As I stepped out of Whitney Portal at 2:30 Sunday morning I told myself one thing – don’t do anything stupid. After reading the weather reports for the last two weeks I knew that I was going to be dealing with questionable weather at best with the stubborn late season low hanging around the Sierras. Years of backpacking around the region has taught me that conditions can and will change in the blink of an eye. Henceforth, I packed everything but the kitchen sink for the 22 mile round trip trek.
Hiking the trail in the pre dawn hours was the experience of a lifetime. Within ten minutes of starting out my eyes acclimated to the darkness and I was able to turn of my headlamp for the duration of the trip. Passing Lone Pine Lake my group of 7 had worked into a steady rhythm. Sunrise on the trail was beautiful and more importantly there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The trip to trail camp was easy and we only had to do with three short snow crossings.
We arrived at trail camp just after 7:00 and all agreed that a 45 minute relaxation and hydration session was in order before we hit the infamous 99 switchbacks. At first the switchbacks were strenuous and uneventful, but then we neared the cables. When the cables came into clear view we could see that snow was piled as high as and even higher than the handrails in some sections. Then we passed a group that was literally reduced to tears because they tried to trudge on past the cables without crampons. Terrified they turned around and realized the summit wasn’t theirs for the taking. We all knew that putting on our crampons meant serious business. I repeated the mantra – don’t do anything stupid.
Within 20 feet of the start of the cables three members of my group decided that they weren’t comfortable with the exposure and turned around. Those of us that had more winter mountaineering skills slogged on ahead. The trail was steep and exposed and I wouldn’t have attempted the ascent without the use of crampons and an ice ax. Up a couple more switchbacks the trail cleared and we were able to take off our crampons for a few minutes. As we reached the upper third of the switchbacks one thing was clear, it was going to be crampons from here on out. The trail was narrow and the final push to Trail Crest was exhausting, but at least the morning sun had softened the snow. Arriving at the Trail Crest I realized that my summit bid was in serious jeopardy because I had a terrible headache and I consumed 3 liters of water of the trek up the switchbacks and had none left. The 4 remaining members of our group all decided a half an hour break was in order. All in all it took us three hours to ascend the switchbacks.
Twenty minutes into our break at Trail Crest it became clear that the summit was out of my reach. My terrible headache turned into nausea and weakness. While I knew I could miserably trudge on to the summit, it felt like I didn’t have enough gas left in my tank to make it back to Trail Crest. Another member of my team decided to call it a day at this point as well. After surveying our options we decided that glissading down the chute was our best bet. The strong morning sun softened the snow to a point where I felt more than comfortable with glissading. We hiked down the first 50 yards of the steep chute and headed laterally across the slope with our crampons on. The descent to our launch point for our glissade trip was difficult, but we knew it was better to descend with caution than glissade from too high up the slope. Glissading in the soft snow my speed never got higher than 15 mph, but I still controlled myself the entire time. I don’t think I would ever glissade this section of the trail in any other conditions.
Back at Trail Camp my altitude sickness kicked into full gear and I knew turning around short of the summit was the right decision. I spent the better part of an hour losing my lunch and anything else I had left in me. Our descent from trail camp was eternal, but uneventful. Crippled by sickness I had to descend the mountain at a very slow pace until we reached Lone Pine Lake and my symptoms improved. We finally got back to our car at Portal sometime around 7:00pm. All said and done it was a hell of a day and while I was disappointed I didn’t summit I knew I made the right decisions.
Two hours later the last two remaining members of my team limped victoriously into our cabin with ear to ear grins. They had fantastic pictures and great stories from their stay at the highest point in the lower 48. Whitney is always there for the taking and I will try again some day soon.
My advice to anybody planning an ascent in the next few weeks is to be careful, be prepared and know your limits. Crampons and an ice ax are a must for now. On the right day you may not even need them, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Enjoy!
