Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Map of the Switchbacks

Hi, gatormom! I emailed you a photo of the cable section. The trail between switchbacks 45 and 46 cuts across a rock face. There is a little exposure, which can be problematic to some with acrophobia. Otherwise, it is a highway during the latter part of the summer, about four feet wide. You can use the cables as a handrail, but most just walk on by. When there is a lot of snow, and the cables are still up, some hikers walk on the outside as they hold on to the cables. Since you plan to do the switchbacks later this summer, the trail should be clear. Happy switchbacking!

Hi Wayne,

Thanks for the information. I downloaded the file earlier this year and took a printed copy of it with me on the trail last Saturday (See
http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002276).

As I noted in my post, I noticed two turns around switchback #8 that were less than 135 degrees that may have been the difference between 97 and 99. A group that passed me near the first switchback were counting them out loud and I remember that my count was all of a sudden two less than theirs. My count correlated with yours at the cables, and it was good when I could tell the newbies in my group that there were no more switchbacks (just a long traverse) before Trail Crest.

Fred

VersatileFred, from the photos in my collection, I can see that there used to be fewer switchbacks--95 to be exact. Switchbacks 92 and 93 are newer additions, although I don't know when the Forest Service, or whoever, added the 92 and 93 shown on my map. You can pinpoint the older switchback by extending lines from SB 91 thru 92, and another line from SB 95 to 94. The older SB is where the two lines intersect. I suspect part of that old segment collapsed long ago, making it too dangerous for hikers.

When I did my GPS readings, I went by the rule of thumb that a "switchback" had to be less than a 90-degree turn. Certainly the trail has to switch back in direction. There are turns, as you've observed, that are greater than 90 that I did not count. It's interesting that you said 135 degrees. Thanks for posting!

Wayne,
I think that we are down to semantics in our definitions. If you add "the angle between trail segments" with "the angle of change in your course at their junction" you get 180 degrees. When I said there were two turns that were less than 135 degrees I was referring to the change in course angle. Another way of saying that would be that the angle between the segments was over 45 degrees (my tolerance threshold for 0 degrees) and probably did not count as switchbacks. Anyhow, both of the turns that I was referring to were about 90 degrees in succession (either way you measure the angle) so they did not count as switchbacks even though together the 180 degree course change has the same effect as a single switchback.

Hope that clarifies my last post.

Fred