MT. WHITNEY

[FIGHT ON]

Great shot!

[FIGHT ON]

Hi Jim. My bad. I thought you were a 100% filtering guy.

I'm certainly not against filtering, I'm just against carrying filters!

Hey, anybody got a good picture from Whitney looking south, zoomed in on the 97 switchbacks? That might be interesting for Tina to see. I love looking down at the trail, way off in the distance, and marveling at how far it looks, and how it seems to go on forever, back and forth, down and down... and then realizing I've already done the hard part and come up that way. Makes the accomplishment all the more real. Anyone with a link?

z

mr z. you can get a real good view of all the area on google earth. Check it out Tina!

[THETRACK]

The TRACK here...I ran into you TINAB. a few months ago doing CAT2CL on May 10th....from Santa Monica and do CAC twice a year....heading to Whitney this weekend for our 9th straight time. Always do it in one day and I would suggest using a filter at Trail Camp unless you are a camel and need no water. We usually start at 2 or 3am, but this time i am going with mi amigo who is a bit slower so we are starting at midnight. I have done times from 13 to 17 hours in duration. Bring warm gear !!! is my biggest suggestion. Reaching Trail Crest and having wind blowing can get a bit nippy...missed you by a week, the lottery pick came up this Saturday, but i also had the 6th on request. I will give you a review next week.

I have one pass for anyone who needs a free TAG for this Saturday..

THE TRACK

[tinaballina]

I have one thing to say WOW what an incredible hike Whitney was. That was seriously one of the best moments of my life. Also, one of the hardest. The trail itselft was great but 22 miles is long....once you reach the switchbacks at 12k feet things become completely different. your body does slow down and every step is harder.
We made it to the top in 7 hours (we stopped at to pump water before the switch backs for about 30+ minutes). Made it down in 5.5, total trip 12.30. We started about 4:40am and finished shortly after 5ish.
i can't wait to go again, let me know if anyone is up to going before the first snow of the season...

[tinaballina]

Rummpled, it was great seeing you at the top, what are the chances of that happening........LOL

[zippetydude]

I may have the chance to go this Thursday or Friday. It'll be a dayhike, generally start around 10, peak at 1;30 to 1:45, snack and a few pics, then say goodbye, and leave myself primed and ready to do it again next year. If that pace sounds like it might fit for you, maybe we could carpool. Figure a little more than 3 hours going up (3:00 to 3:45), then take a break, and a steady but unrushed descent on the way down. Works out to just under 7 trails hours round trip. You're fit, and to me the trail always looks more beautiful when I'm moving. Just a thought, I may not even be able to go. but if you'd really like to get in a second trip before the snow ends the season, this might be your chance. Let me konw! Wish me luck either way.

z

[tinaballina]

I may have the chance to go this Thursday or Friday. It'll be a dayhike, generally start around 10, peak at 1;30 to 1:45, snack and a few pics, then say goodbye, and leave myself primed and ready to do it again next year. If that pace sounds like it might fit for you, maybe we could carpool. Figure a little more than 3 hours going up (3:00 to 3:45), then take a break, and a steady but unrushed descent on the way down. Works out to just under 7 trails hours round trip. You're fit, and to me the trail always looks more beautiful when I'm moving. Just a thought, I may not even be able to go. but if you'd really like to get in a second trip before the snow ends the season, this might be your chance. Let me konw! Wish me luck either way.

z

Hey Zip,

that would be 4 hours faster than i just did, holly molly........as much as i would love to turn around and go again but i just took friday and monday off work. i would need to go on a weekend. but thank you for the invite, let me know if you change your plans to go on a saturday and/or sunday.

[tinaballina]

I may have the chance to go this Thursday or Friday. It'll be a dayhike, generally start around 10, peak at 1;30 to 1:45, snack and a few pics, then say goodbye, and leave myself primed and ready to do it again next year. If that pace sounds like it might fit for you, maybe we could carpool. Figure a little more than 3 hours going up (3:00 to 3:45), then take a break, and a steady but unrushed descent on the way down. Works out to just under 7 trails hours round trip. You're fit, and to me the trail always looks more beautiful when I'm moving. Just a thought, I may not even be able to go. but if you'd really like to get in a second trip before the snow ends the season, this might be your chance. Let me konw! Wish me luck either way.

z

Hey Zip,

that would be 4 hours faster than i just did, holly molly........as much as i would love to turn around and go again but i just took friday and monday off work. i would need to go on a weekend. but thank you for the invite, let me know if you change your plans to go on a saturday and/or sunday.

[Rumpled]

Rummpled, it was great seeing you at the top, what are the chances of that happening........LOL

Amazing odds I'd guess, I got to the peak about 5 minutes or so before you.

