I made it up Mt. Whitney for my first time yesterday!

Hooked on Fenix

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On Thursday, I beat the odds and got someone's canceled overnight permit from the Lone Pine Visitor Center. Usually, you have to sign up for the lottery in February and pay $15 to get a chance to go. July is about the only time of the year that the trail isn't covered in snow.

Anyway, I hit the trail at 11:30 AM (after driving up there overnight and not getting any sleep) and made it to Trail Camp at 4:30 PM. I had to wait out the rain, thunder, and lightening at Outpost Camp for about an hour until it was safe to head up above the timber line. I camped at Trail Camp. I packed ultralight. I used an Integral Designs Silponcho as a ground sheet, an Integral Designs Guides Tarp (8 x 10 feet) and an Outdoor Research Bug Bivy as my shelter. It was staked out with titanium nail tent stakes. My trekking poles held up the shelter and spectra cord was used for the guylines. I used a Vargo Triad XE stove run on Esbit tablets to boil water for my freeze dried meals in my 3 oz. titanium cup. My sleeping bag consisted of my down jacket and a half length homemade thinsulate sleeping bag that attached to the bottom of my jacket. The homemade sleeping bag weighs in at around 1 lb. and is good to around freezing. I learned some interesting lessons about safety when packing this light. I discovered that if you pound titanium nails into the ground and hit a rock, trying to pound the stake in more to force it in causes sparks to fly. A spark landed on my silicon nylon poncho (which is flammable). It smolderd for a few seconds before going out. I lucked out. My entire shelter almost caught fire. I cooked my dinner and discovered that the Esbit tablets smell like cooking fish when they burn. I was camping in bear country. That's the last time I use those tablets up there. Breakfast took over an hour to cook and took 2 tablets to boil 2 cups of water. The wind kept blowing out the flame.

I packed up most of my stuff and put what I didn't need in the folded up Guides tarp (it has velcro on 3 sides so you can use it as a waterproof envelope or bivy sack). I hit the 97 switchbacks at 7:40 AM. I stopped at about every switchback to catch my breath and avoid altitude sickness. I made the summit at 12:20 PM. I took a 40 minute break to see the sights, sign the name register, take some pictures (sorry, it was a disposable camera so no pics available), and put on my two knee braces (I'm recovering from tendonitis in both knees from a different hike) before heading back. If you check out the name register, I was the one who wrote under comments, "I'm a 3rd degree black belt, but this mountain kicked my butt." By the way, in the box, next to the name register, someone left an Easy button (just like in the Staples commercials) as a joke. When you hit the button, it says, "Wasn't that easy?"

At 1:00 PM, I headed down. I got to Trail Camp before 5 and took an hour break to pack up, rest, and eat. I made it to Whitney Portal at 7:53 PM. Got back too early to use my flashlights. :( I technically had 7 flashlights in my 25 lb. pack and I only got to use 1 for about 5 minutes the entire trip (my PT EOS headlight). I had the EOS headlight, a Fenix P2D Q5, a Fenix E01, a Gerber Infinity Ultra, and 3 lighthound coin cell l.e.d. lights, plus spare batteries. I got back too early to use my flashlights and too late to order a Moosie Burger from the Portal Store (kitchen closed at 7:15). Total time hiking the 22 miles was a little over 17 hours including about 3 hours of rest stops. I hiked alone so I had to drive the 5 hours back the same night. Got home at 2 PM. Dad woke me up at 7 PM to go to our church's men's breakfast. Needless to say, I'm still tired and sore, but it was well worth the trip.

