Whitney hike 3/9/08

[Mountaingoat]

Left San Diego at 1 AM, parked 1 mile below trail head (because of snow) Started hiking at 6:45 AM, too late for my liking, but we had the time change.
Complete snow coverage level down to about 9000'. Temperature was about 25 when I started.
Made it to about 13000' where the cables are, just below trail crest (for those who are familiar with the trail)
My turnaround time was 1:00PM. Made it back to the car by 4:30 PM. Conditions at that time and the lower elevations were pretty bad. Slushy snow and a lot of post holing. (Temp about 47 at Portal
Left Lone Pine about 5:00PM and returned to San Diego by 10:00PM
All in all a great hike, and I ran into a Board member when I returned to my car (Moosetrack, we had a nice chat)

Berne

[Tim Le]

Wow, that's some day. Reminds me of last summer when I drove up to Yosemite to day hike Half Dome. Left house in Riverside at midnight, got to Yosemite at 6:00am, did some sightseeing while hopelessly searched for an open campsite, started hike at 9:00am, found huge crowds at the cables at 2:00pm, eventually summited and returned to car at 9:00pm. All the food services were closed!...was so incredibly sleepy and hungry. Drove out to Oakhurst and ate at a McDonalds then crashed for the night at a rest stop in Fresno. Don't think I'll ever do that again but nevertheless, an awesome day I'll never forget--just like your Whitney hike.

[Mountaingoat]

Yeah sometimes you have days like that, but unfortunately I don't have more time (due to my work schedule) to do these things, that are important
to me.
Anyway thanks for your post and I hope to maybe see you sometime on the trail! Gorgonio and San J. are on my regular list.

Berne

[hvydrt]

how did the chute adjacent the switchbacks look????

[MooseTracks]

Berne:
Congratulations on your marathon day! It was great to meet you below the Portal on Sunday afternoon. It was perfect up there!
Have fun when the rest of your family comes into town soon!
-Laura

[Mountaingoat]

hvydrt,

The chute just below trail crest had really good snow coverage. Would have been really easy to ascend straight up on Sunday, if it hadn't been for my turnaround time.

[beastie]

Mountaingoat,

That’s amazing; fantastic day that must have been! You the goat!

[FIGHT ON]

Tim Le.
I did almost the same thing about 20 years ago. Me and three of my friends left Pasadena on Friday at 6pm in a 1974 open bed Datsun Pickup, two in the back and two up front, and arrived at the parking lot at the base of Half Dome at midnight. Went to sleep on the ground and started hiking at 6 am Saturday. Got to the top of Half Dome and staggered back down to my truck at exactly 6 pm. We jumped back in and drove back Saturday night to Pasadena just before midnight. I think Mountaingoats trip beats ours because he did not sleep, drove and hiked further and did it within 24 hours. Way to go goat dude. FIGHT ON

[Tim Le]

Right on, Fight On. I agree, Mountaingoat got us beat. The hardest part of these trips isn't even the hiking, it's the stupid driving. I was so sleepy while driving that windy 40 mile stretch of I-41 in the dark, it's a miracle I didn't crash my car.

Btw, one way to beat Mountaingoat is with a Three Saints Day

[zippetydude]

I like doing Whitney the second week of September - not too many people, no snow at all, and if you go on a Thursday, no traffic and no problem getting a same day permit. It's still a long day, but as you know, it's such a beautiful trip.

For Halfdome, I'd recommend doing it as a one way trip. I started at Tuolumne, but you can start at Tenaya if you like. From there, it's a little farther, but there's a lot of downhill, so you can cover it quickly. I got to the cables at about 9:00 a.m., and there were maybe 10 people on the cables and 20 or so on top.

I never knew there were crowds until I saw postings on the Whitney Portal board. There's a bus that runs each day, and I think it's about $20 or so, maybe a little less, and you can take it back to your starting point.

Incidentally, if you start from the top, you can swing by Clouds Rest, which is just as spectacular (read: scary) as Halfdome in its own way. The trail going down the back side is very nice, and you'll get some beautiful views of Halfdome as you approach it.

z