Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board 3 weeks to go!!! Any last minute advice?

Hello all!

I am leaving in 3 weeks to hike Whitney. I have to admit, I have been slacking on my training all summer, but have been pretty serious the last month or so. My training has involved starimaster for 20-30min, 3X a week, running approx. 10-15 miles (total) a week, weight training, and swimming every other day.

I also plan to hike a 17.5 mile trail at least 2-3 times before I leave w/a heavy backpack.

Do you think this is good enough of a crash-course training?

Does anyone have any last minute advice? I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you! See you all up on the mountain! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!!!

have you had a chance to get into upper elevation? this would be very important within a couple weeks of your hike. hows your equipment list? got everything you need? how about your hiking partners? are they prepared?

T LYLES

I live in flatland MICHIGAN and so, I will not be able to get into upper elevation until I get to teh Sierra's. We'll have about 5-6 days to acclimate once we get there, and plan to hike Half-Dome before Whitney.

As far as my list, I think I have everything I need except for a water filter? How crucial is that or do you think I can get by from bringing a lot of water?

Feet are always a weak point, so I'd make sure that your feet & boots are very well acquainted. Doing your stairmaster with a pack would be a smart thing to do and I would add some uphill hiking with a pack approximating your Whitney load to work all the right muscle groups. Finally, some altitude work in the week before your climb is the best way to avoid altitude sickness.

Oddly enough, I was from sea level and followed a training schedule similar to yours but more strenuous. About 40 mins on the stairmaster 4-5 X per weeks with 15 miles of running plus surfing 4 to 5 times a week for 3 to 4 hours at a time.
I performed fine at altitude, the thing that I was not prepared for is the mental game and how quickly you get winded becuase you are not acclimated. Don't let that get to you! Press on and take aspirin with you. Start on aspirin the day before and take one every 4 hours to speed the acclimation. Also, dehydration at altitude happens very quickly while at the same time you don't realize it. The air is dry and sucks the moisture out of you. Keep up the training regiment and best of luck!

Cessna-

What is the purpose in taking aspirin prophylactically? I don't know of any literature that suggests that it helps with altitude acclimitization - can you point me to it? Also, aspirin makes you sweat, which increases the need for water, which is already a problem at altitude as you pointed out.

You do not say whether you are doing it as a long day hike or backpack trip....

But I just did it last week as a 3 day backpack. One day to Trail Camp. The second day to summit and back to Trail Camp and the 3rd day out.

I tried going lighter. I used Iodine tablets to purify water and left my older katahdin filter in the car and went with a foam pad instead of the heavier thermarest and used my light sleeping bag.

I probably won't know for a few days (g) if the iodine was a good choice or not for purifying the "lake" water at Trail Camp.

Just take your time.

I also acclimatized at Rock Creek Lake campground, approximately 9500 feet. It is between Mammouth and Bishop at the Tom's Place turnoff. I hiked up to Mono Pass (not the one in Yosemite) and Morgan Pass.

I did have trouble sleeping at Whitney Portal campground (8,300 feet) and at Trail Camp (12,000). I took Tylenol Caps before hiking to the summit after very little sleep and again that night after summit and think that helped.

I did get lightly queasy on the way in between Mirror Lake and Trail Camp. It may be because I ate too much at Outpost Camp (9:30am lunch!!!) and immediately started hiking up again or it may have been anything. I felt fine as for strength, just a bit queasy. I did not have any queasiness or headache to the summit but the last mile to the top felt like someone had added lead to my legs.

I felt great on the summit and spent about two hours up there.

We had lots of wind from Mirror Lake up and overnight but not much on summit day. We had some rain and hail after coming back to Trail Camp after the summit during dinner time.

Have a great trip.

current7,

To answer the question in your second post. Bring a water filter. Carrying all the water you'd need would be way to heavy. 1 gallon of water weighs 8lbs.

Some folks like to use iodine to treat their water but most complain of the taste.

The bottom line is it's your choice to either filter or use iodine.

Enjoy your climb, if you succeed it will be one of the most enjoyable things you have ever done.

hiiker

I might ***** people out on this one but I also train at sea level and hike Whitney with no significant acclimation time. When you are hiking up there it seems that you just can't get enough oxygen with each breath so I simulate that the best I can. During a twenty five or thirty minute workout I pull the chest strap on my pack real tight so that I cannot take a full breath no matter how hard I try. Then I hit the hills or in your case the stair master. Does it help? I can't say for sure but I know it simulates how I feel on the 99 and my hike are stronger and fast each year. I've been thinking about adding ankle weights too. Good luck, sounds like you have trained well.

GRINDER

I found a lot of people carry too heavy of a packs up Whitney most have a difficult time when they arrive at Trail Camp because of all the weight. Conditioning is one thing but making sure your pack is as light as possible is also key to a successful trip. You might want to climb White Mountain since you are going to be in teh area it is a great way to find out how your body will react at 14,000 ft. Good luck!

Current7, sounds like you are going to be in great shape! As others have said, acclimating and pack weight are also very important if not more important. There are some great hikes out of Horseshoe Meadows which is very near Whitney and at above 10,000 feet it will help with acclimating.
Be careful with your half dome hike, if you are doing it in one day you might make yourself so sore that Whitney will be a nightmare. You might want to consider easier hikes in altitude so you don't wear yourself out before the BIG one
As far as iodine goes, the newer neutalizer tabs that come with it make the water taste fine to me, I have always used iodine tablets and have never had problems with the water, there have actually been studies and articles written that show you might not even need to treat the water at all, so with that, I use iodine just in case.