Here's a quick TR

Thurs morn drive up and pick up permits and wag bags. Grab lunch in Lone Pine and drive into the Alabama Hills to show my hiking parnters who had never been there. Got some pics of the Whitney arch and right near it I found Anteater arch. That's what I'm calling it. I'm a UCI grad and was wearing my Eater Nation T-Shirt that day. I'll have to get a pic of that up.

OK, on to the Portal. We had a campsite and set up and then ate a cheeseburger at the store. A little campfire and then bed at 9.

Packed up and hiking at 7:53. My pack weighs in at 35 lbs; I'd set that as my upper limit - it sure was full though.
We made good progress up until Mirror Lake, about 1.2 or 1.3 miles per hour or so. Some small breaks and one to make water. Then we hit what Leona describes as the Staircase of Doom. It took us nearly three brutally hot hours to make it to Trail Camp from there, Set up camp, cook some food that didn't taste good at 12k; and make more water. Every movement takes soo much energy!
Hit the rack at 7 and listen to others in camp talk far too loudly. I didn't sleep well, waking about every hour - and worst of all, 2 fast dashes to use my wagbag in the middle of the night. Hikers also moved thru camp at nearly all hours; what do we expect for Friday night anyways.

Sat morn we hit trail about 6:45. We hope for two hours to Trail Crest and it takes us about 2:20. Not too difficult here, but a tough slog anyways. I did see a couple of cute Pika and even got a couple of shots of one. Quick photos and snack at Trail Crest and the last push (we think) begins. Listed as 1.9 miles, it felt like 10. The traverse around Whitney itself was just so brutal. The peak is deceptively close and we keep moving left. I'm starting to get a good headache and have to constantly stop to breathe. Finally at about 11:25 I reach the hut. About 4:45 from Trail Camp, about an hour longer than we hoped. Dropped my pack and grabbed my camera for some obligatory pics. I have no joy that I'm on the summit; I just want to go down. I have some really good memories of some of the things I saw up there; but I didn't take any good pictures of them. Things like the color of Iceberg Lake straight down the cliff and the Kern River Canyon and Great Western Divide.

So, there I am; trying to function and this woman RUNS up to the plaque and screams something like "Oh, God we made it!"
I take a look at her and it kinda looks like the picture of Tina (minus the monkey)
Hair perfect? Check.
Makeup perfect? Check.
Jewelry perfect? Check.
Far too much energy? Check.
And a name on the permit that seems to fit with Tina.

So, I ask if she's Tina and she says she is. We kinda introduce ourselves and congratulate each other.

My friends and I are bushed and want to get down. I quickly look for the geocache up there, but invoke a 2 minute rule, don't find it and start heading down.
It takes us three hours to get down to Trail Camp. Uneventful; other than being bushed and the switchbacks seem to take forever. The spring that was a small ice puddle in the morning was flowing like a fire hose in the afternoon.

We had hoped to hike all the way down on Sat, but as bushed as we are; we decide that breaking camp and finishing with a couple of hours of darkness and then a long drive home don't make sense.
A better night at Trail Camp on Saturday. Less people in camp making noise, but still the ones right next to me are noisy. Bed at 7 again; I sleep a little better and don't need to run out in the middle of the night.

We munch on some breakfast, break camp and start down about 7:30. The trip down is much faster, though every little uphill feels soo painful. Based upon our slow 7 hour slog up, we thought it might take 5 hours - we make it in 3:40 and finish in some hot sun at the portal just after 11. Our decision to not come down the night before is the correct one we all agree.

Weigh the packs and I've only lost 3 lbs. As most seem to do, I brought way too much food. Everything else I brought, I needed and used; so my packing was about right.

We couldn't have asked for weather any better. It was almost totally clear the whole time. Lows at Trail Camp were probably in the mid to high 30's and highs in the 50's.

Our total time ended up being about 18.5 hours, might have been faster without full packs, but we also did it over three days. We would have been faster if we were actually in good shape and were more acclimated.

Though I had no joy at the summit, I'm glad now that I did it and can look back on it as a good experience. The help on this board and others made it not as bad as it could of. I got a lot of good beta on equipment, hikes and training.

OK, so not really a short TR - I'll try and get some pics up later.

[tinaballina]

So, there I am; trying to function and this woman RUNS up to the plaque and screams something like "Oh, God we made it!"
I take a look at her and it kinda looks like the picture of Tina (minus the monkey)
Hair perfect? Check.
Makeup perfect? Check.
Jewelry perfect? Check.
Far too much energy? Check.
And a name on the permit that seems to fit with Tina.

So, I ask if she's Tina and she says she is. We kinda introduce ourselves and congratulate each other.

LOL, you had me cracking up after reading this. That was my last burst of energy when i saw you.

Going down was okay up until you reach the point of being completely done and still are not off the mountain.

Again, it was great meeting you, glad you made it back safe.