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Summer ‘09 in Pics vol. 7

Mount Whitney

I hiked to the top of Mount Whitney on Saturday. This mountain is the highest in the continental US, and is a popular hiking destination. There is a quota on the number of people who are allowed on the mountain between May and October, and I very luckily managed to obtain a permit on short notice. As it turned out, the whole thing was something of an adventure.

I left work at around 3 on Friday and drove up to Lone Pine, about a 5-hour trip. I drove around a bit to check out the trailhead, called Whitney Portal, and then I settled in for the night. I had decided to sleep in my car, because I was getting up ridiculously early to start the hike. I pulled into one of those big empty lots where 18-wheeler truck drivers stop to rest, but unfortunately the noise from the trucks as well as my own excitement in anticipation of the hike made sleep almost impossible. By the time my alarm went off at 1:45 am, I had barely had an hour of real sleep. It took me a lot longer than expected to sort out my permit and make last-minute packing decisions (you’re not allowed to leave anything that even remotely looks like food in your car when it’s parked at the trailhead; you have to put it in bear-proof metal lockers). It was about 3 when I finally started hiking, headlamp lighting the path.

After perhaps an hour and a half, the eastern sky had just started to grow pale and there was enough light that I turned off my lamp. It was much colder than I had expected—around freezing, and growing colder as I moved higher—and I first starting running into snow patches at perhaps 9500 feet. By 6:45 I had made it to Trail Camp. I believed I was making good time—trail camp is at about 12,000 feet, so I’d already done more than half of the elevation gain to the summit. The hike itself is about 22 miles round trip. Whitney Portal is at about 8300 feet, the summit is at 14,505 feet, and the cumulative gain is about 6400 feet. As it turns out, though, I had underestimated the slowing power of snow and altitude.

From Trail Camp I started working my way up the famous switchbacks. There are exactly 97. The most exposed section in the middle is protected by cables (see picture below). I had never used crampons or an ice axe before (I know, bad idea, but I had read a lot about it), but I soon faced snow and ice where I didn’t feel comfortable without more equipment. It had been snowing a lot over the past month, and during the day that snow had been melting only to refreeze into icy crusts overnight. I strapped on my shiny new crampons and kept going. As I moved up the switchbacks, I started feeling the effects of the altitude, and required more frequent rests. Finally I reached the top of the switchbacks, Trail Crest, and enjoyed some fantastic views.

Unfortunately, the ridge was more exposed and windy, and I was much colder than I had anticipated. I was wearing everything I had brought with me. Luckily the sun was getting higher in the sky, so the temperature was moving up and the snow was growing softer by the minute. I set off toward the summit. The trail dips down from Trail Crest and then meanders behind Mount Muir and the needles adjacent to Mount Whitney for a total of two miles. The altitude sickness had started to kick in at this point and I had a splitting headache. I definitely wasn’t going to let that keep me from summitting, so I drank a lot of water and made my final (slow) push to the top. This was extremely difficult and required a lot of mental discipline. I stayed at the top for a little while, but after talking to a few people and taking a few pictures I was ready to head down. I was even sick enough that I completely forgot about signing the register (although I do have pictures to prove I was at the peak!). Going down was even worse than going up. The  trek back to Trail Crest was very hard for me because I’d started to feel very drowsy, and the last bit is actually uphill. I knew that I needed to get down the mountain in order to start feeling better, so I just concentrated on making it back to the switchbacks. It is not an exaggeration to say that the four-mile hike from Trail Crest to the summit and back was one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life.

When I got back to Trail Crest, I was sorely tempted to glissade (slide) down the chute beside the switchbacks, a popular trick that cuts 1600 feet, all the switchbacks, and potentially and hour or more out of the downhill journey. I decided against it, though, because I had never tried it and it can be quite dangerous—this particular slope is fairly steep, and the rocks at the bottom have claimed people’s lives as recently as 2005. The hike down went slowly because I was feeling awful, and the trip from trail camp back to the car went by in a haze. I had packed 5 liters of water, but this turned out not to be enough, and I ran out a couple of hours before I made it to Whitney Portal. By the time I returned to my car, I had replaced my altitude headache with a dehydration headache, and I was very glad to be finished. It was almost 7:00, so I had been on the mountain for about 17 hours. It had been much more difficult than I had expected, but I’d definitely do it again sometime. I’d like to try a different path though; perhaps the Mountaineer’s Route on the northern side.

Despite my lack of sleep, I didn’t want to spend the money or the time getting a hotel room, so I got coffee and started the drive back to Carlsbad. I had to pull over and sleep twice because I was getting drowsy, but I finally made it back at 5:30 am.

I also took the normal panoramic shots from the summit: one looking back toward the valley from which I came, and another more eastward over Owens Valley.

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