Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board July 1 Trip Report

July 1 Trip Report (long!)

On Monday, my husband and I summited Whitney via the main trail. We are both 41 and avid hikers. This is my 13th summit of Whitney in 15 attempts (two hikes in earlier years were foiled by lightning at Trail Crest). All my other summits were in August and September, previously I'd never gone so early in the year. There were some advantages to a July 1 hike - the cooler weather - but one huge disadvantage - namely, the wind... more on that topic a bit later.

I did virtually no acclimization for this hike and was a little apprehensive about that. I usually sleep for two nights at Mammoth, but this time, I just decided to wing it, since I've never had problems with altitude in the past. We woke up at 1:45 at the Alabama Hills hotel in Lone Pine and hit the trail at 2:50. I drank two 24-ounce bottles of Gatorade while getting ready in the hotel. In August there are always other hikers at the Portal, even this early, but we saw not a soul. I never treat my water and always lug my own bottles, so I started the hike with seven 24-ounce bottles of water and Gatorade. I know other people think this is excessive, but I firmly believe the trick to succeed at altitude is hydrate constantly. But it makes for a heavy pack!

We adjusted our headlamps and hit the trail. It was already windy, but warm enough for shirt sleeves and shorts. We reached Lone Pine Lake in 1:15 and stashed 2 water bottles behind a tree near the Lone Pine Lake sign. We still had seen no one on the trail.

At Lone Pine Lake the wind became fierce and bitterly cold. All of the sudden it began to howl and the temperature must have dropped from 60 degrees to 40 degrees in a matter of minutes. We put on our jackets and the wind was hitting in the face in a fierce and constant manner. The gusts were constant and about 50 MPH, maybe more. I hate hiking in a head wind and the wind continued on without respite through Mirror Lake, the "grand staircase" and on to Trail Camp.

We finally rested and hid behind some rocks at Trail Camp and stashed 4 more water bottles behind a boulder. I have never aborted a Whitney hike before, except due to a lightning storm, but the wind was making this hike a a definite challenge. It was hard mentally to hang with the constant gale-force winds. To make matters worse, the wind was so bad below Trail Camp, it blew off my sunglasses and over a ridge, so I had no sunglasses for the remainder of the hike. The wind also nearly blew me over several times and made eating next to impossible. The wind blew away two bags of chips and some of my donuts. I guess some lucky marmots benefited from my loss.

The first people we saw were at Trail Camp. I'm accustomed to August and September, when they are dozens of campsites, but there were only about 4 tents there. We asked a lady there how bad the wind had been that night and she said, "a living hell!"

We slung our packs on and now began the switchbacks. Finally, before the cables, the wind abated, but only for about 10 minutes. It was the first time in several hours that I didn't hear that deafening wind sound in my ears. The altitude was beginning to bother me just a little with a slight headache, a little dizziness and an audibly pounding heartbeat when I leaned against a rock to take a breather. We saw a few hikers on the switchbacks, but only a couple. I will add that the cables are still down and there are two pretty dicey sections of trail near the cables where you have to tip toe on the edge of snow and lean towards the ridge. Anyone with a fear of heights or not experienced at hiking would not like these two sections. If anyone wants more detail about these sections, just post and I will elaborate.

We reached Trail Crest and the wind now became a positive danger. I had to hang on to the Trail Crest sign in order not to be blown over the edge (I'm not joking). Two other men were there who had come up from Trail Camp that morning and they turned back, saying it was too dangerous to proceed. We came close to turning back, but trudged on. It was very cold and our windbreakers barely kept up warm.

The back side of the mountain was absolutely horrible due to the wind. All of you who have done Whitney know that the trail here is rocky and more narrow. I've never been afraid of the windows, but now I was because I seriously thought the wind might suck me through one of them and deposit me 3,000 feet below. With the windows, we waited a couple of minutes until the gale died down a bit and then rushed by on the trail. I usually enjoy the back section of the mountain so much, because you're getting close to the summit and the views over Guitar and Hitchcock lakes are so nice. But on Monday, I was miserable and had to concentrate 100% on the trail and try to stay upright to make the summit.

There is a long section of snow below the summit, before you turn right and head on up. I don't hike with trekking poles (I wear Cho Pat knee supports instead), and I had to go on all fours to traverse with difficult section.

