Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board New Book on Hiking Mt. Whitney

I'm a long-time member of this board but an infrequent poster. I hope it's okay if I mention that my new book, How to Fail at Hiking Mt. Whitney, went live at Amazon Kindle today.

My "angle" is that other books tell you in a positive, direct way how to hike Mt. Whitney, but often we learn best from failures, our own and other people's.

Topics include how to maximize one's chances of getting a permit, what gear to get and what gear to avoid, how not to over-prepare physically for the hike, how not to lose out to altitude or weather, and other things.

The final chapter is about shortcuts. A Bob Rockwell story is recounted there.

This is the second book in a four-book set, but it's the first to be published because the lottery window opens February 1. The later titles, which should appear by the end of March, are How to Fail at Backpacking, How to Fail at Hiking Yosemite, and How to Fail at Hiking Grand Canyon.

Karl Keating

[img]https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM8L1auc1E9x7qyhX8mndeLoh2T-vm0HCW1xiS2[/img]

Hi I heard about your book at the Outdoor Show , I will give it a quick read . I was ask one time to review a book and after 16 pages of edit ...... So I hope the permit system hints are legal and the short cut routes are about people getting lost and needing rescues. Thanks for doing a book on Whitney even better would be people using the information!

I hope your book does have true facts that indeed help Whitney hikers have a successful experience.

After my wife and have submitted Whitney on multiple occasions we can say for sure short cuts can be dangerous and do not make the hike any easier.

I've been told to I should write a book on hiking Whitney in a day, but I'm not sure I'm qualified yet.

Doug: It probably was a different book you heard of at the Outdoor Show, since I don't think I told anyone about this book before it was launched two days ago.

(I seem to have done something wrong: the cover image of the book didn't appear.)

My hints about the permit system chiefly are about which days of the week to apply for and which to avoid: in other words, how to increase your odds when there are far more applicants than slots. There are no "illegal" hints.

As for the shortcuts, no I don't refer to lost people or rescues. I mention four easy-to-find shortcuts.

The final segment of the shortcuts chapter is a retelling of Bob Rockwell's "Old Age and Trickery" story. I had a nice talk with him and Sheila last night and thanked him for being an inspiration to so many.

Wtny n1:



None of the shortcuts I mention is the least bit dangerous. The first is simply the old trailhead. The second is the gully, appearing after the log bridge, that you climb up to Bighorn Park. The third is the one at Trailside Meadow, where you go over a rise and see Consultation Lake. The fourth is the old final segment to the summit, which you take from just beyond Keeler Needle.

Whether these or other shortcuts make the hike easier is up for judgment. Taken together, these four cut off a good amount of horizontal distance. Of course, they don't cut off any vertical distance. But saving a mile or so of horizontal hiking is seen by many as making a hike easier.

Yesterday evening Crazy Jack wrote, "I've been told I should write a book on hiking Whitney in a day, but I'm not sure I'm qualified yet."

I agree with Jack. He needs to age/decondition more before he is qualified to write on day hiking Mt Whitney by the Main Mt Whitney Trail. However, based on recent experience, he is currently qualified to write on day hiking to the Summit the Old School way, i.e. starting and finishing in Lone Pine (nearly 50 miles round trip with significant additional elevation gain).

Jim

Where's the Trailhead? Number 2 question at the store, Number 1 question is the bathroom. And now we want to talk about shortcuts.


Think about the first timer hiker. Yes first hike ever! Now it is dark since they know they are slow so will leave at 12:00 sharp take the old trail to where? next if they reach the big sign and see all the old trails to the north fork which do they take? Or the trail that goes into the canyon before the logs where we had to drag a person up the slope several years ago. Or the faint trail where the person had the heart attack and now used as a place many use for a bathroom stop . Or all the animal trails that cross the main trail.

Now to the logs up or down? Slabs or dirt left or right side recall it will be pitch black, cold and often you will see deer in this area, well once I ran into 3 wolfs but that's another story. I think I will just keep going down this shortcut! Oh now where do I go? Say they make it up to the next level then how do they find the trail if they missed the key turns below, if they use the north side can they swim?

