Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Acclimatization hikes around the Whitney area

Just looking for suggestions for acclimatization hikes close to the portal. My friends and I are climbing on a Friday and want to do a couple of hikes on Wed. and Thurs. I was thinking of doing a short trek to Lone Pine lake one day and LBS on the other. The hike to LBS may also include an ascent of Thor's Peak.
Would those be sufficient enough? Can anyone please recommend others that may be just as good/better, easy to find/access and have gorgeous scenery. Thanks a bunch.

-F

Save your energy for the Mecca West Big One.

Forget LBS or Thor...Horseshoe Meadows is your ticket for a quick acc on Wed and/or Thurs. A 10K elevation with plenty of views. Heck, a hike to Cottonwood Pass on Wednesday "may" be okay. Stay the entire day up there.

Have fun.

Personally, I would chill out and rest that Thursday before your Whitney start Friday. Hanging out at the Portal, or even at Horseshoe Meadow 1600 feet higher, will probably serve you better than expending much effort hiking - you'll be doing enough of that the next day, presumably on short sleep as well.

Are you doing the Main Trail or Mountaineer's Route? Dayhike or overnight?

Thanks. Do you have any suggestions for a site with info on trailheads, directions, routes, etc.? I have read some descriptions of HM on this site and they claim the hike is absolutely beautiful.

Resting at the portal also sounds good. We'll just have to see how everyone feels when we get there. We are planning to do a day hike up the Mt. Whitney Trail.

-F

This site has the info you are asking for:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4400-LA-Outdoor-Recreation-Examiner~y2009m7d25-Cottonwood-Pass-in-the-Golden-Trout-Wilderness

you might also click on the icons farther down to Chicken Spring Lake, or South Fork Lakes.

I agree with resting on Thursday, although spending the day at Horseshoe Meadows may be a good investment of time, not going beyond a simple stretching of the legs.

Thanks for the link. It has just been bookmarked. I think we might just do an easy hike to Chicken Spring Lake and hang out at the meadows.
I do have a concern though. How tough is the drive up to the trailhead? Some posters and sites mentioned having a steep drive up. We're gonna be traveling in a minivan filled with 5 people and gear. Assuming the vehicle is in good condition, will that be ok to drive up in? We're also probably going to get there in the evening.

-F

It's a good paved road, just a bit exposed in places. Not in the same category as some of the roads in the US on the "Most Terrifying Drive" lists (Mt. Evans, CO and Hell's Backbone, UT come to mind). More like a longer, more dramatic version of the Portal Road. A number of switchbacks and a few hairpins, but not excessively steep. Great fun in the right vehicle.

A minivan should be fine - just keep it in low gear and take your time while watching for rockfalls in the road as you round bends. There just aren't a lot of vehicles out there geared for this type of road and elevation, especially if it's a rental, so expect the up-drive to take a while. I drove it last about 2 weeks ago (night time) in a rental Charger with only 4K miles on it - lots of lurching above 8K' as it struggled to figure out a happy medium between 1st and 2nd gear when I had it in 2nd - and solve the fuel injection mix mystery of less oxygen. There are plenty of pull-outs if you need them, and not much traffic at night.

Click the Link thingy for descriptions and hiking options in Horseshoe Meadow

It's not the up that is the problem, it is maintaining a reasonable speed coming down from Horseshoe Meadow. Many folks do not realize their automatic transmissions have gears other than reverse and drive and ride the breaks most of the way down. Just put the tranny in a lower gear and watch your speed into the switchback curves and you will be just fine.

Amen to that! It'll depend on how that van is geared, but at no point on the switchbacks coming down should you have it any higher than 2nd gear - it should mostly be in 1st, and you'll still be on the brakes more than you really want on the hairpins, especially with that much weight in the vehicle.

Also, watch for road debris very carefully at night and avoid it - that granite tends to be sharp. Laura got a hugely-gashed flat in the TOF coming down at night a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks so much for all the tips. It is settled. We'll head to HM Wed. morning, hike around that area, and then camp there overnight. Thurs., assuming we get permits, will be spent lounging around the portal area. Thanks again.

-F

Thanks for all the advice. Unfortunately, we couldn't acclimate at HM because of time constraints. However, we successfully summitted Whitney on Fri the 13th. It was tough, but me and two friends (both first timers) made it up fine and without incident. Thanks again for all the help on this board and for all the help and encouragement given us on the trail. Though it was a great challenge to them, they have already told me they wanna go back again.