Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney Assault #6

Whitney assault #6 this week. Past times 16 hrs.-14 hrs- 8:58- 8:57- 7:44. Shooting for a sub 7 hr. round trip this year. Coming from sea level with no acclimation time. Great pain and suffering to be had. This should be fun!! FYI the 'assault' part of 'Whitney Assault' is what the mountain does to me, not what I do to the mountain.
GRINDER

How in the world did you go from 14 hours to less than 9 hours? That's quite an improvement. Better conditioning? A helicopter took you halfway?

Having done it twice (both times in 16 hours) I cannot fathom how anyone can do it in less than 12.

Both times I've done it required approximately 16 hours as well and both times left me wasted in the end - but a great time was had by all! I have the greatest respect and awe for those who are doing in it in < 12 hours. So how did you drop to < 10 hours??

-end

Not to speak for Grinder - but I have had similiar experiences in my four trips - 13:30, 13;05, 9:31, 8:14. The first thing to do (for me) was to get in shape. The next most crucial element, if going for time, is to substantially cut back on the breaks. This completely changes the trip, one from a leisurely stroll to the "assault" Grinder mentioned. On my last trip, I stopped once to add clothes, and once to pump water on the way up, took only 10 minutes at the top, and only stopped once on the way down. While I enjoyed the exersize and the constant pushing of myself, I did feel like I may have missed out on something this year. Anyway, those of you who marvel at the fast times that are posted here, don't think that you are missing anything. There are many ways to look at your trip, but most importantly, see it through your eyes!

Good luck on your upcoming "assault" Grinder! Let us know if you made your goal.

So, Grinder, and other Main Trail dayhikers interested in minimizing time up and down--what do you do for water?

1. Total consumption after leaving trail head?

2. Do you stopped to filter/treat water at Trail Camp before hitting the switchbacks? or . . .

3. Have you just stopped to drink water directly from the arguably clean sources en-route? or . . .

4. Have you carried all your water up and back (I'm thinking of taking about 6 litres up with me next week, vs. stopping for water like I did on my last trip up).

--SLO Cajun

SLO Cajun - for me, total water consumption decreased as my time did, which makes sense, as there is less time spent on the mountain in which to drink. My last trip, I took a 2 litre camelback, and filled it up at the spring on the switchbacks. I had planned, per Bob R's post on water quality, to not filter there, to save time. Unfortunately, I found that the place I chose did not have enough water flow to fill my pouch, so I had to pump. The refill there lasted me the rest of the day, with about 1/2 litre left, so I consumed 3 1/2 litres. I have consumed six litres on my longer times dayhikes, but I would not want to carry the 12 pounds or so of water at the start of the hike. I would definately add water as you go up. One thing is for sure, do not short yourself on water just to save time. Dehydration is not fun, and staying properly hydrated should be your number one goal.

Well I was right about one thing, the great pain and suffering part!! Actually two things, a great time was had by all. I came up short of my sub 7 goal and came in at 7:20. I was on pace but in trouble from the start, not feeling as strong as I have in past years. I hit the wall hard, really hard, at the 99 and started loosing time that was impossible the make up. The coolest thing was that my friend who has not done Whitney since 2000 posted a 10:20, his best time previous was 14+. At 48 years old 10:20 is an awesome time, that was by far the highlight! I just got back and want to spend time with my wife and little girls so I will try to post more details and answer some questions from the previous posts in the next few days.

Thanks to all of you out there, this board is inspirational and helps me stay focused during training.

GRINDER

Well as I said in my previous post I really got my tail kicked up there this year. I came in 20 minutes short of my goal of a sub 7-hour time and I can chalk this one up to plain stupidity on my part. Upon further review of this year’s hike.....I had altitude sickness. Here is the stupid part, the first time I did Whitney was in 1998, I learned then and there, in a 16+ hour stagger up and down the mountain, that I suffer greatly from AMS. The next year I did diamox and all was well except that I really hate taking that stuff. Over the years I have taken less and less and have done fine with each hike, last year I had it down to about 3 tablets for the whole trip. This year it may have been a combination of not enough diamox (a total of 2 tablets in four 1/2 tablet doses starting about 30 hours before the hike) and the fact that, get this, the expiration date on the tablets was 2 years ago, duh!! I was going at a good pace but just did not feel right and when I hit the 99 I bonked. I kept thinking that I had not felt this bad up there since the first time in 98 and in typical AMS fashion I couldn’t figure that out up on the mountain, thus the ‘upon further review’. Oh well, live and learn. I will be back up there next September for another try. Even if all goes perfect it will be hard to find another 20 minutes. I’ll be 43 next year and I can think of no better way to get and stay in shape than to train for the absolute GRIND this is ‘Whitney In A Day!’

GRINDER