We finally reached the summit at 9:30 am, in 6 hours and 50 mins. I usually make the summit in a faster time, but so much time was spent in battling the nasty wind. I was mentally exhausted and not enjoying the hike and was down about that. There was only one other man at the summit and we only stayed about 5 minutes because the wind was gusting at 60 MPH.

By the time we reached Trail Crest on the descent, the winds had decreased dramatically and picked up again only intermitedly, mostly at Trail Camp and descending along the rocky areas before Mirror Lake. So I assume the wind was just an early morning phenomenon on this day. I am sure that most only day hikers qho summited later on in the day will not have experienced the severe winds. Interestingly, we only saw 4 other hikers who were wearing the orange day hiker permit for July 1. I'd be interested to hear anyone else's trip reports.

The hike down was uneventful and we saw very few people and no day hikers, just some people milling about the campsites. We reached the car at 2:40, so the whole trip took us 11 hours and 50 minutes. I felt happier about the whole experience once it was completed, and the wind wasn't a problem at all later in the day on the descent.

A word about conditioning for this hike: I am a firm believer in physical fitness and have been a exercise demon all my life. On all previous hikes to Whitney, I prepared the same way: I ran 35-40 miles a week, did the stairmaster for 40 mins. three times a week and lifted weights 3 times a week. This year I was unable to do as much exercise because I broke my clavicle in March and it's been very slow to heal. I still run 20 miles a week, but cut down on the Stairmaster and couldn't life weights at all. So I was in lousier physical shape than on previous Whitney hikes.

My best round-trip time to Whitney was 10 Hours and 20 minutes when I was 37. My worst time was 11 hours and 52 minutes at the age of 40. So, even with diminished exercise, I still did it under 12 hours, which pleases me because I like to hike fast, rest infrequently and enjoy it that way. My training hikes for this Whitney hike were: Half Dome, Alta Peak, San Gorgonio, Mt. Baldy, Cloud's Rest, Mt. Tallac (Lake Tahoe) and Kearsarge Pass.

So, for first timers to Whitney I suggest the following: be physically fit, mentally prepared for adverse conditions, acclimate and hydrate. I drank all of my fluids and drank constantly. I had no adverse effects from the altitude except a small headache. If you properly prepare for Whitney, you will have a good choice in making the summit and returning on one piece.

Thanks for listening! Have a safe and happy hike.

Wow! Sounds like quite the trip. Glad you made it one piece. We plan to hike this coming weekend.

Last time we did it about 2 weeks later in the month, and only had minor wind along Trail Crest. Nothing near what you described.

Anyone know if that kind of wind is typical in ealry july?

Thanks!

Boy, can I ever confirm there was wind yesterday! My 13 year old son and my brother and I attempted a Whitney hike July 1. We left Portal at 4:00 sharp in the morning. Thing's went OK till a little after Lone Pine lake, then the hurricane started. Wind was so bad it knocked over my son who weighs about 110; he wasn't wearing a pack at that time. He scraped himself up so badly my brother escorted him back down; no way he could bag the peak bleeding and with the wind.

So I mosied on up alone, but lost my battle with the wind at trail camp. It was so brutal I couldn't keep on my sunglasses, the wind would rip them off. I finally taped them around my cap! Since I went to the top of Whitney in '99, I decided to quit at the second switchback because I was afraid I was gonna be blown off the mountain. Did any day hiker get the top besides you? I never have seen such winds, and I come from Palm Springs, where wind is king.

Sounds like you had a good but rough hike with all of the wind.

A group of three of us will be attempting Whitney on the 4th of July for the first time. We are planning on starting about midnight as we are slow hikers. Any details about the dicey sections of the trail would be appreciated. Thank you.

Here's the lowdown on the dicey sections of the trail. I'm sure these sections will be the same for you on July 4. If you leave early enough, there will still be sections of ice on the switchbacks and occasionally, below them. If you have trekking poles, this won't be a big deal, but if not, it will slow you down and be a little awkward. You have to walk very gingerly over these icy sections, which are primarily on the lower parts of the switchbacks. They're very slippery and pretty extensive in spots. On the descent, the sun had melted away the ice, but it re-forms in the cold of the evening. If you leave after 5:00 am, I doubt this will be a problem, because it will have melted by the time you reach them.

