Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Weekly Main Trail Report - February 17, 2012

Altenate title: Milestone Point Two-Five (aka 13 weeks in-a-row on Whitney)

Bob Pickering and James L joined in on a climb of the mountain last Friday...



I don't like starting early at this time of year (way too damn cold) and was glad Bob and James agreed to a post-sunrise start.



Kind of discouraging... I go up... I break trail... I go up.... I break trail... I go up... I break trail... I go up.... I break trail... I go up... I break trail... I go up.... I break trail... I go up... I break trail... I go up.... I break trail...
Can the tracks please make it thru one week?



Bob and James walking the West Side Main Trail.



BP on the summit of Mt. Whitney for the first time in February. (Now he's only short a December ascent to complete the monthly cycle.) This was his 313th (?) consecutive summit.



BP heading back towards Trail Crest.


I didn't take many photos on this climb, but you can see a few more at: http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Mt-Whitney-February-17-2012/21565426_zmbV9m#!i=1719540819&k=tGBs5CQ

Nice photos Richard, thanks for the monumental trail break. And thanks to Bob too. A grand day it was. Some more photos:

http://s622.photobucket.com/albums/tt308/WPSMB/x2%20Mt%20Whitney%2002-17-2011/?start=all

Nice pic's, Looks like it was a nice adventure!

Thanks.

James, there are some cool ones in your set!

Nice pics Richard. I was watching you guys throughout the day Friday on Bob's SPOT, amazed that you could get up and down from the family campground in those unconsolidated conditions in only 12 hours. Looks like you had a beautiful day. Great job guys, and congrats Bob on that 3XXth consecutive summit! That streak goes back a looooong way.

Thanks Gary.

Your comment about "watching" us brings up an interesting point - Spot vs. Spot 2:

Bob's Track:


My Track (granted, I didn't turn mine on until Trail Camp):

How far down the road do you have to start? I was sort of toying with the idea of a day hike.

Quite a feat in that fresh snow to do it from the road in daylight.

Don't know how BP carries his, but mine is usually in a chest, or cargo pants pocket. (I know this is not the ideal "mounted on the top of the pack," but if that is a requirement to get a reliable signal out, I'll just make my usual comment about the device's crappy engineering... (How difficult would it be to build the thing with a more reliable antenna?))




For the past few weeks, the start has been at the lowest campground gate. (About 30 minutes up to the Portal at a leisurely pace. A few 4WD and 2WD, with chains and clearance, have been all the way up at the Portal parking spaces. There have also always been fresh tracks around the Pond, so people are making it up. There is a bit of ice and "messed up" snow that stop most from making it up to the Portal.

Thanks Richard! I assume there should be a pretty good track all the way to the summit since there hasn't been any new snow?

Bruno,

I wouldn't make that assumption. Others have gone up, but there was a LOT of wind over the past few days. This snowfall was really weird in that it didn't seem to want to consolidate.

The flip side is that it's also been really warm, so melt/freeze may have kicked in big-time.

Adding to Richard's comments…

We started at the lower campground. The snow on the road wasn't deep, but it was really icy. I decided it would be easier to park my F250 4x4 (no chains) lower, rather than try to park higher and possibly spend forever getting it un-stuck.

I carry my SPOT very high on my pack strap. (It's a SPOT 2, not the original SPOT as Richard said. By coincidence, I had also just put new batteries in it.) It works reliably except in deep canyons and similar obstructed areas. I have a buddy who has now received well over 200 SPOT messages from various summits… mostly while he's at work.

Richard originally decreed that we would split the trail breaking duties 34%, 33%, and 33%, with James getting 34% because he's the youngest. Then Richard took the lead, left us in the dust (spindrift) and never let up until I finally caught him somewhere near Mt. Muir on the west side. By that time, Richard was really glad to let somebody else break trail to the summit. It was the worst soft snow either of us had ever seen on the west side, and it took about 2:15 from Trail Crest to the summit.

It was tough decision for James to turn back, but he was slowing down above 14K, and we all wanted to be down the chute before dark. We ended up turning on our headlamps just below Trail Camp. James did amazingly well, coming from sea level with no Diamox and no acclimatization.

Our times were just under nine hours up and just under six hours down. We used snowshoes from the portal all the way to Trail Crest. No snowshoes on the west side, and no crampons for me. We used crampons from Trail Crest almost to Mirror Lake, since there were a few steep icy patches that could have been dangerous with snowshoes in the dark. Potholing on the way down wasn't too bad, since we (and others who followed us) had partially packed a path.

Overall, it was a tough, but very enjoyable day. Thanks, Richard and James.

Sounds like the conditions are not good enough yet for a solo day hike up the MT. Definitely sounds like I would run out of time (and steam) trying to break trail all the way.

Appreciate the info!

Guess I wasn't listening when you told me which version you carry.

Makes the comparison even more interesting though... same device... wildly different successful messages sent.

I'd guess it's due to the placement - high on a pack strap= good tracking, in a pocket= poor tracking. Spots are notorious for needing a good 'line of sight' to the satellite.

Richard, thanks for the photo compliment. The day presented infinite photo opportunities. Just too bad I've got the Costco Canon Powershot but it has a viewfinder, which the smaller ones don't usually have.

Bob, the decision to turn back was tough at the moment because I was heading up the summit plateau. But after I did I was immediately glad. Getting back to Trail Crest and the chance to get a snack and get down the chute felt good. As a side note I had been at 10k two weeks prior. Normally a higher hike and/or camp 7 days or less before a 14er works much better. With the amount of exertion that snow required 10k was not enough.

It was a really fun day since the weather and scenery were stunning. Once that snow consolidates that route will be even nicer.

An interesting side note:

Someone (don't want to get the other person in hot water) and I had an interesting conversation that included a lot of laughing when I first saw the tracks / heard the story about the High Route to Consultation Lake, which I started calling the Tina Tretina Traverse (Triple T)(although her tracks were much higher on Candlelight and Irvine) based on "Wrong Way Wray" (a term of endearment at the time that I gave to TT who couldn't seem to stay on-route anywhere) making what I (probably wrongly) assume was the first ascent using that terrain.

I wouldn't go any other way now unless there was obvious Avi Danger on the route (which is a DISTINCT possiblity with greater snowfall and/or warmer conditions).

It beats the heck out of climbing up/crossing Bighorn Park and the REAL Avi danger at the SE Corner of Thor Peak that you pass by on the way up to Mirror Lake.