fat at high altitude.