The cables are down, there are only poles up and the poles are wobbly (I know, because I clutched on to them and felt them wobble). :-) The three main sections that might worry some people are:

1. About two switchbacks before the cables: there is a hard snowpack about 4 feet high covering the entire trail with the exception of about six inches where there is a *very* narrow footpath on the side where there is almost a sheer drop off. This is about 30 feet of path. If you fell here, you would be injured for sure, though you'd probably survive. If you're a hiking novice or scare easily, you have to be very careful here and lean into the snowpack, away from the edge, and traverse slowly over loose rocks. I saw one hiker just blithely skip on over this section and I saw two women turn around and not attempt it.

2. The cable section is less dicey, though it might also pose a bit of a problem for inexperienced folks. Again, hard snow covers the trail, except for 6-8 inches on the side where the cable poles are. You have to use one hand to grasp the cables and steady yourself as you traverse this section, where these is a sheer drop off. It would be hard to fall off the edge here, but I suppose if you tripped or stumbled, this would be a possibility.

I don't want to scare anyone, this advice is meant really only for people who have not hiked much and haven't encountered these trail conditions. Many people would blow off these two sections and not think anything about them.

3. About a half mile from the summit, there is a lengthy hard snowpack section on the narrow trail. On your ascent, this will be on your left and there are again some pretty sheer dropoffs. If you have trekking poles and hiking boots, you can make this section fine. If you have running or trail shoes, your shoes will get wet because you'll sink down into snow, even when postholing it. You can go around this section to the right as you ascend, but it's tough going and hard to manouver on the ridge. Two groups of people I saw on Monday hesitated a long time here and finally went around the snow, but seemed stranded for awhile, unsure of which way to go and where to put their feet.

The vast majority of the trail is in great condition and these 3 problem areas are very brief and wouldn't worry most people. But it's best to be prepared, and be aware of these few minor concerns on the trail. Best of luck and have a safe, fun hike!

Regarding snow and cables see the images at:

www.homepage.mac.com/artomis

Mt. Whitney Trail

I hiked to the summit on the June 28 and even by nice weather and sun some parts were frozen, but can be done if you are carefull.
There is snow just before Trail Crest too, few feet only but for beginers can be problem.
Take care.

I stopped on the 2nd or 3rd switchback, but there was plenty of icy sections there, and after I got to the portal, talked to 4 different hikers who had gotten as far as trail crest on 7-1. All complained about the wind + three of them said the part before the cables was really scary. The gal said that one wrong step and you'd be toast. I'm just quoting her, as I said, I didn't get that far. The other hiker who got to trail crest stopped 'cause of the wind. He mentioned the cable section and said it was narrow over rocks and said the cable poles weren't secured because they moved a lot when he clutched on them.

Hope the wind will stop for ya'll starting on the 4th of July!

I wonder if it is less windy on the MR. I've only done it twice, but both times the wind never gusted to more than 5mph and even that was rare. This made for a decent night's sleep at Iceberg. However, at the top, the wind was stronger, maybe 20+ and bitterly cold (it was March).

Does anyone know if MR sees less wind?

Our party of 4 summited as well on July 1 - celebrating Canada day on the summit! But, it was too cold to sing our national anthem! We left the portal around 5:00am and summited 10:00am. Candace, was that you sitting at the top looking over the Owens Valley - we only saw 2 people when we arrived on top? This was my 9th time to the summit but like Candace, it was also the earliest in the year I'd been to the top. We were definitely surprised by the cold wind starting so low down at Lone Pine Lake, in past trips it hasn't hit too bad until trail crest. It was nice to have a "quiet" day on the trail, when I reserved the permits there were still about 75+ day permits available! The cold wind made the going a bit miserable, but we never felt it dangerous, just cold. After about 10 minutes on the summit we ran back down to the sunshine of trail crest and, as usual, the day continued to heat up as we continued the descent, arrived at the portal around 1:15pm. One of the best things about a Whitney summit has always been the fries, beer & sunshine at the Portal store and we were not disappointed!

One advantage to the early season trip was the volume of skypilots going up the switchbacks, they were profuse. As well, there were cacti in full regal pink bloom a few hundred feet above the store & snowplants still around in the parking lot.

