Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trip Report: Three First Timers 9/5-9/7/2010

Two friends and I summited on Monday under beautiful conditions. We are women 45-49 years old: one serious backpacker (Rabbit) who got AMS at the summit, but more on that later; one person who is really fit but doesn't hike much (Peach); and me. Peach and I took Diamox (62.5 mg twice a day) starting a day before the trip until after we summited, while Rabbit did not.

Friday-Sunday(September 3-5, 2010)
We stayed two nights at Onion Valley campground, 9300 feet. On Saturday, we climbed to Kearsarge Pass, 11800 feet, and did some fishing in Flower Lake on the way down. Hearty dinner on Saturday of grilled pork chops, sweet potatoes, and zucchini, grilled at the campsite.

Sunday (September 5)
We picked up our passes at the permit center a little after 9 a.m., got some sandwiches at Subway, and hit the trail. My pack was 26 lbs, Peach's was 25 lbs, and Rabbit's was 35 lbs. We had a lovely long rest stop at Lone Pine Lake on the way up to Trail Camp, and several shorter rest stops. Even though Trail Camp was crowded, we still found a private spot in a sort of gully that I had scoped out on a previous (shorter) trip in July with my dog. We dined on a Mountain House dinner of Chicken ala King and Three Berry Cobbler (which really hit the spot), before going to sleep. The original plan was to stay at Consultation Lake, but access proved a bit too complicated given how beat some of our team was when we got to that elevation.

Rabbit had really wanted to stay at Outpost Camp when we got there. Her pack was way too heavy and, even though she was the most fit of the three of us, she was exhausted when arrived at that camp. After some discussion, Peach and I took some of her packed weight and we pushed on to Trail Camp. Both Peach and Rabbit think that the portion between Outpost Camp and Trail Camp was one of the hardest sections of the whole trip, at least carrying packs.

Monday (September 6) LABOR DAY
We started up Whitney at the relevantly sane hour of 8:45 a.m., after a breakfast of either oatmeal or Mountain House scrambled eggs. Rabbit had a slight headache but otherwise folks felt pretty good. I didn't find the switchbacks as hard as I thought I would (though I did go for a Cliff Shot at one stop, and loved it) -- the views were great and kept me distracted. For me, the hardest part of the trip was between the JMT junction and the summit, where the footing can be uncertain.

Rabbit ran ahead of us pretty much the whole way up to the summit (hence her nickname). We met up only once on the way up, at Trail Crest, where both Peach and I thought she looked a little off, but she said she was feeling okay. When we met up with Rabbit at the summit, though, she had a stronger headache (frontal lobe) and nausea. Peach gave her a Diamox (125 mg), and Rabbit headed down.

Peach and I enjoyed a hearty lunch at the summit of whole grain tortillas, cheese, salami, peanut butter, and nuts. A very very fat marmot watched us the whole time. The weather was spectacular -- probably high 40s or 50, no wind, not a cloud in the sky.

We ran into Rabbit just shy of Trail Crest. She looked pretty beat. It turns out that, on top of having AMS, she only brought 2.5 liters of water (Peach and I each started with 3 liters), and was running short. I gave her some water with Cytomax to drink. We ran into her again about 10 minutes later, maybe .10 miles down from Trail Crest, still looking poorly. Peach gave her some water, and I gave her more water with Cytomax. We continued down together at that point, At about 13000 feet, Rabbit perked up and started telling jokes. We purified water for Rabbit on the switchbacks using my Steripen -- by far, the group's favorite accessory of the trip.

Dinner was Mary Jane's Cheesy Noodle Casserole with Snap Peas, and Curry in a Hurry. I wish we'd also had another berry cobbler, though! A ranger came by and chatted with us; looked to me like he was helping clean up Trail Camp (he was carrying a plastic bag of what looked like garbage). The wind picked up that night the temperature dropped.

Tuesday, September 7
We had a hearty breakfast of Mountain House scrambled eggs and tortillas, and headed down for the long ride home. It was very windy ... much different from the day before.

I met Doug Sr. at the Portal Store. Loved being able to put another face to a time. The information on this site and the other site, and advice I received from other members, was so helpful in terms of planning a safe and successful trip.

NOTE: I am not sure I would recommend Consultation Lake to a first timer, at least one who is planning only one night on the mountain on the way up. It seems like there are two major ways to get to Consultation Lake -- over the ledges, or through a gully that is marked by cairns. Either can be a challenge at that point if anyone in your group is suffering leg fatigue. Trail Camp proved more enjoyable than I expected, in large part because we didn't just pick the first visible free site, but chose a more secluded, private site with reasonable water access.

Congratulations, ladies!

Great TR - congratulations ladies! I can empathize with hauling the thrity-something pound pack to 12,000 feet - no fun. Probably the better call than Outpost Camp though - that summit day would have been harder and longer on Rabbit. I'm surpised though at the AMS she felt on the summit and the descent - seems like 3 nights spent at better than 9000 feet should have acclimated her quite well. But that's AMS for you - absolutely no telling when it will rear it's ugly head.

Sorry you didn't get the opportunity to camp at CL - the tent surfaces can be tricky to get to. Easiest access is straight off the trail and down to the first ledge if the sites are available. Maybe next time! I've followed your preparation for this trip the last few weeks on the boards, and you appear to have done all the right things to get you to the summit your first time up the mountain. Great job - you should be proud!

Sounds like a great trip, I agree with your assesment that the portion of trail between Outpost camp and Trail camp was the hardest section. I have permits for the early part of October, I can only wish that my pack would weigh around 25 pounds, congrats

Thanks for the positive feedback! I got back into hiking as part of a weight loss effort, reached my goal weight two weeks ago (47 lbs lighter), and summiting Whitney was sort of the capstone of an almost two year process to get fit and active, and bring more adventure into my life.

I am still on cloud nine, at least in my head, transitioning back to the real world ... it was such an immersion into a completely different environment. Had its challenges, but they were doable, even enjoyable, because of lots of preparation fueled by all the great resources and advice on these message boards.

More congrats are in order then! Many people set self-improvement goals far less aggressive than yours, and don't achieve them. Six months later they're back to their old weight or being a couch potato. Sticking with a plan like yours for two years until the desired outcome is achieved is just outstanding. That's perseverance!

And yeah, there's just no real delicate way to put it: getting back to the "real world" after reaching the summit of the highest mountain in the Lower Forty-Eight (Lower Forty-Nine-And-Three-Quarters, actually) just sucks . . .