Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney training hikes

I will post a report next week, there doesn't seem to be much info out there on Dana right now, so hopefully I can help!

Quick report on Mt. Dana hike: Definitely go. The trailhead is directly behind the entrance to Yosemite at Tioga Pass, no signs but it's pretty clear that it's a trail (it is on the south side of Tioga Road). The peak is in full view. There is snow at the start of the trail, but it is consolidating and you can either go around the snow or right over it. It's wet and soggy in the beginning, but not deep or very muddy. We started around 8:15 a.m., could have gone a little earlier (so that the snow further up would be firmer on the way down for faster glissading). Waterproof boots probably help (but you could do it in trailrunning shoes), I brought gaiters too, not needed. Ice axe and crampons definitely not needed. Trekking poles are very helpful. The beginning half hour is a gradual climb, then it gets much steeper, there are few switchbacks, and they are short if there are any. There are many ways to hike this and "trails" (term used loosely here) go everywhere, we stayed generally towards the leftmost (east) ridge of the peak, just to the right (west) of one of the snowfields. The key to making the hike easier and faster is finding the best route up the mountain by keeping an eye out for a good trail and sticking with it while making sure you're still heading towards the summit, and avoiding rock scrambling and climbing up loose rock, which we luckily were able to avoid. We saw others struggling with their routes and then finding the route were were taking as a pretty good one. There are at least three snow fields (I think around 1:06, 1:18, 2:12), much easier to go around them on the way up than over them although they were firm enough in the morning to walk on without slipping or postholing (glissading is great on the way down, trekking poles good enough, ice axe not needed), turning very soft in the afternoon. There's a false summit that is a good place to take a break, although there's no shade. Then it flattens a bit over the last snowfield and then straight up to the top. You can find a good trail the whole way. I drank quite a bit of water before the hike, and took 70 oz up, drank about half on the way to the summit. Summitted a little under 2:50. Super views, fun with the marmots. Back down in 1:30. Felt fine, although I didn't have a huge appetite (unusual for me). I got a headache on my way down interestingly enough, which went away as we drove down towards Yosemite Valley. Glissading was good, the earlier the better, gets a little slushy by 11 a.m. The sun is very strong out there. Enjoy!

Thanks for the report. Sounds like you had a great hike. We should have clear sailing two weeks from today; might have to pass on the glissading by then, though.

Hiked Vivian Creek Trail today to the top of San Gorgonio and ran into a bear along the way. The weather was beautiful above the marine layer. It was socked in all day long in the valley, but above the marine layer, it was nice and sunny.

Some people say that if you can hike San Gorgonio, you can hike Whitney. Is this true? Would anyone like to comment on that statement? Thanks for any insights anyone can provide.

Icantiwont,.. Thinking about hiking San Gorgonio via Vivian Creek this week. How long did it take you? Anything to comment on? Thanks

If you hiked San G in one day using the vivian creek trail, Whitney is certainly doable, with one caveat. The top of San G (11,500) is about where Whitney starts to get difficult. It all depends on how you respond to the altitude. Whitney is centainly longer, but less steep overall the Vivian Creek trail. I found that this was the best training hike of all that I did, in my first Whitney attempt, which I made. pace yourself, drink lots (and lots!) of water, and you can make it!

If you can do the South Fork Trail and Vivian Creek Trail on tSan Gorgonioo, with no (or virtually no ) altidude problems, then you stand a very good chance of doing Mt. Whitney in one day. I wasn't a hiker last year until 5 weeks prior to doing Whitney. I started with the 4 mile trail hike up Glacier Point on Memorial Day weekend, did San Gorgonio South Fork (22 mi. round trip (started at 11:30 and returned at 9:00pm), then San Jacinto across the valley the next weekend, then Vivian Crfeek trail up San Gorgonio the next. We did Mt. Whitney July 5th 2002 (perfect weather!) We left the Portal at 5:00, summitted at 12:00 noon, rested 1 hour, and walked down in 5 hours. My feet were killing me the last 5 miles, but I knew we had a hot tub and Sam Adams waiting for us at Dow Villa Hotel.
We are going to try to do Whitney again June 29th without doing any hiking. I really don't expect to have as easy a time as last year, but it should be "fun."
Just do a few grueling hikes, some at altitude, and you'll do fine if you are in reasonably fair shape. Even if you (we) don't summit, you will see really fantastic country!

Erich. We had a group of six people doing the hike. We started from the parking lot at 7 a.m. Originally, we tried to all stayed together. The first 1.2 mile up to Vivian Creek campsite is a real butt kicker. Just past Vivian Creek campsite, and before Halfway campsite, we ran into a bear. Looked like it was bigger than a cub, but smaller than grown bear. From Halfway, the we broke into two groups (4 and 2). The group of 4 arrived at High Creek campsite at around 11:15 a.m. and stopped for lunch. I don't recall how long we were there. Just about 50 yard above High Creek campsite is your LAST place to filter water. Above there you'll have to count on melting snow for water. The first group summited at 1:30 p.m. and the second group at 2:15 p.m. On our down, one of our group member re-injured his knee, so we all decided to hike at his pace. We came off the trail at 7:30 p.m.

Darylrose, thanks for your comments. It makes me feel much better about my ability to make Mt. Whitney. The rabbit in our group happened to be the one who re-injured his knee, and also seem to had suffered from a bit of altitude sickness.
I think the rest of the group was fine with the altitude (some had minor headaches).

I'm going to try and hike Mt. Wilson this weekend. It's much lower in elevation with a distance of (15 to 19 miles) depending on the trail.

icantiwont: I used Mt. Wilson for my training hikes for Mt. Whitney. I did it at 4 and 2 weeks in advance. I took 3 hours up and 2.5 down and was sore after the first one but not the second one, two weeks later. I had alot of bugs near the top of Mt. Wilson so be prepared. I plan to do Wilson 2 more times before I go up to Mt. Rainier in July. Have a great time.

Computer N*rd,

Which route did you take up to Mt. Wilson? Do you know where I can locate current trail conditions for Wilson? I know it rained last weekend and the toll road up to Henninger was like slush. At least, that's what one of my coworker told me.