Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Best approach to the summit

If time and permits were not an issue which trailhead would you use to backpack to the summit? What are some of the advantages and or disadvantages. I was thinking of:

Whitney Portal vs
Cottonwood Pass
High Sierra Trail
Kearsarge Pass

I’m most interested in hearing about Cottonwood exiting Whitney Portal vs going up and down Whitney Portal. Still interested in the others as well.

Alveolus,

If time was not an issue, I would do all four. Each provides a wonderful outing.

If you are going to do just one of the four, then carefully study the maps and online trip reports/photos and see if one is particularly appealing to you.

Also, there are other interesting approaches, but these typically leave the trail at some point and then head for the Summit of Mt Whitney.

Let us know what you ultimately do and send us a report. Many others will be doing these hikes this season and would like to hear about the conditions.

Jim

Jim that’s a great point and I do intend on coming at it from multiple approaches over time. I guess time still is an issue. I have a 2 week period. I am fortunate to have more than one opportunity and was hoping somebody would make the decision for me as to which approach to keep and which to release.

I picked up a cancellation for the Rae Lakes loop yesterday for the first day of the trip. So I think I’m going to stick with my Whitney Portal permit for the second week and will be releasing the Cottonwood Pass.

Unless someone tells me that’s an utterly stupid plan.

Thanks everyone