Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Best SoCal training hikes for MR?

For those of you who have completed the Mountaineers Route and have done some extensive hiking in the LA area, what are some of the best hikes one can do down here to prepare for the MR? For example, I feel like 2 of the best hikes in SoCal one can do to prepare for the Whitney Main Trail are Baldy from Baldy Village and San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek. Is there anything down here that does a good job of simulating the steepness, terrain, and/or any technical aspects of the MR?

I don't think there is an on trail hike which can prepare you for 4.5 miles, +6,100' at higher elevations like you will have at The MR.

You might want to look at trail segments...Icehouse Saddle to Timber Mountain up and down the ridge the move over toward Bighorn Mtn. and do the same thing.

Just increase your aerobic capacity and do a lot of 1,000' gain/mile trails.

I've looked around for 3rd class routes in the San Gabriels and haven't found much. The closest thing I've found is Strawberry Peak leaving from (I believe) Colby Canyon Trailhead. You follow a trail for about 1.5 miles, then a climbers trail for about another mile along a ridge, then you have a final 3rd class scramble up to the summit. There is a little 3rd class scrambling on the climbers trail on the ridge, too.

There is exposure on the route, but nothing like on the Moutnaineer's Route on Whitney. Not to mention somebody used a purple spray paint can to mark (nearly) the entire ridge to the summit.... but that's beside the point.

If you're looking for 3rd class, that's the best I've found. If anyone knows any others, I'd like to hear about them too!

As for something that can "simulate the steepness, terrain, and/or any techical aspects of the MR," we need to remember that the trailhead elevation for Whitney is at 8300 feet (is that right??? Close enough!) and that most of the local LA peaks are right around 5-6000 feet, unless you move further inland towards Baldy and the San Berdoos. So already you're having a huge difference in elevation, which constitutes changes. Also, the area surrounding Whitney has the excellent granite that has made rock climbing there so legendary, very much UNLIKE what we have here in LA, which mostly amounts to lots of crumbly choss... Not to bash the local rock climbing scene, but let's face it, you're not going to see people running to try and climb the south face of San Gabriel Peak.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you want to REALLY experience conditions like there are on Mt. Whitney, you'll have to go to the Sierra for it. You can look around for the all the 3rd class routes locally, but ultimately when you get to the MR it will be very different from nearly anything you'll find locally around LA.

I guess one thing that might help is being comfortable off-trail. Practice hopping around on boulder fields and scramblling around on talus and such. Although most of the mountaineer's route has a very distinct trail, there are sections where you'll have to boulder hop and such. You could practice that in any dry streambed with a bunch of large size rocks.

As with anything, know your own limits and don't do anything that might endanger yourself. I don't know your previous background, so you'll have to decide whether this is right for you or not.

The only reason I say this is because I once met a couple on Strawberry Peak who were totally freaking out because of the exposure. I was fine, they weren't. I helped them get off the ridge, up and over the summit, to the trail on the other side. Just goes to show different people see things differently. Use your own discretion and be safe.

BTW - Strawberry Peak is right around 3,000 feet elevation gain in 3 miles (one way). I would do laps on this peak (2) to simulate the elevation gain on Whitney (6000+).

Hope that helps,

Gusto

Mt. Baden Powell From Islip Saddle

Iron Mountain

Cactus To Clouds

That will do
If you can do any of these without suffering I think you are in a good shape and ready

I'm with Gusto on Strawberry Peak--easy to get to the trailhead and a great workout. I used Strawberry frequently and did it for speed to increase the aerobic effect. Also, you can get some good practice on doing class-3 moves--safely.

Antsell Rock along the desert divide has a small amount of easy class 3.

Also, Marion Mountain in the San Jacintos has a bit of class 3.

Maybe Galena Peak over near the San Gorgonio Wilderness would give you some loose/steep practice.

These are all great suggestions- thanks everyone!

If you are looking to simulate the MR's exposed talus, Mt. Baldy's Southeast Bowl (accessed from Manker Flat trailhead) has a variety of exposed chutes up the Southeast Ridge.

