Whitney summit weather shutout

[whitneyfan]

Quick trip report on my Whitney hike sept 10 2008.

My 3rd summit attempt (previous 2 summits in 2006) was shutout due to sudden bad weather. I was snowed out last year this same time.

The weather forecast was favorable - mostly sunny 20% rain.
Tues the 9th was partly cloudy and mild. I was at the Portal Tues afternoon and all was well.
I started out Wed morning at 4 am to clear starry skies, and still air, just slightly cold. I reached Trail Camp just after 8 am and it was sunny but, right after sunrise the clouds closed in from all directions.
By 9 am the mountain was shrouded in cloud cover, and the temp was dropping.

I decided to proceed up the switchbacks anyway as a hedge against the clouds persisting all day. It was still early, maybe it would clear.
But it got worse as I ascended. Soon visibility was a few hundred feet and the mountain and surrounding area was hidden. About halfway up the switchbacks sleet started to fall. I was passing a lot of hikers that had given up or returning from a much earlier start. All reports where bad, but that the west side of the mountain was clear.
About 3/4 up the switchbacks the trail was now white with sleet and wind was blowing. No chance it was going to get better, only worse, so I gave up at that point.

By the time I got down to Trailside Meadow the weather there was mild but overcast. The clouds started to clear around the mountain tops, and the Valley below was intermittent sun and shade.
In Big Horn Park it was sunny up until I passed Lone Pine Lake. Then it became overcast again. By the time I reached the parking lot it started to rain.
Down at Lone Pine around 6 pm the mountain was still shrouded in clouds. By 7:30 the bowl above the Portal was white with snowfall.
I was pitying the poor folks camped out at Trail Camp. If I had pushed for the top I would have still been on my way down to the Portal in the snow, if I hadn't frozen first.

The most frustrating part is that the next morning 9/11 the sky was completely clear and the snow was gone from the mountain. It was a perfect hiking day.

Getting snowed out 2 years in a row makes me think my Whitney hiking days are over.

[zippetydude]

Aww, man, rough luck. Still, with a name like "whitneyfan", I bet there's a few more times at the top of that mountain still in store for you.

Thanks for a cool TR, though. I was hoping to go up 9/11 or 9/12, but will have to work, so at least I get to hear of other's adventures up there.

I've been turned around myself going up both San B Peak (lightning) and San G Peak (ice and lightning on several occasions), so I know what you mean. Whitney is a long drive and such a special trip, that probably made it worse than my local experiences, so I feel your pain.

Anyway, hope to see you out there on these local trails one Saturday.

z

[whitneyfan]

Aww, man, rough luck. Still, with a name like "whitneyfan", I bet there's a few more times at the top of that mountain still in store for you.

z

Thanks for the comments.
Well, I wouldn't want to be guilty of false advertising. I love the place, and Whitney is my favorite place for scenery. But, as anyone who has done a summit dayhike knows, its not something that one does on a lark straight off of the couch. At least not for me.
I spend the prior year off-season maintaining my fitness at the gym, then spend the summer doing conditioning hikes. Its just a lot of physical stress building up to that one eventful day.


Maybe I'm taking it too seriously, but I know what its like to attempt such a hike without prior conditioning, and I'm not getting any younger. I'm probably going to have to stop treating it as a marathon, and reduce my visits to casual romps to Trail Camp and back.
Its only a 3 hr drive from LA , and a casual 8 hr round-trip to Trail Camp.
My first time to Trail Camp was done in an afternoon. I picked up a cancelled permit in the morning ,started out at 11 am., and returned at 7pm. That was my first high altitude hike, and it immediately taught me that the summit was not a trip taken lightly.

Anyway, I go for the scenery, and I don't like playing dice with the weather.
I've already bagged the summit twice, once on the Mountaineer's Route, so I don't need to persue simple bragging rights .

Its kind of weird. This was the very first time that my knees felt the same way at the end of a hike as when I started. It took me 6 years to condition my knees for this kind of activity, and now I don't want to do it anymore.

[Hikin_Jim]

This was the very first time that my knees felt the same way at the end of a hike as when I started. It took me 6 years to condition my knees for this kind of activity, and now I don't want to do it anymore.

I've had a lot of knee problems. If you don't mind, what do you do to condition your knees?

[Blooty]

Sorry about the weather that weekend - but this time of year it's a crap shoot. You were smart to turn around.

I, too, would like to hear about how you conditioned your knees. I've seen a lot of people on the trail with knee wraps.

[whitneyfan]

Actually, I'm not really sure what it was that helped condition my knees.

My first time down the main trail from Trail Camp made me aware of the problem, and that was my first long distance hike. That was 6 years ago.

My biggest problem was the downhill trip. By the end of a hike my knees would get so stiff and sore that I could hardly bend them, and it was sheer torture going down.

After that I just tried to hike more, and continued to do short weekly hikes off season to stay conditioned. Eventually my knees started getting used to the activity, but still never completely tolerated it.
I also, lift weights, run, and use the stairmaster at the gym.
So its really hard to say what did the trick. Probably everything.

It seemed like a true miracle that I came out so well this time.
Maybe it was a fluke, I won't know for sure until next year.