Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board golf balls

Just curious, on my first trip to Mount Whitney a couple of weeks ago, I found 2 golf balls in the Mountaineer's Gulley. Is there a tradition of hitting balls off the summit or something?

Now that would be a YouTube video worth seeing.

Pack? Check. Trekking poles? Check. Ultra-lightweight graphite driver? Check . . .

record-setting drive

Lone Pine Mt Whitney Golf Course


then again, I think there was thread about this in the past, something like why would anyone do that from the summit and potentially endanger someone below?

When we were up on the summit a number of years ago a couple of people were hitting golf balls over the face much to the chagrin of others on top.

Yes there was a thread on this a little while back. Do a search and I think you'll be able to find it.

No there is no such tradition of hitting golf balls off the summit of Mt. Whitney.

DO NOT HIT GOLF BALLS OFF THE SUMMIT OF WHITNEY. I was guiding a climb on the East Face of Whitney a few years back and as I was leading a short 4th class pitch near the summit a golf ball came flying down and darn near hit me. I yelled up to the summit to alert that knucklehead to knock it off. When I got to the summit there were about 20 people milling around and I was met with people ignoring me and refusing to engage or make eye contact as I tried to find out who it was.

Hitting golf balls off the summit towards the Mountaineers Route probably has a higher chance of hitting somebody. It baffles me but there are still a couple very experienced climbers who don't wear helmets in that chute. Regardless of helmet or no helmet though DO NOT HIT A GOLF BALL OFF THE SUMMIT OF WHITNEY.

I think I know what goes on with people. They play golf and they think it would be really cool to whack a golf ball off the summit of Whitney so they can say they did it. Some think they will get some kind of record breaking drive in the thin air up there. Besides the fact that it is littering it is also dangerous. I say again...

DO NOT HIT A GOLF BALL OFF THE SUMMIT OF MT. WHITNEY OR ANY OTHER PEAK.

Just desserts. Hope he screwed up his club too . . .

A friend of mine, Alan "Monty" Montgomery, was climbing Cannon Cliff in New Hampshire some years back. This was before the Old Man fell down.

Various slab climbs on the right end of the cliff all funneled into a final corner that went up what was essentially the cheek of the Old Man.

Monty was leading when suddenly a rain of oily, gritty dirt came pouring down on his head. He topped out, furious, ready to scream at whatever idiot was dumping trash off the top of the cliff. Of course, he found a teary-eyed family who had just dumped someone's ashes off the Old Man.

And there stood Monty, hot and sweaty after a summer climb, with those ashes stuck all over his body, the family staring at him in horror.

In 25 years of climbing in North America and Europe, I must admit I've never encountered a golf ball on a mountain before. Let alone 2 golf balls.

Didn't see any balls but last summer when I hiked to Borah Peak (Idaho) and Kings Peak (Utah) there were golf clubs at the summit. 5-iron on Borah and Driver on Kings.

Just to expand on that, with the winds at that elevation it might not matter where you're aiming a shot. I suspect that jaw-dropping slices and hooks are on the menu if this is attempted. I've seen damn near 150-degree slices at 250 yards on a course in earthly gusts. There's absolutely no telling where a ball struck at 14.5K' might land.

The other thread started in June 2007.