Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board What is best time?

This is my first post,thanks to all for the great info.My son and I will be making our attempt Aug 6.I know an early start is best but exactly what time should we leave.

Orientation Notes for Whitney first timers, and in particular, Plan when to leave.

Thanks I did read that but thought a 3 am start might be better.

A couple of questions:

1. How old is your son?

2. Are you planning a day hike or overnight?

My son was 12 when we backpacked the main trail in '01. We got up about 4:30 a.m. at Trail Camp and were on the trail by first light at about 5:30 (first week of July). We made it to the summit by 10:30 or so. Check out the Mt. Whitney trip report under the "highpointing" pulldown of my WWW site for details.

Depending on the weather, there is a fair chance of afternoon t-storms, so you want to be up and off the summit by noon at the latest. My rule of thumb is 30 minutes per mile plus 30 minutes per thousand feet of gain. Slow that pace down a bit for being above 12,000' as you will be from Trail Camp the rest of the way up.

Be ready for some spectacular views, and enjoy the hike!

my son is 23 and I should have mentioned it is a day hike. Thanks

I have started my day hikes as early as midnight and as late as 3:45 a.m. It took me between 8 to 8.5 hours to reach the summit. I am no mountain goat! Many prefer a start time between 2:00 and 2:30 a.m. It has taken me between 13h 46m - 17h 12m to complete the 22-mile hike. Have fun up there.

Your start time depends on how fast you and your son hike, your conditioning and what time you want to be on and off the summit. If this is your first time hiking at these elevation I would suggest an extreme early start time because it is going take more time than you think it is.

This is why I would suggest if you haven't hiked at these elevations before and are a SoCal or a NoCal, you head up to Mt. Langley or White Mountain to figure out what it is like these elevations.

We do have a few hikes at altitude planed prior to Whitney.I think White Mtn will be one of them.Thanks.

I've been up five times now,all day hikes, with my earliest start being 1:30am. If you have not done the Main Trail before, I'd be careful about leaving that early. My first time up I left at 1:30am and had a few issues of following the trail. A good headlamp helped tremendously on that trip. In a couple of spots one could walk into some serious trouble if you lost the trail in the dark. It also helps a lot to take a warm up hike up to Lone Pine Lake the day before your summit attempt so you are familier with the first two miles or so of the trail. You and your son should have a great time! Best of luck.

Thanks.I almost made it to Lone Pine Lake Apr 20th,got turned around by wind and snow.Will be back up in June for more day hikes.Should know the first few miles pretty good.

One good thing to burn into your memory banks (if you're heading down in the dark) is that after you do the few short switchbacks down past the Lone Pine Lake junction sign and hit the long straight, with the jog past the tree, you need to make a hard left as you pass the cascade. Lots of people head straight down here (A shortcut if you know the terrain, but most don't.) because it's hard to see the trail on the rock that you're walking on.

droberts,

I would suggest you formulate your starting time after doing White Mountain. This will give you a better idea of what your hiking speed is at elevations above 11,635'.

If you go to Mt. Whitney blind (no prior trip to the Sierra), my suggestion is planning to be on the trail 14 to 16 hours and plan a starting accordingly.

I am amazed at all the good info!!!I thank you all for the help,and I'm sure to have more questions soon.

One additional spot on the Main Trail where I found it a bit easy to briefly lose the trail (even in daylight) is during one of the last switchbacks above Mirror Lake just before the trail finally begins to straighten out and head up to Trail Camp in earnest. This is due to the trail going over a section of mostly solid rock where the trail is barely preceptible. It does a switchback during this section, and it's very easy to hike straight through the end of the switchback without making the turn if you don't see it coming. The good thing about this spot is that you won't go too far before realizing something is amiss.

CaT

Roger that, CTW! I still have those "wait a minute" moments when trekking in that exact spot during the early morning hours. You would figure I knew where I was going by now. NOT! Maybe it is because my thoughts drift back to a warm comfy bed at the Dow right about that time.