I day hiked the main trail on Tue. the 10th, my 15th year in a row. No alarm clock this trip and I so I hit the trail a little late at 4:35am. The weather looked uncertain with on-again, off-again overcast, and so I just kept going steady, and wound up with a personal best time, which at 52 going on 53 is something of a gift. I must give some credit for my fast time to my good friends Mike and Ike, for giving me steady energy along the way (5 ounces of them, Original Fruit flavor, my only solid food between midnight and the summit).
This year I returned to the acclimatization schedule that I followed two years ago – a single day, driving all the way from the city to Horseshoe Meadow early Mon. morning, where I spent the entire day. I took a short ramble to the remains of the old Cottonwood Sawmill (lots of metal debris), and then a casual all-afternoon hike to Hidden Lake. Last year I did the same routine the day before, but additionally, on the second day before did a hike to 12,500’, followed a night at a motel in the Owens Valley. On that trip I got some minor altitude problems on the way down from Whitney. This year, as in 2005 and before, I was fine. So sleeping lower than hiking is fine, but not yo-yo-ing up and down too much!
I stayed on the summit for an hour even though it was chilly, and still had about an extra hour to kill. I don’t like leaving for home early, so on days that I make it up in good time I do little off-trail projects after the summit. In the past this has included Keeler, Crooks, Aguille Extra. This time I decided to explore around Muir. I left the trail where I found a well-traveled gully and scrambled 100’ to the ridge. Muir was right to the north, with Class 4, so I decided to head south and did the next two bumps. I made the higher of the two bumps my lunch stop. They are not delineated in Secor’s book. Good vantage point for viewing the switchbacks so I took and posted some photos.
Switchback photos I followed the ridge down (Class 2), until it met the trail at the top of the “reverse switchback” that sits above the first window and Muir Trail junction. In a future year I may try Trail Crest Peak (the “beak peak”); also Discovery Pinnacle and beyond looks appealing. I overheard some of the later hikers say that they stopped short of the summit due to rain. I spent the night in Ridgecrest as in previous years.
While descending the switchbacks, I looked at the chute coming down from Trail Crest and was reminded of some unfinished business. Today I happened to be around the city on my day off, and went to see an old boss of mine, Stuart Tom, who was responsible for hiring me many years ago at my career civil service employer. Stuart is the younger brother of Stephen Tom, who died glissading in the chute two years ago, and today was the first time that I saw Stuart since the accident. Stuart and the parents and one of the victim’s companions did go to Whitney last year. Stuart made the summit and is open to returning again someday, and I am happy that the family has recovered well.
