Chased off Whitney Summit by Lightning

[KathyW]

I'm so glad you and your family are safe.

Not on Whitney, but on another mountain I felt the buzz of electricity and my hair stand up and then the lightning, thunder, and hail came - it first struck a big boulder not too far away from us and we felt the electricity from it. It was hell getting off that ridge with no visiblity and lightning striking all around us. We could feel the electricity as it built up, and when it got really strong we'd dump the axe/poles and squat down. We proceeded slowly off the ridge and were lucky to make it down alive.

My hiking partner told me the type and density of clouds said a storm was coming and we shouldn't keep going up that ridge, but I wanted to push on to the summit; so we pushed on. I was so wrong not to listen.

That wasn't my first experience being caught in a bad spot in a lightning storm, but it was the one that made me more careful about being up high in a storm. When it says 20 percent chance of lightning/thunder, it does not really mean there will be a 20 percent chance that it will happen. What it more closely means is that 20 percent of the forecast area will have thunder and lightning, and those areas are usually the areas at the highest elevations.

[arocknoid]

Thanks for the trip report and noice photos, Sally.

Great to share that experience with family! The lightning bonus may make that an exceptionally memorable experience as time goes on, even with more family summits in the future.

kind regards,
da noid