Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trip report from a first timer

I summitted via the Main Trail with a friend on 6/20-21 and thought I might share some of my experience. We're both experienced backpackers/climbers/mountaineers, but this was our first time on Whitney.

First off, thanks to all of the folks who contribute to this board. It is a terrific resource for first timers such as myself.

In general, we had a terrific climb. Weather conditions were hot, but not terrible. The trail conditions were excellent. This is a fair climb for those who respect the mountain and take it seriously. Here's part of my experience:

Started up the main trail at 8:30am on Friday, taking a long break at Outpost Camp to eat and chat with folks. Also took a brief break at Trailside Meadow. Rolled into Trail Camp at 1:30pm. Five hours allowed us a slow to moderate pace and plenty of time to enjoy the views. We settled in for the evening at Trail Camp.

On a sad note, I was extremely disappointed with the way Trail Camp is being treated -- particularly the garbage that is scattered about (even in the lake!) and the human waste that people seem to be depositing over the entire area. The USFS is heavily touting the success of the WAG Bag program. I'd have to disagree. People seem to be completely disregarding it. Human waste and TP are everywhere at Trail Camp. And the smell of urin is nearly overwhelming in some places. Please people, have more respect for the land and your fellow hikers!

On a more positive note, Friday evening was beautiful and the cooler temps were welcome after what was a very hot day. Saturday morning, we started up the switchbacks at 7:15am. We went very slowly in order not to burn ourselves out (we were hiking out to Portal that evening). We reached Trail Crest in about 1 hour 45 minutes.

Here's where the main problem with Whitney -- lots of inexperienced climbers -- became clear to me. We ran in to four hikers at Trail Crest that had no business being on the mountain. One, who told me he was making his second attempt at Whitney and had left Portal at Midnight, had such severe AMS (borderline HAPE/HACE, in my non-medical judgement) that he was nauseated, confused, and urinating on himself. His head was pounding and he wasn't sure he could go any further. I told him it was no joke and he needed to get to a lower altitude immediately, and asked if he needed any other assistance. His three friends seemed not even to care one bit (as I walked up to Trail Crest, one of them was "going number two" in plain sight on the side of the mountain!). It was extremely disheartening to see these kinds of idiots in the backcountry.

On with the climb ... We watched the schmucks go down from Trail Camp, and departed for the summit. We arrived at the summit at 11:15am. It was a great day up there, with warm temps and very little wind. Great photo ops, etc. It's a nice place to hang.

We left the summit at High Noon -- 12:00pm -- and headed down. At Trail Camp we packed up our gear and ate some food, then left for Portal around 3:30pm. We took our time and arrived at Portal around 6:30pm.

It was a good climb and I would recommend it to others. Just five bits of advice / heads-up stuff for other first timers that I didn't really see noted elsewhere on this board:

1. Have a good hat. The sun is intense on this mountain. Baseball hats aren't recommended. Bring one with a wide, 360 degree brim. And wear good quality sunglasses.

2. Allow for extra time. Everything on Whitney takes longer than you think. There are crowds. When I saw the switchbacks, I figured I could do them in 45 minutes to an hour. They do take longer. In hindsight, we left Trail Camp too late. On day 2, we should have hit the trail at 6:00am in order to have the summit more to ourselves (we shared it with about 10 others).

3. Be prepared for crowds and novices. I expected a higher caliber hiker/climber to be on the mountain than the ones we encoutered. You won't be alone anywhere on this mountain. Many people on this mountain are ill-prepared and uneducated about the backcountry.

4. Acclimate. We allowed 1.5 days at Portal (dayhiking near Horseshoe Lakes) and one day at Trail Camp to acclimate, and the summit was no problem at all. Could have spent the night up there. Nearly all of the problems I saw on the mountain were do to poor acclimitization skills.

5. Slow down. Consider doing this as a two-day climb. The day hikers I saw all looked miserable. They were rushing and struggling. Give yourself time to enjoy the mountain, and your fellow hikers. Take time to stop and chat with people. Stay at one of the high camps. Relax a bit. This business of rushing up the mountain, getting sick, and suffering is silly. In other words, do this as a 2-day climb. You'll be glad you did.

Again, thanks to the regular posters on this board! You guys are a great resource.

Climb high and respect ...

Congratulations! Welcome to The Club! Great TR and advice.

Sorry to hear that a "few" inexperienced "ID-10-Ts" you encountered "ruined" what was a perfect day. Nonetheless, I'm sure it was still perfect. I, too, have seen my fair share of gene pool rejects who shouldn't be up there. Two years ago between the Portal and Lone Pine Lake, I saw one gentleman toting his tent still in the box it came in! I should have taken a picture.

20 August 2005:

Wow! Small world, multiple reports/view of the same guy. The sleeping bag even looks factory rolled. Did he make it to the top?

-lance

Bob R., that is the guy I am a talking about.

I'd be rootin' for that guy in the picture. He looks like he has a lotta heart. (Rocky is one of my all-time favorite movies.)

