Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Another Lightning Question...I know

And just when you hoped no one would ask another lightning question (all the people who read this board must be lightning experts by now).....here is another one: What do you do when a lightning storm is right over you when you are warm in your tent camped in an area like Trail Camp? Earlier this year a thunderstorm in the afternoon was just over the white mountains and made it's way towards trail camp. By the time it got there it dissipated. Just a couple of weeks ago I was camped at Columbine Lake just bellow Sawtooth Peak and another storm approached but then took a different direction. Is lightning something to worry about when you've camped in an area above treeline but bellow some higher peaks???

There's not much you can do, in that event! How one would know whether to pick up and move your tent, when it is impossible to know exactly where a bolt will hit? The only way to be safe is to pick up and leave when a storm is coming in. Or, when instability is forecast, to stay out of the mountains!

I've been through a lot of lightning storms, with a few times, seeing flash, then hearing boom, almost immediately! You just have to pray your time is not up, and trust to the stats where only a few hikers get hit by lightning a year. Nice to have someone nearby to administer CPR in case they detect a direct hit!

Bolts can hit anywhere. You need not be any place high and exposed to get struck! I was camped along the JMT near a low lying lake, in a broad canyon, and still there were strikes coming close! Being in a forest, with tall trees about you, won't necessarily help, either.

You just have to realize, in a mature fashion, that hiking, let along mountaineering, has its inherent hazards, and there is no real "safety" anywhere, including behind a locked and bolted door, inside your own home!

Leo, I was backpacking across the Great Western Divide when I was caught in my tent with a severe thunderstorm over me. Thunder was instantaneous with many of the lightning flashes. Pretty hair-raising, but there was not much to do, other than keeping body parts as insulated from the ground as possible. As a boy I was struck by ground-effect lightning. A bolt hit a nearby swingset and zapped me thru the ground. Felt like a whip across my legs, but, thankfully, I was't hurt.

Think probability. If you pitch your tent on top of Whitney, your chances for getting hit in a storm are high. Down at Trail Camp there is less of a chance, and down at Outpost, even less.

Thanks guys. All those mountaineering books talk about what to do while on the move, but not what to do when you've pitched your tent up and a lightning storm decides to park it's big fat thunder heads over your little niche in the mountains. And no wonder they don't write anything about the subject, the chapter would read: "What to do during a Lightning Storm while in your Tent: Nothing, you're Screwed" He he. I guess keeping oneself insulated from the ground & being aware of afternoon thunderstorms (in other words, using common sense) is key.

Last year we were at Upper Cathedral Lakes when a horrible lightening storm passed through. Our first outdoor experience in a storm with so much lightening and close stikes. Anyway, we already hiked a full day and had our tents up on rock slabs about 150 feet from the lake(probably a big mistake). A ranger came through and said a storm was headed our way but he was not sure of the magnitude. He said rain for sure. We did not know what to do when the storm hit, and it came so fast so we just prayed that we did not get hit by lightening. We made it.
The next day we passed some hikers coming up from the Sierra Camp at Longs Meadow. They asked us if we had experienced the storm. They said the ranger at the Sierra Camp had told them to get in "Lightening Position". Feet apart and knees together in a squat. The hikers told us that they had two hits so close they could feel the heat. I had never heard of this position before, so I can't say if it's something that will work or not or what the purpose is. I suppose an exit route, but again, this is just hear-say. We are doing the JMT next July, and my biggest fear is lightening storms. I hope we have clear skies!

Happy Hiker - yeah....the "rule" is to squat on top of something that will insulate you from the ground like your sleeping pad or bag. The least contact to the ground the better (since the electricity scatters all over the ground surface of where lightning hits). And you are supposed to do this on top of a small rock if possible...in areas below peaks and close (but not too close) to low trees...and never in caves or small recesses where the current of a strike has a field day. That's the "rule" (I always take these "rules" with a grain of salt until put to the test). But what to do in a tent if a storm comes your way is a bit more tricky. I live in Apple Valley & tonight I've been watching an electric storm that is near Barstow from my house. It is amazing....I've counted an average of 35 strikes per minute!!! Man, I can't imagine being in the Sierras in this predicament, and at a higher altitude and more exposed!! Must be awesome & extremely frightening at the same time.

Leo - Thanks! I hope we don't have to put it to test. That experience at Cathedral Lakes was one we will never forget. I still don't know how we were missed! We just stayed in our tents. My wife hid under her pillow (like that was going to help). The thunder was so loud we could not hear each other speak. Lightening is fun to watch but not an event I like to view at close range! Thanks for the input.