Mount Whitney

Date Climbed:  May 23, 2018

Climbing Party:  Mike Everist, Robert Gowder, Aaron Dover

R/T Mileage:  22 miles

Elevation Gain:  6,131'

I just recently completed a hike of Mt. Whitney and I wanted to share my experience.

With my 40^th birthday on the horizon, something adventurous was in order.  Should it be an adventure race or a trip?  Races aren’t really my thing and trips usually just equate to sightseeing and eating in a different city.  I really enjoy hiking and adventure and thought what about Rainier??  I could get into that.  I began doing research on the routes and quickly realized I would want a guide. Many people do that trip unguided, but since my experience with glacial travel is non-existent Rainier would ultimately be out of the question.  I was disappointed to learn that the three guiding companies that guide up that mountain were all sold out by January. Bummer. 

Enter Mt. Whitney.  Standing at 14,505’, it is the highest peak in the contiguous United States.  It sits nestled in the Sierra Nevada in southern California.  It’s a 22-mile round trip adventure, and certainly would provide what I was looking for. 

Mt. Whitney is regulated by a permitting system.  To climb it, we’d need to win the permit lottery. In February, I entered 14 dates in August that were preferable and a random Tuesday in May.  Guess which one came through?  Yeah, the May date!  Just to give you an idea, in 2017 there were 15,397 permit applications and only 5,395 permits were awarded.  I was feeling very grateful to have received one.  I was going and couldn’t be happier to have this to look forward to and plan for over the next three months.  The May date provided a bit of intrigue as conditions could go either way – we could have hot temps, snowstorms or both!  For our group a few late May storms (including while we were there) ensured we’d have a snowy adventure.

The climbing party was originally slated to be (4) people, but we had a tough time filling the fourth slot.  One friend busted his knee hiking and he was out and many others couldn’t commit the mid-week time due to work constraints.  So, it ended up being three of us - my teammates Robert and Mike and I.

Planning the logistics was kind of fun.  Not really a role I’ve relished in the past, but one that gave me a good perspective of all the instruments in the orchestra.  Whitney is well situated…and to access it you can fly into Vegas, Fresno or Los Angeles.  Robert and I flew into Las Vegas and made the drive out through Death Valley.  Mike was having work done to his Sportsmobile in Fresno, so his plan was to drive out to meet us the Monday before the hike.

Since February, I had immersed myself in online reading about the town, the mountain and the route.  I kept a watchful eye on the webcam trained on the mountain.  What would conditions in May be like?  Then, one day (May 20) I woke up in that world.  Things I read about and pictures I had studied had taken form.  I felt like being in a still photograph that suddenly come to life – or like being the yellow guy from Google Maps and someone just picked me up and plopped me onto that road map.

Alabama Hills - Whitney getting nuked in the background

Weather in the preceding weeks had been great.  I knew this because Mt. Whitney has a camera trained on it which is accessible online.  Every day, twice or three times per day I would check it out and see what the weather was doing on the mountain.  I was starting to wonder if the webcam ever updated or if it really was blue skies all the time?  When we arrived, we brought the crappy weather with us.  At Whitney Portal where base camp was situated, it was rain and snow.  Robert kept saying “I’ll be damned if this weather sticks around more than two days.”  We wanted to get in some acclimation hiking, but risking getting our gear soaked wasn’t worth it.  We opted for some lower elevation hiking in the Alabama Hills, or “Little Hollywood” as it is known locally for the number of movies that use this locale to film.

The Route

We were waffling on which route to take up this mountain.  Essentially, there are two choices: 1) the Mt. Whitney Trail or 2) the Mountaineers Route.  Both can be seen in the map below.  The standard route would remain class 1 or 2 the entire way to the summit whereas the Mountaineers Route is a spicier alternative.  In the end, given the conditions we opted for the Mt. Whitney Trail.

Our route in yellow (except for the yellow beyond the ridge)

We had initially planned on hiking to Trail Camp to set up shop for the night and after talking with the folks at Big Willi Mountaineering (and Café) we were convinced to change plans and camp at Outpost Camp.  This decision was YUGE!  Camping lower meant lighter packs for a large part of the hike and it also meant we’d sleep better.  On the flip side, it also meant a longer push to the summit.

So, we got to Outpost Camp got ourselves situated and went to bed at 6PM, mostly to get out of the rain and to get rest for our early 4 AM start the next day.  By the time we rolled out of our tents, it was pitch dark and we could see stars!  The clouds had cleared, and our spirits had lifted.  There was no wind, and no way to describe the immense beauty of the sun beginning to light up the alpine zone and the cliffs above us on the Whitney Ridge.

Sunrise - here we go!

We trudged joyously to Trail Camp, singing the whole way “glad we didn’t haul our houses all the way up here!”.  It was true.  The lighter packs, clearer weather made us look like geniuses, but we owe a big thanks to Big Willi Mountaineering for the beta here.

When we got to Trail Camp we were sweating our asses off.  The sun not only came out, it came out with force.  We were shedding layers and sizing up the next challenge.  Since the 99 Switchback section of the trail was still under a lot of snow.  It was being bypassed that we boot pack a section called The Chute.  It was a grind climbing the 1200’ chute, but extremely rewarding once we got to the top of it.  Our views to the west were unobstructed and most of the elevation gain was now behind us.  The sign at the top said: “Mt. Whitney: 1.9 Miles”.  It felt like the longest 1.9 miles I had ever done - by far the most visually stunning.

Robert and Mike on top of the Chute - a fun glissade down!

Travelling along the summit ridge of Mt. Whitney

It was here that we could look off to the west and toward the Pacific Ocean.  The route was comprised of a narrow path with some precipitous drops.  We donned our spikes and axes and moved forward, slowly.  Along the way we met several people coming back saying the route had way too much snow on it and they decided to turn back.  I’ll admit that hearing this made my heart sink, but we didn’t come all this way to be turned around by some post holing issues.  Amazingly, in the end there were no post holing issues, the route was manageable the entire way to the summit.  We moved slowly, but we moved, and we made it to the summit of the lower 48.

About 1 mile to the summit of Mt. Whitney

In this era, with so much beta at our fingertips planning a trip can seem like a black hole of information.  You can spend hours or days reading trip reports from other hikers or watching their experiences first hand on YouTube and literally be provided with up to the minute conditions for any adventure imaginable.  Why would we not want to plan to the very last detail and make sure that everything is just right?  We have that ability now.  Furthermore, we hear stories of people getting into danger because of this or that.  It’s easy to find reasons to balk at making a go at it, whatever “it” is - unless everything is perfect.  Sometimes though, you just need to get out there and see the world with your own eyes.  Make a decision based on your observations and how you feel and how the team feels.  From there you can decide if you want to press on.