Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board The Windows:

I will be part of a nine man trip on September 15-16 and this is my first trip. I have heard varying stories about the width and length of the 4 windows. Have generally heard they are 5-8' in width and 20-30' long. Any comments on this? One source said that one of them was only about 18" wide, yikes! Any thoughts on how to deal with a case of the "Willies" if that occurs. Is one worse than another? Thanks.

Do a search above for "windows" and read the post on June 18th called Exposure & Vertical drops on Whitney. That is helpful.. One of those posts, by Gary M includes some photos, including one of a "window" on page 2 of his photo album. I walked by the "windows" last month. Most were not much. Only one was wide enough to feel a litte exposure, standing there looking down. Walk by quickly and you won't have enough time to be too nervous.

I enjoyed the windows very much since you were able to look 2000 vertical feet down. I tried to get close to the edge, but since their was snow I didn't want to fall. I think that only one of the windows is really close to the trail. Whitney is a great experience.

Good Luck.

The "windows" are seriously nothing to worry about. I would be much more worried about the switchbacks to trail crest, since there you could really slip & fall if icy. The windows are flatter and much wider than the switchbacks are. Nice views however.

I don't remember the windows being particularly scary and I tend to be afraid of heights. I think the area at the cables is scarier and that wasn't very scary either!

I was just there yesterday. Trust me...there is nothing to worry about. I imagine that if you were to be overly curious, hang out over the east side to take a peek, and a BIG gust of wind came along, you might be in for a surprise. I was actually a little disappointed that they weren't more than what I saw.

Rudyray,
We descended the main trail on 8/22 after summiting via the MR. Your thoughts about the gust definately crossed my mind that day as the afternoon winds were quite strong (enough to push you around occaisionally).

As far as how to cope with the "willies" goes, by the time you get the windows your mind will likely be focused on summiting on the way up (or you'll be too exhausted to care about the exposure), and you'll be focused on portal burgers on the way down....

To all who posted a reply to my question about "the windows", I greatly appreciate it. Thanks

Joehiker, I came down in 4 hours and CHEESEBURGER is all I could think about!

I did A LOT of research on the windows before my hike because I am very scared of heights. That was all I was thinking about during the hike, because, if anything, the windows would be the thing that would hold me back from reaching the summit.

Once I got to the windows, I found out that was was worried over nothing. The windows are a good 5 feet wide and not scary at all, it was the switchbacks that I would be worried about. You shouldn't be worried about the windows, instead, you should look forward to them, they offer such spectacular views.