Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Best Energy Bars?

On a lighter note, what's your opinion?

I know that Clif bars are repeatedly mentioned in this forum. My wife and I kinda settled on Balance bars prior to our trip, but had no appetite for them on the climb.

Trying some others. Just opened an "Edge Extreme Outdoor Energy Bar". Not very appealing on appearance at all! Having nibbled on it for a bit, not too bad, but my wife'll never eat it.

Just curious what everyone else likes.

Now, let's see how long it takes for politics to get interjected into this thread! ;-)

My favorite Cliff bar was the chocolate espresso, which they appear to have stopped making .

These days, I usually opt for the power bar gels rather than any of the bars. (Usually one of the caffinated fruit flavors)

The best "Tasting" energy bars that I have found are "Pro-max Energy Bars". They come in many flavors and really do taste good. No dry cardboard here! You can find them at Ralphs or on line at www.promaxbar.com

I like the ol tigers milk bars, they are not as dry as others. If it is at all cold keep them in your pockets.
The new goo products are great for quick energy

I mostly like to throw my enegy bars to the dogs who chase me when I'm riding my bike. Keeps their jaws stuck together so they can't bite me. I do like the Wa Guru Chews that have been around for years while out on a hike or climb. They are hard to find but I can always get them at REI.

I first tried Odwalla bars before and on Whitney. I decided that I liked them. After that trip, I used them even more in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. They have a good variety of flavors but I think that part of that is the hype of names that supposedly have better this or that enhancing aspect. I still like power bars, the original chewy, taffy-like ones. I swear I can feel them kick-in. Cliffbars are okay but sometimes there is too much grit and I cannot deal with it - like at altitude.

Snickers.

I can relate to the nasty "grit" of Clif bars. Yuuck! I think I just read somewhere on this board how someone said they could always power down a snickers bar at any altitude.
I know it's really weird but this thought stuck in my mind and I thought that this is so true.

In my first attempt at Whitney I was nervous and noticed I had zero appetite at Trail camp after leaving from the Portal 5 hours earlier. I remember trying very hard to eat a Cliff bar but my stomach would have none of that. Needless to say, I bonked with AAS roughly a mile from the top that day. I don't think a Snickers would have helped me make it to the top that day (then again you never know) but I am sure it would have gone down much easier. I think I'll test out this new Snickers Theory next Spring. Can't wait! Fun question!

I'm an advocate for bringing whatever tastes good down low; you're more apt to eat it up high. Appetite suffers at altitude, and the important thing is to have something - anything - that you will eat. Forget good nutrition for the day. But carbos are important, hence the popularity of Snickers and other candy bars.

I haven't eaten an energy bar in years. I prefer Paydays to Snickers, though, because they have no chocolate so don't get messy on warm days. A tube of honey is quick energy and tasty, too.

But my mainstay is real food. I remember one day, taking a break on about Switchback #58. I was munching on my Subway sandwich and bag of Lay's, and quite a few passers-by took notice.

Of course, staying hydrated is #1 on the list. On the descent, though, I like to have my last drink at Bighorn Park. That first beer at the Portal tastes best if you arrive a little thirsty.

Nice Bob.
Couldn't agree more.
I believe it was you who mentioned that the hostess apple pies were good for quick energy and calories. Last trip we had those along and they were great for a quick breakfast before hiking.
I can't stomach those energy bars while hiking. They taste like dirt.

O.K., it's not a bar (and it's totally obnoxious, I know), but you know what did wonders for me on my last trip up? On a lark, I packed a Red Bull. When I got to Trail Camp, I was totally whipped - I was pretty sure I wasn't going to go any further, but I sat down on a rock to rest, eat, and mull it over. I remembered the Red Bull, popped it open, drank it, and fifteen minutes later decided to keep going. I literally skipped up the switchbacks and had no problem the rest of the way - best I've ever felt up there.

I was using Gookinaid for the first time as well. That could've been it...

Otherwise, I agree with other posters: bring what tastes good.

When I started hiking/ backpacking I bought the freeze dried stuff and lugged "power bars." I found they cost more and are hard to eat when you have no appitite. I often ate everything except my power bars, which went on trip after trip waiting for me to get to them.

I now like the Bob R. method. I bring real food (sandwhiches) and a variety of real candy bars I like to eat...paydays, snickers, small single serving fruit pies, yogurt, apples, granola bars, crackers and cheese, pudding packs, small apple sauce single packs. It turns out the extra weight is worth it and you go through it all fast enough. Much easier to eat food you actually like and keep up your energy....Make up the weight difference by not carrying as much water and stoping more often to fill up.

Same idea goes for short backpacking trips...plenty of real lightweight food to carry up...oatmeal, breakfast drinks, ramen soup, hot chocolate packs, malt of meal, cup of soup, mac n cheese etc. They may weigh a little more but I feel it is always better to eat what you like.

The GU powder is great, but what worked for me was nature valley trail mix bars, fruit & nut variety, available in costco in bulk at a unit cost of $0.28 each.

I ate about 6 on a two day trip to whitney in July, never had a problem eating them.

(Not to make a political statement, but I don't know if the fruit and nut variety is avail outside of CA)

;-)

aerodyne

The Cliff MOJO bars are good if you like nuts. Cliff Shots and GU work well for quick energy.

My vote goes for 3 Musketeers. Best candy bar ever (although Bob R is right - they get a bit messy when warm). I also like the pizza flavored Ritz Bitz and most any kind of trail mix. I actually enjoy eating those, as opposed to the power bars. I remember sitting up around switchback 90 trying to eat one, and it felt like I was trying to eat tar.

aerodyne -- you might want to clear it with Governor-Elect Arnold. Things are changing here.

I usually use a lot of GORP and a couple of powerbars. In cold weather, the energy bars freeze to become really hard - even if it is my inner most layer. For winter, I am considering just more GORP instead of the powerbar.

How do you handle the hard and cold energy bars ?

Two words:

Lembas bread

Try Zone bars. They are the next best thing to a candy bar. I'm partial to the chocolate peanut butter or the chocolate carmel clusters. Available at costco, target and walmart.

Ron

I cast my vote with the snickers and paydays crowd. After spening a couple of summers climbing up and down mountians as a logger in South East Alaska, I found candy bars seamed to work best when pushing your body to extreme limits. They would replenish my energy quicker when there was nothing left in the tank; the "energy bars" were not as efficient and tasted like sawdust.