Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board It's blowin like crazy up there.

wbtravis,
As they say if you don't like the weather in the Sierras just wait a few hours.
I know I have told you before but I relied heavily on your website for my Whitney Summit last year. Thank you sooooooo much again.

such a nice read. Glad the injured came out ok, and that many of you summited.

That is the God's honest truth.

I was going up Piute Pass on Labor Day weekend in shorts and a t-shirt with it snowing.

My coldest nights in the Sierra, and not by design, have been in summer and early fall, not winter. I just seem to be in the Sierra in the winter when it snows or is relativity warm.

Thanks again, Doc.

It is difficult to tell you how long it will take you to reach the summit from Guitar Lake.

We left the tarns above Guitar Lake at 2 AM and got there around 5-5:30 to be there at sunrise. I've also done it in 4:30 to 5 hours. Everything is predicated on you, your load, your fitness and how you are handling the elevation.

Here's an example of what I mean, we passed this guy who was still sleeping above Hitchcock Lakes the last time we took this route. We had at least a :45 minute lead and he passed us at just as reached the mountain, about 1/2 mile from the summit. And we are no slouches in the speed department, we made the summit within an hour from Lower Trail Crest.

With that said, figure 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 MPH from Guitar to the summit.

We take about 6 to 7 hours from the summit to WP but we stop to eat and frolic in creek at Trailside Meadow. There is nothing like a good head dunk and foot soak to make the day a bit more pleasant.

We left Guitar at 440 am. Hit 13000 ft at about 6 am. There were some dark clouds over Whitney so we cautiously made our way to the summit watching the weather getting there about 830, spent about 10-15 minutes up there and bailed. We got back down to the portal around 330pm. A beast of a descent!!