Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board The 2nd Annual Whitney Follies

Last year in the interest of hiker safety I started a post which highlighted stupid hiker tricks in hopes of benefiting the newbie Whitney hiker, as in read a little and learn a lot.

This tale took place a couple of years ago near the Rock Creek Ranger Station. Our group had already set up camp and were in various states of lounging around when we saw this wandering around in the meadow south of us. Finally, their leader walks up to me, with a map in his hand and asks, "Where's the PCT?" I reply, "You're standing on it." Astonished he says, "Really, where is it?, I repeat my reply. He then asks in which direction is the Lower Rock Creek crossing, I point and he asks, "Are you sure?". I hope they eventually found Mt. Whitney because it looks a lot different from the west side.

Bill

Which brings up the critical question: is there ANYTHING that we, the frequent contributors to this board, can do to reduce the idiocy?

I appreciate that some of it is unreducible.

But some is just plain ignorance. Is there some way to do some education in a systematic fashion?

Obviously, someone showing up at the trailhead unfit is done. Someone coming from sea level, but very fit, is probably done.

I've thought about this often, and have no answers.

>>Someone coming from sea level, but very fit, is probably done.<<

Depends entirely on the person. You really can't make generalizations like this with any consistent accuracy. I live at around 800' elevation, and have no problem beyond the normal amount of being winded at elevation.

I have taken many flatlanders up there, fit and unfit, with a 100% success rate. Most of these have been by the MR, and most of those have been day climbs where we descended the main trail.

But I have always preached the same old sermon in advance: hydrate, a slow methodical pace, nibble, hydrate, rest every hour even if you think you don't need it, hydrate, nibble, rest, Diamox if I think it will help, pole pole, hydrate, rest, nibble, etc., etc. And - overall - go light. Then, on the mountain, I insist that we adhere to these things faithfully. On the mountain, I am sensitive to how they are doing: adjusting things like pace, rest, etc., when called for.

Whitney's elevation can ruin your whole day if you're not acclimatized. But if you do the right things, you can have a wonderful experience. I have a lot of proof of that.

I want to second Bob R's suggestions. My wife and I live at 300'. We have dayhiked Whitney each of the last four years with no altitude problems. We do everything he suggests plus gingko and numerous training hikes to 10K feet on Mt. Baldy.

My son and I live in north Santa Barbara County, train hard in our area, but never above 3,ooo ft. We have summitted the last two yrs. and plan to do the same this year. We have never failed to summit, of course we have had great weather, good equipment, trained hard and have a strong mental outlook.

We do camp at the portal camp ground at least two days prior to our hike and spend a night at Trail Camp.

Because of this message board and its great information we have learned that eating and staying hydrated along with deep exhale breathing, we have only experienced mild altitude sickness symptoms.

We have had great times on this mountain and really enjoy talking with other hikers.

Bob,

I couldn't agree with you more. Not that I have a lot of experience going over 14K' but I have been sucessful on every attempt, although there are a few times where death would have be preferable ;-). However, over the last couple of years I've eliminated the near death experiences with acclimatization and Diamox, with minimal dosing after a lot of experimenting.

I don't understand newbies wanting to stay in town, especially after spending a bunch of $$$ on this trip, a year's worth of planning and 6 months of training. My wife could do it but she knows she can handle 14K' without acclimatization.

Bill

Thanks, Richard and Bill. Of course, these aren't well-kept secrets at all. Everyone who has gone to altitude a fair number of times knows the importance of them, and people who follow this board see them repeated here frequently. But the thread took a direction where the reminders seemed appropriate.

Sorry to have "stolen" your post, Bill; now let's hear some of those follies!

Actually, I do have one to tell. On myself - a time I didn't follow one of those adages. But it's more of a story, so will be a few days in the making.

I also subscribe to Bob's approach (as if I could go fast! Ha!) Problem is, there are so many that get caught up in the folly, because they don't do those things. Obviously, there are many people who can manage. There are many more who cannot, and do not look here. I guess we just have to put up with them.

Bob,

Don't worry about hijacking the post. It's here to help people up...and down the mountain safely. Anyone who has been on this mountain more than a couple of times starts to notice some pretty silly things. I always enjoy your sage advice.

I can't help it if someone sees thing as an ego trip. I've always learned from my mistakes, the mistakes of others and from experienced people, like Bob R. This isn't the intention of this post.

Bill

Likewise Bill. I think it is a shame to have a listing in Accidents in North American Mountaineering. Usually we don't. Hmmmm...the possessive? Of course, for those of us who live somewhat locally, we are the equivalent of the Nepali to Everest. But I ain't carrying no loads!

