This was our first attempt to climb Whitney and we did it!! Preparation, hydration, and grazing was key for us. Me, my sister, and my father (43, 45, & 72yrs old respectively)arrived several days earlier and stayed at the portal campground. We spent 3 days doing day hikes to acclimate ourselves. Once up to Little Maysan lake, twice up to Lone Pine Lake before heading up the MT. The weather was quite warm, so we hiked up to LPL and spent a couple of hours there for lunch and a swim during the heat of the day. Slow and steady we arrived at Trail camp at about 7:30pm, just enough daylight left to make camp and eat. The next morning, watched the sun rise and enjoyed the apenglow show and was on the trail at 7am. Finding water sources was no problem (up to half way on switchbacks). We hydrated and grazed at least every 1 1/2 hours and we had no problems with altitude. Reached the summit at 12:30, took some pics and headed down to base camp. We felt like we were bonking a little bit, but a good hot meal took care of that. We headed back down the hill at 6pm and made very good time. We hit darkness at LPL, and finished hiking by headlamp, reaching the portal at 10:30pm. We met some fantastic people on the trail..mountaineering is so good for the soul. Overall, a fantastic experience and would do it again in a heartbeat!
A big thank you to Doug and his brother for the sage advice of just taking your time an letting your body acclimate to the elevation. I also think those pancakes have a magic potion in them. You are all good people and you ROCK!!