Sharing the summit with 10 people on a summer weekend doesn't sound like a real crowd. It isn't the kind of crowds that I have heard of. Should have gone on Tues-Wed like we did where we the only ones on the summit and passed very few on the trail. It wasn't until our descent from Outpost to Portal on Thurs that we saw very many people. The Portal was crowded and I am sure that Fri-Sun meant a lot of people on the trail.

Yeah, with that smile you can't help but hope he made it up and had a good time, or at least had a good time (and he probably did).

I'm still wondering though, what were they thinking when they decided to remove that solar toilet at Trail Camp? I heard some time ago that they were going to do it, and figured it had to be some silly unfounded rumor. But sure enough, poof, it's gone. While of course people "should" use bags and do everything as they're supposed to, just having NO toilets in a place with that kind of traffic is ridiculous, and the outcome is predictable. How could the NFS even have thought it would go any other way? Using a bag is just too far removed from anything anybody does in real life, and expecting that number of people, whose only requirement is that they had $15 and hit the lottery right, to all comply. Yes, they should, but no, they won't, it's just too far removed from normal behavior. At least having a john at trail camp gave them another option.

Should have known Mr. Rockwell would have that photo.... Bob R has chronicled so many things on this mountain, it's no surprise he snapped that guy, too. Thanks for sharing, Bob
Brickie

Ain't "The Whitney Follies" grand.

I've seen unprepared folks, but this guy takes the cake! He doesn't even have a clue as to how to pack a backpack. What if he encountered a storm at the summit? WHAT??!!It LIGHTNINGS and SNOWS up there in the SUMMER??!! And you can DIE???!!! No WAY!!! This guy would have come back in a body bag.

This picture should be made into a poster and placed in the Ranger Station as what NOT to do.

And it breaks my heart that beautiful Trail Camp is now a 12,000 foot high cesspool. I'm carrying all my water next week. I was always suspicious about the pond up there, but it's got to be very polluted with all the excretement washing down from above and off the rocks at Trail CAmp.

Whether excretement or excrement, that's absolute bullsh*t. I get my water from the pristine stream that feeds the pond, because it is handy. But if someone is filtering water when I get there, I sit down beside him and get a nice big drink, au naturel. Making a point, of course.

I think that the report of poop everywhere at Trailcamp to be exagerated. I went through there last Wed 6/20 and saw no evidence of poop or TP on the trail or near the lake or lake inlet. There were some workers finishing the destruction of the Solar toilet. Maybe they left some "traces" behind. Kind of ironic if they did.

I went through Trail Camp from Guitar Lake on Monday morning, and it was very dirty, crowded, and smelly.

In answer to Bob's point of drinking from the lake there, I'm sure the inlet to the lake there at Trail Camp is fine, since it's pure runoff from the snow/source above, but I wouldn't touch the lake further down personally.

I try to avoid Trail Camp anyway---it resembles a back-country slum to me....aggressive marmots everywhere, tons of people, trash blowing all around, and it smells like poop.

While we rested there on the granite after summiting, we saw three people plop down tents and backpacks in different locations, leave their stuff to go look around, and IMMEDIATELY upon leaving their stuff unattended, marmots swooped down and tore through packs/tents to get unattended food/snacks.

It was funny to watch, but sad, too. Something should be done about these aggressive marmots---bear boxes, maybe, in the camp?

Everytime I go through Trail Camp, it seems to get worse with the dang marmots.

Sounds like it seems to get worse not necessarily beccause of the marmots but because of less responsible people who don't "take care of business" upon reaching their campsite. Since people have "trained" the marmots to be opportunistic, they will maintain the behavior as long as afforded such opportunities.

We seem to be coming full circle in the education department, here.

-L

John Muir had an answer for the marmots - I understand he said they taste like chicken

re: trail camp, as of 6/26 - 6/28, if you look for a "private" spot for wagbag purposes, chances are good you will find evidence of those who left without taking everything in their wagbag. on 6/26 going to the inlet side of the lake to grab some H2O, two other campers were seen relieving themselves awfully close to 100 ft from the water. i don't think the program's working all that well.

the tahoe fire haze was evident viewing owens valley from the summit on 6/27, but air quality mostly was no prob on the hike.

pix @ www.flickr.com/photos/joshhikes

A friend and I will be hiking Whitney on the 9th with an overnight at Trail Camp. If I set up camp and leave for some local sights can I expect the Marmots to totally infiltrate my gear? Will those little buggers actually chew through our bags etc. It all sounds really funny when you read about them but I am sure it is not so fun when in the field. Look forward to your reply.
- Marc

Yep they will raid you. I had set up my tent a few years ago and while I was only about 6 feet away putting together a camp stove the chipmunks were already inside the tent rummaging through the sleeping bag, with the marmots watching nearby.

Bob R. has it right. Know where you are getting your water from and you will be fine. That being said, I was there on 6-28 and went all the way up to the snow bank that the inlet stream comes from and had some idiot do his dishes and rinse them off, soap and all, right into the stream almost right next to me. The world is full of people that never think beyond themselves.