If anyone here plans on hiking Mt. Whitney in the future, let me give you some advice. There's no shame in not making it to the top on this mountain. Some of the best hikers in the world don't always make it. Altitude sickness is a serious concern up there and can be lethal. Lightening strikes Mt. Whitney all the time, especially above Trail Crest where everything is electrically conductive granite, and nothing is higher for thousands of miles. Most of the year, snow and ice cover the trail and special gear and training are required to summit safely (even then trail and weather conditions may make it impossible to summit). Just so you know, it took me three attempts to make it to the summit once in a little over a year. Don't hike past Outpost Camp if you aren't an experienced backpacker with mountaineering skills, except maybe in July or August. Most of the year, there are some scary snow covered spots just before trail camp that are best crossed with crampons and an ice ax. I have gotten away with using Yaktrax and trekking poles before, but I was still very nervous. If you're afraid of heights, don't go past trail camp. The 97 switchbacks and above have spectacular views, but come with the dangers of falling thousands of feet to your death as well as rock slides. The "windows", or bridges as I call them, offer the best views between Trail Crest and the summit, but are very dangerous places to be. Basically, you have a 3 or four foot wide "trail" of piled up granite rocks and boulders with a couple thousand foot dropoff to your left, and another deadly dropoff to your right in between two pinnicles. You need well cushioned shoes and trekking poles to make it to the top. Between the turnoff to the John Muir Trail and the summit (the last 1.9 miles), I think someone actually just piled up boulders on the steep sloped side of the mountain so there would actually be a flat spot to travel to the summit. This area is a tripping hazard with deadly dropoffs all the way (especially at the windows). Be very careful there and don't trip or let the wind blow you off the mountain. Use trekking poles. Last but not least, take the time to enjoy the view. You'll have plenty of time to see the sights as you stop to catch your breath every 100 feet.
 

souptree

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Congrats, that is a major, major accomplishment!! :party: :thumbsup:

Thanks for an informative and interesting post!! :wave:

(Now go scan those pics!!!!!!! :poke:)
 

offroadcmpr

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Cool. I am planning on going to the top of August 14th. I have the permits reserved and everything. This will be my first time up to the top.
We are going to do it in one day though! We will leave early in the morning and hike up and down during the day. I can't wait for it!

Feel free to PM me if you have any advice or other things that I should know.
 

Hooked on Fenix

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Make sure you pick up your permit the day before your trip at the Lone Pine Visitor Center (it's just south of the town at the turnoff to Death Valley). It opens at 8 A.M. The Ranger Station in Lone Pine doesn't hand out the permits anymore. Your permit will be canceled and given to someone else if you don't pick it up before 10 A.M. on the day of your hike, unless you call ahead to tell them you'll be late. Spend a night before at one of the high altitude campgrounds to acclimatize before your hike. Whitney Portal and Horseshoe Meadows are good places to camp and acclimatize and are cheap (some campgrounds are free). Make sure to do your business before you start the hike. There are no bathrooms on the trail and rangers make you pack out your poop in a WAG bag now. Take only what you need on the hike, but plan to pack for rain, cold, intense sun, bugs, and darkness. I dealt with all of these on my two day trip. Bring a hat. I used SPF 70 sunblock and still got badly sunburned. Sunglasses will help too. Bring a floody, multilevel headlight as well as a thrower flashlight to find the trail if you get lost. Don't forget spare batteries (lithiums are worth the cost for this hike). Bring trekking poles. The backside past Trail Crest is a trip hazard with a deadly dropoff on one side (and sometimes both sides) of the trail. Wear comfortable shoes with good cushioning. Half the trail is solid rock and will cause blisters, if not bruises. Snow gear isn't needed unless a snowstorm comes in before your trip. The only patch of snow to cross was just before the last turn to the summit and trekking poles were adequate to get by. If you hear thunder while hiking, wait until it stops before going higher. After Mirror Lake, there are no trees for shelter and the ground higher up is all solid granite (electrically conductive). Take plenty of time to enjoy the views. They are breathtaking, as is the thin air that will force you to slow down. When you hit the 97 switchbacks, you'll need around a gallon of water to summit and get back to Trail Camp where you can filter more. It's 10 miles without water with about a half mile up, then down in elevation. Bring hard mint candies with you. They give you a steady stream of calories and keep you from getting thirsty when you run low on water. Lastly, remember that getting back safely is mandatory. Making it to the top is optional. Save some energy to get back as there are some steep uphill spots on the way back before Trail Crest. And of couse, have fun.
 

offroadcmpr

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Thanks. I didn't know that the ranger station didn't hand out permits.

We are going to drive at get up there wednesday. We will camp at Whitney Portal. Thursday we will do a short easy hike to gain some altitude to try to adjust a little bit more. Then Friday is the rest of the hike. So we will have a couple days to acclimatize.

I drink a lot of water, so I will have a lot. I will bring my 3 liter camelbak and a half gallon of gatorade. We will also bring a water filter to fill up at the last water spot.

I think I will have all the gear necessary, for now it is just making sure I am in good enough shape to make it. Luckily I am only 22 so age is on my side. ;)

for lights I am thinking of my BD spot and my Fenix tk20. That should give me a floody headlamp and a brigher spot light.