I have learned that Bob R's advice is just right on, except for the Diamox I do everything he says, religiously, the only thing I would add is as I get near the top I stop thinking if I can make the summit and start thinking have I got enough to safely get back to Trail Camp (especially when there is snow and ice on the switchbacks). After taking up hiking in my late 40's I had a hard time getting info about my first Whitney hike. After a couple of trips I met Doug at the Portal Store, attended one of his Whitney classes at Adventure-16 (LA) and joined this message board and really appreciate all the advice.

Maxlip,

I didn't start hiking until my mid 40s being a little wiser I did a lot of research on everything still made a ton of mistakes including glissading with crampons on down an icy slope of Badden-Powell using trekking poles as a break, my ankle wasn't right for 6 months, but it taught me a lesson I won't soon forget. This is the purpose of this thread, and this board for that matter.

Bill

Ken’s mention of the ANAM book, and then Bill's about glissading with crampons, remind me of a folly I can relate about myself. I’ve managed to make the ANAM a couple of times, the most recent one anonymously. (In order to encourage reports for their educational value, people can submit their own accident information and ask that their name not be revealed.) This particular folly is pertinent to the current season. Here it is:

It was in April 2000. Two friends and I were descending Whitney after a day climb, and we had the opportunity to glissade a lot. The top inch or two of snow was soft all day so we didn’t really need our crampons, but we kept them on because of the added traction when walking. Of course we knew better than to leave them on for glissades, but the snow was so soft that it didn’t seem a problem. Then, on a nice glissade down to Mirror Lake, I hit an unexpected patch of ice. My crampon caught, my foot everted, and the result was a spiral fracture of the fibula. My friends were kind enough to split the contents of my pack, and I hobbled down to the Portal. I spent the next six weeks in a cast, and it was two months before I was back in the mountains.

Earlier, again on a day climb, I ruptured my Achilles tendon on the summit of Mt. Russell. I was hustling to get into the picture of a time-delay shot - not something especially foolish, so it wasn’t much of a “folly.” I managed to crawl back to Russell-Carillon Pass where I found a discarded hiking stick. Using it sort of as a crutch I was able to get down to the Portal just before dark. That was a more serious injury, requiring surgery to put my tendon back together. I wasn’t climbing even easy mountains for six months; and not to full strength for a year.

I guess there is a moral here. If you can manage it, self-rescue is a good thing - and a lot quicker than waiting for a helicopter ride.

I've been guilty of the folly of glissading with my crampons on quite frequently. I often glissade down slopes that are neither straight, continuous in slope or texture, nor clear, and so I frequently have to stand up to traverse or descend parts where glissading isn't possible, and therefore out of simple laziness I usually keep that crampons on when glissading. I'm usually on soft or powder snow, and the speeds I reach are never very high, and I use these facts to rationalize the folly. After hearing stories like Bob's, and reading Touching the Void in the last few days, I suppose I'll start hearing bone grating from now on every time I start sliding with the points attached!

25 years ago I would backpack on Mount Whitney but now I day hike, usually right after a full moon.

My main mistake occured during my backpacking days: taking a SLEEPING PILL. It caused the worst headache and nausea I have ever experienced on Mount Whitney.

I have glissaded with my crampons on many times, unaware of the danger of doing so, until I read Bob R's report and learned not to. Now I know and take them off.

Last years follies where great. All of us have done silly things on the mountain. I hope we get to hear about more of them.

Here's yet another example of why the high altitude hikers' acclimatization mantra is a mantra...

In 2001 I did Whitney as a dayhike. I was to be joined by 2 other people driving up from the LA area. I arrived early in the afternoon the day before the hike, and spent the afternoon and evening at the Portal campground, relaxing, hydrating and stoking up, walking up and down the hills, and even jogging up to the portal store to get myself ready for the big hike. I was expecting the other two to show up around 4pm, but they never showed. I gave them a call, and they told me they were running late, and hoped to be there by 8 or 9. They finally showed up at 11:30 pm, more than an hour after I gave up and went to sleep. We had planned a 4am wakeup time. One of the two had been doing some medium-elevation hikes, but the other one (who had a past history of AMS) had done nothing to acclimatize.

So, after less than 4 hours of very unrestful sleep in the back of their pickup truck, we awoke and packed up. To make a long story short, the hiker who had no acclimatization made it as far as the needles before she suddenly started vomiting profusely and was soon staggering and on the verge of incoherency. As I had feared I might, just half a mile from the top, I had to give up my summit bid to take her down before she staggered off the trail and into the pages of NAMA.

She was fine once we got down close to Trail Camp, but the experience also demonstrated an important consideration: When you don't prepare properly for your hike, there's a good chance you'll be ruining someone else's hike too, not just your own!

Sorry, that was supposed to be ANAM, not NAMA. Pardon my cerebral edema.

thanks Bill
reading your post reminded me I neglected to add my own follies: on my first hike up the mountain, I mistakenly wore some "low -top trail shoes" and by the time I got back to the portal my ankles were incredibly sore and I was in major pain; they stayed that way for more than 6 months.