My first Whitney hike I trained at sea level for 6 months. I found Whitney to be very difficult because I had almost no experience with the altitude effect (especially on the 97 switchbacks). Since then I have spoken with others (more experienced hikers) who try to stay in shape all year and then do concentrated expercise for about 30 days before Whitney. That is my current strategy. It works fine for me. Be careful with a big hike too close to your Whitney hike. You do not want to burn yourself out and start up Whitney already sore.

Current7,

The training you have been doing is good and should get through the Whitney experience, as long as you don't have problems with the altitude. I would definitely recommend doing Half Dome before Whitney, though leave 3-4 days between hikes to rest up. Depending upon your age, you might want to allow even more time between hiking Half Dome and Whitney. Bring gloves with you in your pack for the Half Dome cables, the gloves they have lying around are yucky. You might also want to do the 4 Mile Trail, which begins at the valley floor and goes up to Glacier. This is an elevation gain of 3,400 feet in 4.6 miles and if you can't do this, forget about doing Whitney. But I'm sure you can with your training.

Sleep at altitude for a least 3 days before Whitney. Popular places for this are Touloume Meadows in the high country of Yosemite, Mammoth Lakes (elevation 8,600 where most of the hotels are located)or you can sleep in your car or camp at Whitney Portal. Coming from Michigan, altitude is the big unknown for you. I also run and do a lot on the Stairmaster, but nothing can duplicate actually hiking. Yoy didn't mention hiking in Michigan. Whitney has miles of high boulder type of terrain where you have to step up and push off each step. This can't be replicated on a Stairmaster.

As for hydrating, this is crucial! Drink at least a gallon the day before your ascent and I recommend drinking 48 ounces before you even hit the trail, then drink 20 ounces an hour thereafter. Whether you filter your water or tote your own is up to you. Best of luck! I look forward to reading your trip report.

Instead of the stairmaster, get out and mountain bike up some hills. Nothing will build you leg muceles more than biking steep hills or even running hills. I ran cross country for 3 years in high school(I just graduated this year) and after running hills you feel like you can to anything. I have never really belived that electronic equipment works you as hard as being out in the elements. I'm used to running now in 100+ temps from training all summer in socal. Mountain biking builds all your leg muceles and back.

Just my opinion, Matt in socal!

I agree mountain biking is a better actual exercise than the Stairmaster, but the Stairmaster replicates the motion of hiking much better than biking. It builds up the quads which are specific to hiking. If you put the incline of the Stairmaster to 6% or so, you'll burn 300 calories an hour at 150 pounds... pretty good. I'm curious, do they even mountain bike in Michigan? This is a serious question.

Sounds like you are in great shape. We trained for 5 months before our summit. We walked Gavoita Peak(3.5 miles, 2100ft elv. gain to the top)every weekend adding 5lbs. to our packs until we reach 50lbs. But this 3 hour work-out was our only training. We made it no problem.
I had hurt my back at work a week before our trip, some asked if I could go. I said I would crawl up if I had too. I think a lot has to do with a strong mental attitude.
Best of Luck, good weather and Happy Trails!
You'll make it!!
You will not believe the euphoria when on top of Mt. Whitney!!

Wow! Lot's of great replies, thank you so much!

Fred98055 - To answer your Q, I am planning to hike (and summit:) Witney in a day.

Candace, yes, we mountain bike in MI, although the trails can be rather lame in my opinion. Thanks for your advice and recommendations.

I plan to hike Half Dome and leave about 3-4 days in between, then head for Whitney.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to speed up the recovery? (Sore-ness remedies?)

Thanks everyone! Can't wait!

Current7,

Depending upon how much hiking you do, you may not even be that sore after Whitney... seriously. I don't think there are that many mountains (hills) in Michigan, even the ones in the Upper Peninsula don't seem to have much elevation gain. But if you hiked once or twice a week with average elevation gains of 3,000 feet, you won't be that sore after Whitney.

Of course be sure to bring band-aids and moleskin in case of blisters and wear broken-in shoes or boots.

If you are sore after Whitney, many people swear by a long, hot bath. Take it easy the next day, do a little walking about, but you probably won't want to be on your feet much of the day. I think you'll do fine based on your training. Half Dome is easier that Whitney and the summit there is comparable to the elevation at the Portal. If you can do Half Dome, you'll be able to do Whitney, as long as you're comfy with the altitude. I'll be looking forward to your trip report!

Aspirin:
Here is an abstract from an article on aspirin and altitude. Without going into the clinical details, it keeps away the altitude headache that normally accompanies a non acclimated person to altitude. Generally, some studies have shown that headache is brought on by decreased O2 saturation as a result of exercise. Those taking aspirin did not get a high altitude headache (HAH) until their O2 sat was below 85 while those in the non-aspirin control developed at 90.
Also, one of the best anecdotal treatments to prevent altitude sickness seem to be a combination of aspirin, ginko biloba and vitamin C. Randomized double blind trials have not been conducted with this combination but preliminary evidence is good so far. Anyway, here is the link to the abstract.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query...p;dopt=Abstract

PS- have a blast on your hike! I am very jealous and wish I could go too!!!