I will have to post my trip report when I get back.
 

jtr1962

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I found this series of pictures which is probably more or less what you saw. I imagine to climb you need to be in top physical condition and without any fear of heights. Those guys in the photos made it to the top without oxygen which I think is pretty amazing.
 

offroadcmpr

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I just wanted to post an update to this thread.

I successfully made it to the top on friday! It was probably the toughest hike I have ever done. I did it in one day. 22 miles round trip and around 6400 feet of elevation gain. It took 7 hours to reach the summit, and about 5 hours to make it back down. But we spent about an hour at the top so our total time climbing was just under 13 hours. I had minor altitude sickness, but it was nothing that a couple of asprin couldn't help.

We started just before 5 am, and got back before 6. I ended up only using my headlamp for 20 minutes or so. We had perfect cloudless weather so we just went by the brightness of the moon. The whole trip we did not see one cloud over us!

I am not sure if I will ever try it on a multi-day hike. I can't imagine using the WAG bag for several days. Luckily I was able to hold it in so that I did not have to use it at all.

The only real dissapointment was the burgers at the bottom. I have heard from several sites that the best part was coming down and having a big delicious burger at the whitney portal store waiting for you. Th burger was dry and tasteless, but because we were so hungry for real food it was edible. But I guess that is not that big of a complaint.

I would recomend the hike to anyone. You just have to be in good shape ( I wish I was in better shape for it) and willing to torture your body for that long of time. But it was fun and well worth it!
 

Patriot

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Great thread!

offroadcmpr, you stated that you had wished you were in better shape. What type of training and cardio did you do prior to taking this on? What type of equipment did you use?

Thanks
 

Hooked on Fenix

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Congrats Offroadcmpr. Well done. It took me a little over 17 hours to make it up and back excluding time stopped in camp. However, the rain slowed me down an hour, it took an hour to pack up, and I took plenty of much needed breaks to catch my breath as the highest I had been before was around 12,000 feet. 13 hours is a great time. You did well. After hiking Mt. Whitney, we all wish we were in better shape. If you don't like the burgers at the portal, try a pancake for breakfast there. The price for breakfast seems a little high until you see the food yourself. One pancake is the size of a large pizza. I think they might be using a snow shovel to flip the pancakes because I don't think there is a spatula big enough to flip one. Glad you had a good time and made it back safely. Sounds like you lucked out on the weather.
 

offroadcmpr

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My training was actually pretty minimal. For the last month or so I would run a few times a week. But I would only run a couple miles at most. I would just run around the neigborhood. Nothing too serious. I lucked out that I am fairly naturally athletic. But it was still very difficult. I remember just putting one foot in front of the other cause as soon as I stopped, my headache would come back. Living at 900 feet elevation does have its dissavantages.

I used my gregory Z-35r pack to hold all of my gear.I used a 1 liter nalogene bottle filled with gatorade and my 3 liter camelbak bladder filled with water. We also brought a water filter that we shared among the 4 of us. We filled up at lake at trail camp. For food we brought trailmix, sandwhiches, gu, and a couple of cliff bars. Oh, and payday bars because of the peanuts and they taste good. For lighting we I brought my BD spot headlamp, and my fenix tk20, but we ended up not having to use either of them for very long. For clothes I used a synthetic shirt and some hiking zip-off pants that I bought at REI. My shoes are the Merrel outland mid that I bought at a REI garage sale for 20 bucks. And then just a pair of basic wool socks. We had a GPS just in case, but the trail is marked off very well, so it would be difficult to get lost. I don't think we even brought a map. I also brought some asprin in my first aid kit that proved to be very usefull. I weighed my pack at the bottom and with it filled with food and stuff it was 23 pounds. Not exactly ultralight, but I have had bad experiences before when I skipped out on extra warm clothes and extra food, and I didn't want that to happen again.

I will have to try the pancakes next time. I think next summer I may try it from the backside on a week long trip. Hopefully I will be more used to the altitude that time.
 

Patriot

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Thank guys for the extra info and especially for taking the time to list your gear with nice links. I enjoyed looking into it and will refer back to it in the future. I've been up to 12,700 before here in AZ on Humphrey's peak where the altitude isn't too bad but the lightning is. As a matter of fact, the day before we went up someone was struck and killed about 500' below the summit. My brother and I have been discussing a trip up Mt. Whitney but we would go hike Humphreys for training first. I'm looking into the permit stuff now which seems a bit involved but I'm sure it will play out just fine.
 
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