Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trail Crest to Mt. Whitney side peaks

A friend of mine, a regular on the board, was talking with me about doing all of the Mt. Whitney to Trail crest summit peaks straight, excluding the two S Brutal towers.

Mt. Whitney
The three Keeler Needles.
The three Aiguille peaks
Mt. Muir

He estimates a time factor of 5-6 hours from Trail Crest to Mt Whitney. Would that make sense? When I am there, I am usually too tired to do any of them while passing by.

I did pretty much this same exact thing last year but in the other direction: hitting the needles on my way back down. This took a bit less than 4 hours from the summit over to Discovery Pinnacle. I basically tried to hit every needle I could excluding the S Brutal Towers. 5-6 hours by doing them on the way up seems reasonable though is obviously harder.

-Rick

This August, if I get the permit, I will hike from the Portal to Trail Camp the first day, then on the second day, I'll head up the switchbacks, and plan on bagging Muir, Day Needle and Keeler Needle on my way to a night on the summit. I figure that these three side trips will take about 2.5 to 3 hours.

Michael T.

That is helpful. I will have him check out the pictures on your website. He told me he has looked through them before.

Hi Rick....I have been looking for close up pictures of the Whitney crest peaks for some time. That was very interesting going from peak to peak all the way down to Mt. Muir. That sure is different then walking down the trail. I can see why it would take "hours" longer then staying on the trail.

In your photo album 7/22/2006 I noticed that you also continued over Discovery Pinnacle along the ridge close to Mt. Marsh....before dropping down to the trail. I always wondered if that was possible. You showed it is.

I didn't realize how early you were on the summit of Mt. Whitney until I read your notes. That was one early start, being there around 6:00 am.

What a trip. I am glad you posted a response to Andrew's question.

Hi One night a young man came into the store and we called his sister to report her husband would not be coming home.The ridge line is a serious event due to loose rock in certain areas. Thanks Doug

The Needles along the ridge look so safe, when compared to many other things in the area. Though painful, it is good to be reminded of the need to be safe and not get close to the edge.