I day hiked Whitney for the 16th consecutive year (age 53) on Tue. 7/8. This year, I changed my pre-hike routine to something more ambitious. In past years, I spent the day before Whitney at Horseshoe Meadows, doing several hours of easy hiking, but that was wearing thin. Plus this year I had 4 free days in a row beforehand, and I wasn’t in the mood to sit around for so long.
On Sun., my drive up day, I hiked from Onion Valley to Robinson Lake, and then continued upward cross-country. At the moraine I took the right branch, heading towards University Peak, and turned around at 12,000’. On 3 occasions I heard and saw the dust from rock avalanches that fell off the peak above the top of the moraine.
On Mon. I did the lower and middle portion of the Mountaineers Route. I hoped to get to Iceberg Lake, however, at the upper falls below Iceberg, I climbed the first 2 short pitches, but did feel not comfortable soloing the taller third one, so that was my turnaround point. I noted that I was exactly 2/3 of the way to Whitney’s summit, so I thought that one and 2/3 Whitneys in 2 days time was enough of a workout.
The next day I did my Whitney hike which was relatively uneventful. At 13,260’ I noticed a good use trail branching off from the switchbacks, heading towards Trail Crest Peak and bisected by the chute descending from Trail Crest. I stopped after a 3-minute walk at the point where the chute snow covered the trail, at which I had a nice view looking up and down the chute. A beautiful little diversion from the switchbacks, but also a little sad too, as I thought of a favorite ex-boss, who had a brother who died in the chute a few years back. After hiking down, I felt good enough to drive to Mojave for the night.