All in all, a great Canada day and a fun way to show a few of my friends the beauty of the Sierras.

Daskew,
Wow, you made a roundtrip in 9 hours and 15 minutes? Hats off to you, that is an incredible time. Were you a party of four men with trekking poles and long pants? If so, I saw you walking by while resting a bit at Trail Camp on the descent. You had your orange tags attached to your packs, right? You couldn't have seen me sitting on the summit, when I was there it was so windy I never got a chance to sit down.

You guys are awesome hikers with such a time. Way to go!

Candace,
Not that it's a big deal but..we were 8.25 roundtrip - I know many who do it much faster, acclimatization is a big key, we were actually slower this year and other than one more year into old age I think the altitude was the reason! We weren't the 4 guys with poles, we were actually 3 women & 1 guy (mid-40's), all in shorts & 3 of us wearing our Canada flag socks! I think we passed some people near the snowpatch on the way down but can't remember for sure, we were in a hurry to get down to the sun! Also, we may have missed each other at trail camp. Congrats on your trip as well, other than the wind it sure was a beautiful day.

Duh... math was never my long suit, as my post proves. 8:25 roundtrip time is fabulous, you should be extremely proud of yourself. I think I was too dazed by the wind to notice any Maple Leaf socks, I'm sorry I missed you. With such a fast time, maybe you went by in a blur! LOL. Have you ever tried a Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike? That's 23 miles and I bet you could do that in a sub-9 hour time. Thanks for sharing your trip report.

Daskew, Holy Cow is 8:25 one killer time. I'm assuming you have to done a good deal of trail running for this time? How can anyone hike or walk the whole entire way in this time? Please tell us how much trail running you did. Aside from the summit, did ya'll rest any? Truly impressive.

Scotty

Yep, I do a lot of long distance trail running as do the other 3 friends I summited with. I can't think of a better way to spend a day than running or moving fast amongst sparkling white granite and under a Sierra blue sky. We did not run one step on the way up, treated water twice & stopped at Trail Crest both up 'n down to eat and relax - probably about 30 minutes rest in all. We did smell the flowers - anyone else notice how sweet those sky pilots smell? Also very much enjoyed watching the chubby marmot lumber down the snow towards trail camp in search of breakfast. My usual time up is 4 hours +/- and down about 3-3.5 depending on how bad I'm craving fries & beer!! This year tho, going up so early, we were not acclimated very well and 3 out of 4 dealt with mild headaches and some stumbling around. Basically, we just keep moving at a good clip on the way up & honest, we do enjoy ourselves. The way down can be pretty quick but I never run it out that hard, it's just too beautiful that I'm not in that much of a hurry for it to end. As most pepople on this board have said, the more fit and acclimitized you are the easier & faster it is.

Deborah, May I ask how old you are? You mentioned in your 40's. Pat yourself on the back, your time is super and an inspiration to me, who will be 46 in September. I agree with you that you don't miss anything (scenery, etc.) by going faster. If are physically able to go faster, why the heck not? I can't imagine trail running in the rocky sections below trail camp though, you know, from trail camp to mirror lake is all rocky. One slip there and you could take a nasty spill. Thanks for sharing all this, it makes me want to train harder. Way to go.

Scotty - I'm 45, the rest of our party was 37, 46 and 49. Not a spring chicken amongst us ;-)

Let me spill the beans, so to speak, and tell you that Deborah is being modest. Last year she finished 23rd overall (1st Californian) at the Leadville 100 mile trail race in Leadville, Colorado. Oh ya, she covered the 100 miles, at altitude, in 23 hours and 4 minutes. I'll leave you to do the math....
And in recognition of the originator of this thread congratulations go out to Candance on your achievement.

Deborah and your entire party, you guys are incredible. Congratulations to all of you. If I could be half as fit or as fast, I would be one lucky man. This whole thread has made me feel great. I felt bad because I couldn't summit and now I am more inspired than ever to get back up there. In fact, I just today bagged a permit for the first week in August. Thanks Deborah and everyone else for motivating me.

Good on ya Scotty. Hope you have a perfect day for your August adventure. I was turned back by weather twice before my first successful summit in 1996. It will just be that much more rewarding. Enjoy & play safe.