Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Four years, two surgeries later

I had to cut short my HST hike in 2003 due to intense feet pain. Diagnosis was tarsal Tunnel Syndrome, it's like carpel tunnel but in the feet.

http://www.footcaredirect.com/tarsal_tunnel.html

Had to go through lengthy and painful testing/treatments, but finally had the nerves released in two surgeries in 2005. Was still in a wheelchair three months later, doc thought I should've been back at work by then and called the surgery a failure. My own investigation showed that it can take up to two years before any meaningful recovery is achieved. Slowly but surely I've gotten somewhat better. Anyway, I tried a back country hike last week in the Smokey Mountains. Did a three trail loop that used to take me two or three days, but I took five (rest days between hiking days). Good news is that I did it and the feet didn't kill me until the last day (unbearable). Bad news is just how deconditioned I've become. Not only sucking wind the whole time, but no strength, no stamina and complete head to toe body pain. But I did it. Since I'm now able to work out a little I'm hoping that I can get in good enough shape to get out west again sometime next year. I'd like to do Whitney one more time in my life, but here are my constraints. I will be able to hike only about 5 or 7 (max) miles a day. I'll probably have to have rest days in between hiking days, so that means I'll have to carry 10 days of food for a five day hike. I won't have to eat as much on my off days, but still, you get the picture. I can acclimate at mineral king for two weeks, that's not counted in my total hiking days, but will help with overall stamina. So, any ideas on how I can get up Whitney and back, or over, in what would normally be a six day hike, with avg 6 mile days? Would prefer to avoid the main Whitney trail, though I expect to eat up a few burgers at Doug's place while I recover afterward.

Please don't lecture me about my hiking days being over or that cripples shouldn't be out where they can be hurt and need a rescue, etc, etc. If I listened to everyone up till now I'd be in a wheelchair, doped up on pain killers and waiting for my disability check at the end of the month. I know what I'm up against, more so than anyone. I'm asking for some creativity in designing a trip. (Oops! didn't mean to get so defensive, but man, I've heard it all.)
Hey, we all gotta have something to dream about.

BTW, the url for the pics from my Smokies trip is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13970211@N02/sets/72157602778854552/

or

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13970211@N02/sets/

and click on Smokies 2007

Thanks for any input.

Jonathan,

I can't give you advice on your specific questions. I may be able to give you some encouragement.

I had to give up strenuous hiking by 1999 due to arthritis in my left hip. I still did short, easy hikes for another year or so. By 2003, my arthritis had gotten bad enough that the pain kept me from sleeping, so it was time for a hip replacement. I asked the surgeon if I would be able to hike Whitney with the tin hip. He said if I could do it before, I should be able to do it again.

When I got back to hiking after the hip operation and several years layoff I was certainly out of shape. I don't know how old you are; I understood that at my age I would never able to get back to as good condition as I had been in before the layoff. But I was able to get to a point where I could enjoy strenuous high country hiking again.

In 2006 (I had had arthroscopic knee surgery by then, too)I tried the main MW trail and almost made it. This year I did make it. I also had to recognize that at age 70 I'm unlikely to ever make it again. But I hike some beautiful trail every week.

My choice has been the opposite of yours, but then my physical situation is entirely different than yours. I believe that a basic cause of my arthritis is the 2- and 3-week trips I used to do lugging heavy packs. I won't carry the weight needed for an overnight trip anymore. So my choice on Whitney was to go up and down in one long day.

For me, and I would guess for you, too, MW is mainly a marker we have set for ourselves that tells us that we have come through our trials successfully. (I had never noticed before that "trials" is an anagram of "trails.")

There are many places to hike that are as, or more, beautiful as MW. If it were the 2nd highest peak in the lower 48 instead of the first there would only be a fraction as many people interested in going up it. I hope you find as much satisfaction hiking as you used to, whether that includes Whitney or not.

Tarsal tunnel sounds like no fun at all.

In my case, it was a torn Achilles tendon back in 1985. It took a good two years before I was ready to start training and hiking seriously again, mostly to get the repaired tendon and calf muscle stretched out so I could go uphill without pain.

Now, 20+ years later, I've logged at least another 600 miles between Mt. Ritter, state highpoints and Scout hikes, including 100 miles at Philmont in 11 days this summer.

The problem I see with your 6-mile-per-day limit is that the back approaches to Whitney that have a short summit day involve several days each way and would make it logistically difficult for you to haul enough food. The main trail would require about a 10-mile summit day from Trail Camp. What about the Mountaineer's Route? Is that within your climbing abilities? I'd have to look at the map to figure out what the logical high camp is, but you might be able to do that in about 4 or 5 days without breaking your 6-mile limit. That is, Portal to a high camp, spend a day recovering, high camp to summit and back, spend a day recovering, hike back to Portal. 5 days but really only about 4 days of food since you'd eat breakfast before starting and get back to Portal in time for a late lunch or early dinner. Just a thought...