Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board 5.6.7...

Late... getting up prevented me from making any attempt at the summit today.

I was in a trance when I shut off the alarm at 04:00am. I didn't wake up until nearly 08:00am. I have what I'll call a decent excuse though: the skiing was so good at Mammoth that I stayed out for 48 runs on Saturday. My "2nd mom" (you know, the neighbor's mother who you wish was your's) passed away on 04/24/07 and one of her favorite activities was skiing Mammoth. Setting a personal best was a tribute to her. She used to get a kick out of seeing my tattered ticket (so many holes punched) and would have loved hearing that I actually took the time to have lunch while bombing so many runs...

I did take some pictures from my now favorite spot up near the Portal:

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/2810637

Sorry about your second Mom. Been there before and can commiserate completely.
48 runs in a day, however, has got to be an all times world's record on the lift serve at Mammoth, so congratulations!

Thanks.

As far a records go, it's not even close. SnowNympth did 70,000'+ in a day (something I'm very jealous of) and I'm sure there are regulars up there who do that, or more.

I spent quite a bit of time on Chair 3 (one of her favorites). In the "old days," you'd wait 45 minutes to get on the chair on some weekends. Yesterday, I was doing (around) five minute laps!

So was it all skiing or some snowboarding too? You aren't posting from a hospital bed...so I'm assuming the first!

Richard, I learned how to ski at Mammoth during Easter Week of 1956. Wore out 3 pair of gloves on the rope tows. That's all there was then, 3 rope tows to the top. My dad was friends with Dave McCoy and we parked a small trailer in the parking lot and ran an extension cord to the lodge. Those were the days...........steve

Chris, Tina's been giving me grief for not breaking out the board lately, but when the skiing is good and I'm not bored, the board is staying in the locker. There's also the thought that I don't want to get injured. (Yeah, I fear the board a little!)

Steve, I long for the "good old days" in some respects (look at how many people you see on Whitney in winter these days), but resort skiing sure has gotten better with age. 50,000 skiers per hour (or whatever Mammoth's stats are now) sure makes it fun, even on weekends. I rode up with a guy on Saturday who stated that he hoped that they never upgrade Chair 23. I'd have to disagree. I'd love to be able to do fast repeats off of the top. (Chair 9 upgrade this year... )

Those pictures looking up the North Fork seem to be taken from a place up and to the north of the portal area. Just where could you go to get a view like that?

And since I am doing such a great job giving you grief, I'll make this other one public: Richard is also afraid of climbing Ama Dablam in Oct 2008 (is trekking like skiing?).

um, uh, Tina:

Ama Dablam is not trekking.

It's a whole lot more.

Harvey

Oh, I know Harvey. I was just messin' with Richard about trekking (he's going to Nepal this fall) vs skiing compared to climbing (Ama Dablam) vs snowboarding. I'm hiring Kurt Wedberg for an Ama Dablam climb around Oct 2008, providing Denali goes well. (I have trouble coming across in postings sometimes...maybe too much going on in my head).

I, for one, don't underestimate any mountain, as I still feel that the MT Whitney Main Trail should never be taken lightly. I dislike it when ppl say the Main Trail is a Mule Trail or a "walk up." I think it's difficult and requires endurance, especially during the winter months.

mule trail, mule trail, mule trail, mule trail

I have to admit to being a bit surprised at how interesting the back side was a couple weeks ago when I was there. As I said in my little trail report..once we made the summit via the Mountaineers Route I sorta thought going down the Main Trail was just going to be a long walk..but I was (pleasantly) surprised. Some of those sections with the snow banks still covering the trail between the summit and Trail Crest require some care. I'm not saying they are death defying..but midway across some of them I'm sure glad I had some trekking poles to plant into the upslope side. And for sure I'm glad that the boot track holes were well made and intact. I kept thinking that some of the people we passed as we descended that were still on the way up might be in for some exciting stuff if things started to go downhill. I'd imagine that some of those slopes get sort of hard and crusty in the early evening..and a slip could have some interesting consequences. All part of the journey for sure..and a piece-of-cake for most people..but I was very careful through some of those sections:





I was also really glad we had Richard to help us out with some shortcuts on the way down..plunge stepping through the snow down the slopes to get to Bighorn Park was much better than winding down the slushy trail.

Ama Dablam huh? Man..it would be cool just to see that mountain let alone climb it... I'm still taking baby-steps. I'm thinking about Shasta next..then taking (finally) the winter skills class with Kurt before going further up the Pacific Northwest (Hood, Rainier..) After that..who knows..I might rather go south toward the Mexico volcanoes... Kurt is at the top of my Rolodex for further adventures though..for sure! Although I have to take Richard too..when I hike with him I have 100% success ratio.. :P

Chris

This is good stuff... I'm glad to see that others are saying what I've been trying to get across for a number of years - The Main Trail under "winter" conditions is difficult and I've seen it where it "scares" me more than the MR. That two miles to Trail Crest is living hell.

Tina, unless I happen to do a "bootleg" ascent of Ama Dablam this autumn, you may finally add something to your climbing resume that causes me to become jealous. Just make sure you take the time while you're over there to do some other things. I'll have no respect if all you do is dash over, climb the mountain and dash home. Nepal is a magical place. Get ready to become addicted as I am.