People walk off the main trail and die, somewhat blunt but that's how it is. They are walking in the dark missed a key turn and may follow tracks or think just heading downhill will join the trail but ends at a drop off. ,They are tired separated from the group and may see lights ahead and the light they had has failed or very dim. When this happens a few questions from the party or others can narrow the area for recovery. Given this background hinting at short cuts shines in a different light.

That's from the people side now what resource damage will these lost souls do as they wander around ? And then we hear those flying machines for days looking for missing hikers on the MAIN TRAIL?

People have a hard enough time just getting up and down the main trail . About 30 years ago we had our first experience with a fatal accident on Whitney I thought this is a flat easy trail how could it happen? We have over the years watched this same accident over and over so we may be biased as we see things . Just some thoughts on a rainy day

I was a newbie to Whitney on Wednesday, 7th September 2016 after having visited and stayed at the cabins high up for several plus years beforehand. I walked and succeeded in doing Meysan Lakes Trail, twice in September of both 2015 and 2016. I acclimatized well and was in "5 year old awe" of the rugged beauty around me. I had absolutely no problems on both walk-ups and descending as well. This past September saw me acclimatizing FOUR days and three nights prior to my Whitney attempt at one of the closed-up cabins generously lent to me by one of my Carson City aunt's friends. I wore my 25# pack at all times on those days ahead of the actual climb. My four days of solitude was better than any prescription drug and the weather was perfect-a-mundo. I prayed, I laughed, I wept, I danced and shouted Old Testament Scripture to the granite walls....man, what a hoot.
The day before the climb, I met up with my new partner and soon-to-be friend "Chris" from the Midwest. This fellow was experienced all around, but so easy going and honestly HUMBLE. We hit it off and commenced our actual climb at 1:11 AM on 9/7/16. I screwed up from the beginning with the incorrect layering, but soon overcame this problem. I was hyped, happy and ready to roll with anything. (My years of reading books on Whitney, checking out the forums and speaking with climbers helped, but the biggest was accepting my limitations, shortcomings, accepting what the mountain would serve up that day and noting the ever overlooked salient beauty of so-called minor things on the trail.) I must say that sunrise amidst the granite towers will forever remain THE SUNRISE in my remaining years on this old earth.

I had no thoughts of turning off the trail, as this, Doug, Sr.'s article, exponentially increases the negative unknown. In the end, or best of all, the beginning, READ THE EFFIN' DIRECTIONS. The days of our lives are fleet enough without playing with loaded dice. Nature never discriminates and maims/kills all of us with equal indifference.

Back to my thoughts....

I began to slow up around 10,000' and the first, light wave of nausea began....soon followed by little desire to drink water and no desire to just think about food. I was bummed out as I knew AMS was setting in. My partner was very supportive and we made it to Trail Camp with a nice rest prior to heading down before secondary stages set in that would be dire. Sure, my body had been well-trained, but one cannot train for that day's body chemistry. I am from the Northeast and was born on the coast. I have done and still go deep ocean fishing, have trapped lobsters and crab in all weathers. I still develop seasickness here and there after well-nigh fifty years in those hobbies. Naval and Coast Guardsmen are not immune to seasickness at any time either. I can handle very rough air travel....but will heave out my guts riding shotgun on a straight, boring interstate. So, down the mountain we headed and eventually all signs of AMS left me. My new friend/partner was terrific and forbade me from feeling guilty or like I owed something to someone. Chris is a true mensch and human of the finest sort.

We both ate like T-rex beasts at Doug's store!!

To say that I loved my experience is an understatement. I recall things about my walk in my midwinter New Hampshire office that are finer than gold....the tiny arctic plants, that slender grass blade tucked away in the rock niche, a wan trickle of water making its way down, down, down and one day reaching the Pacific, a smile from another climber. I am also reminded of how the Scarecrow tried to thank the Wizard of Oz and asked as much from the latter. The Wizard replied, "Well, you can't."

Chris, you became my wizard that day and always shall be, honest. I know we will meet again on the high pass, facing the east, at sunrise, my good friend.

My gracious thanks also to Doug, Sr. for things that cannot be mortally understood, worded or comprehended.