Here's a ski descent of that area.

This area is steep and loose in summer, so you would want to be very cautious if you left the main trail.

The San Jacintos have many fine talus scrambles, but access this time of year (ie Cactus to Clouds) just isn't safe, in my opinion.

Andy

For those of you that suggested Strawberry Peak (Gusto, Wayne), I did this hike yesterday and it was a lot of fun- thanks! I think it was the perfect difficulty level for someone like me who doesn't have any real rock climbing experience- there is some real exposure (I felt like I would probably die if I slipped in a couple wrong spots), but not on any sections where you have to do anything difficult at all. Most of the spots where you actually have to "climb" a little are not exposed at all. Also, I can see how the purple spray-painted arrows could be an annoyance to more experienced people who'd rather find their own paths up, but I felt like they really helped me out in some spots where I wasn't sure what the best route was.

Gusto, you mentioned that the exposure on Strawberry is nothing compared to the exposure on the MR. Now that I know what Strawberry is like, could you (or anyone else) elaborate on how much "scarier" the exposure on MR is? In general the whole Strawberry hike was pretty comfortable for me, but I did feel a bit nervous in a couple small spots. I wouldn't want to get up to the ledges or the notch on MR and start freaking out or getting wobbly legs

I made it yesterday MR with my wife.
Start trailhead 4:30AM, summit at 12:40.
From trailhead to Eberbarcher ledge, this part seems like Marion mountain course of Mt.San Jacinto. If you love to go there, not big problem for MR. If you like to do practice of balance, up and down laddar play in your home, it maybe good help for MR class 3 Rock climbing. This course is not easy because of route finding. Difficult to find right direction. I've got a lot of good information and pictures from this massage board. Thanks to All board members.

Glad you liked the hike. Rather than tell you the MR has much more exposure, I put together some photos that hopefully give some sort of idea as to what I mean. The arrows and descriptionos are APPROXIMATE. I can't be quite sure I labeled the correct chute to the summit, or the gendarme, but I think it's right. Anyway, in my opinion the most exposure on the Mountaineer's Route comes on the final push to the summit. This is sometimes called "the chute." A big part of the exposure is you have the whole North Face of Mt. Whitney below you. Hopefully the pictures do it justice. Also, these pictures were taken at different times of the year. That's why I tried to label them accordingly. Hopefully this link will work:

<a href="http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jgre1955/album?.dir=30d6scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jgre1955/my_photos">MR Photos</a>

Gusto

ximphony, like you, I have thoroughly enjoyed Strawberry Peak for workouts. It is good practice. There is more exposure on the MR, but the handholds are excellent, as long as you take your time and watch where you put your hands and feet--just like on Strawberry. So, my guess is, you'll take your Strawberry experience to Whitney and enjoy it even more--some real fun and exhilaration at the view a couple thousand feet below. I'm talking view--not exposure, but there is enough exposure to make sure you concentrate on what you are doing. I know there has been at least one fatality on Strawberry, where a veteran hiker climbed in wet, freezing weather, got to the class-3 area and slipped off. Be prepared and enjoy the MR to the max!

Thanks guys-

I'll be going up to Cucamonga Peak this weekend, so while I'm up there I think I'll check out the ridge route from Icehouse Saddle to Timber Mountain that wbtravis mentioned earlier and see what that's like...

I just summited on Saturday. Does anyone know if the class of the notch increases as you move further out to the different notches. For example most people go up the first notch, we went up the 3rd or 4th and it was pretty intense. First MR summit had a blast!

ryan

I've been over in those notches and found them all similar at class-3. Throw ice on them, and it is another matter! Just scramble around for the best handholds. But intense...yes! To me, that makes it so much more fun, as in exhilarating. As long as you take your time and carefully place your hands and feet, it is safe fun. Bob R, I am sure, can throw some light on the class-difficulty moving further west from the first chute.

I wrote about this three years ago:

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001298