Well my brother and i returned after another amazing walk to Mt Whitney. We did this as an overnight (trail camp) 10 years ago just a week or so earlier in the year. In 1997, though there was lots of snow.
I began planning this in December/January. I started with one other guy, 10 years older. He wanted to include a buddy, and I had a buddy that wanted to go; okay 4. then more people asked to join in and we were up to 10.
I sent out several messages to all and let them know I would be fronting the cost of the permit and sending in the lottery app; they were all still "a-go".
We got our permit for Friday June 15-16 on the Main Trail.
Then they started dropping out. First back down to 8, then 6, then 5, then 3 --- until just me. It jumped back to 3 for 2 days and settled on two - my brother and I.
I called and released the extra permits.
So we left Southern California about 9am on thursday. The drive to Lone Pine was nice, little traffic and not too warm; we didn't use the A/C until after meeting up with the 14/395 junction.
We had a couple of options. Since it was just the two of us we had discussed converting to a ultralight 1-day, sticking with the original plan of a 6-miler to Trail Camp, followed by push to the summit and return to car for 16 miles, or the other option of pushing to the summit on the first day and leaving the packs at either Trail Camp or Outpost during the ascent.
As we pulled into the new inter-agency center we were recollecting that 10 years ago delays had kept us from starting the trail until about the same time (post-noon). So when we checked in we asked if there was space to go in tonight instead of Friday.
There was, the Ranger let us switch without cost, we rented a bear canister and went to Joseph's market for some supplies.
I had reserved a campsite at Whiteny Portal Campground which we would no longer need, so I called to cancel that as well. I did n't bother with trying to get a refund -- after all I already "donated" an extra $105 to the Park Service for unsued permits.
Out of Lone Pine and up to the trail head, we got a nice parking spot right in front and began to quickly sort the gear. The weather was beautiful and light winds - so we scrapped the 2-man 4 season tent in lieu of the Sierra designs Bike Lite tent.
It was 3:40PM when we started and we made, in my mind, excellent time considering we had just driven 5 hours from sea level. Just about 2 hours later we stopped for a sandwich break in Outpost Camp. I thought that was 3 miles, but have since realized it was 3.8 miles. We were still feeling good - except for realizing about an hour ago that the fuel bottles were still in trunk of the car and we would be going for cold food
Onward! We were at this point chasing daylight, hoping to make camp [Trail Camp] before full dark.
We continued to stop and snap pictures along the way, but still made excellent time pulling into Trail Camp area just about 8pm. My brother went to filter and refill water while I set camp; by 8:40pm it was dark and our tent was up and we were ready for cold pasta/meat/cheese lasagna (Ziti). It was delicious.
We were now just over 12,000 feet and feeling it.
Physically we were both strong. I was feeling the low oxygen and lightheaded when lowering my head. I also found just about everything to be funny. My brother was trying to hold off a headache. His recent frequent flying around the world instead of training was having an impact.
The night sucked. He couldn't sleep for the headache. I slept 2.5 hours then was up the rest fo the night. We joked about an alpine start since we weren't sleeping anyway - but to be honest i was worried about his AMS symptons worsening.
We decided to wait out the night and see how we felt once the sun appeared. This was an excellent plan, although we didn't get any more sleep we both felt better in the light.
We did get a few nice shots of the sun coming out over the Owens Valley. And after eating cold oatmeal, which works - but the dried fruit doesn't really re-hydrate, we hit the swtichbacks. It was funny that we never knew about the cables, as 10 years ago we went up the snow field.
Reaching Trail crest we were still feeling strong and so off we went towards the summit, snapping photos along the way. Trail Camp to Mt Whitney Summit took just about 3:40 for the 5 miles.
We celebrated the summit the usual way, I signed the log, we made a couple cell phone calls, ate some food and took more photos and then set off on our way back down by 11am.
Mind you, the previous afternoon while climbing up we saw maybe 10 people total. At the summit there might have been about 20 - but it really was not busy in my mind.
I had trouble on the descent of the switchbacks. I kept losing my balance/footing. I must have landed on my rear 4-5 times, at least twice where the creek crossed the trail.
I pretty much stopped keeping track of time at this point. we cleaned camp and kept going. It was 3:15pm when we hit Trailside meadow and stopped to rest our feet and snack. I had developed a blister on my right big toe.
We continued down and past Mirror Lake and reached Outpost where we once again took a small break - figuring it was 3 miles from there (see note above).
So off we went again.... and man that "last mile" just kept going and going. That extra .8 mile was killing me. My calves were rock hard [cramped] and i was walking like a stick figure. Our progress slowed considerably.
6:30pm we reached the trailhead. Our packs weighed in at 28 lbs for mine and 34 lbs for my brother.
We reconsidered diving 5 hours back home that night and opted to get a room in Lone Pine. So down the hill - we first checked the Dow Villa. They only had rooms with central A/C and the rooms were way to warm for us. We next tried the Mt. Whitney Motel and took a nice room with 2 double beds.
Drove out to return the bear canister and then over to the pizza joint.
We left around 7am the next morning and were back home by noon.
I don't know if I will wait another 10 years to do it again. But it will always be there ready and waiting when we are.
