Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Lessons

I rarely do this, but because I think it's an interesting story, a detailed trip report. And there are lessons to be learned, as well. Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockwellb/sets/72157629910183080/

Steve and I started up from the Portal around 10 AM on Friday May 25. Jay was delayed, and would start at 12:30. Our plan was to make Trail Camp that day, go to the summit and stay there, and come out the third. But a cold storm was coming through, with highs in the 20s at Trail Camp Friday and Saturday, and NNW wind gusting to 60 mph.

For a couple of reasons I had decided to not play Ranger Bob this time, so picked up a permit from the Visitor Center. Steve and Jay had their own.

I was hiking slowly, and at 2:30 we were only halfway between Bighorn Park and Mirror Lake. We met up with Stephan, age 60, an investment banker from the Bay Area. He was walking painfully, bent over to his right side. He had quite a story to tell.

Stephan had left Whitney Portal at 1:30 AM the previous morning (Thursday) on a day hike of Mt. Whitney. He said he got to the summit at 5:00 PM (15.5 hours later!). It was very cold (probably around zero) and windy, and we wondered why he had not turned back much earlier. On the summit, he made a twisting motion, and felt immediate pain in his back, left side. He started down.

At 5:00 AM (12 hours later) he arrived at Trail Camp. He had descended in pitch darkness (with headlamp), negotiated hard icy snow on the switchbacks, and with his painful back injury and the cold and the wind. He went to the first tent he saw, woke the two guys up, and said he had a medical emergency and was freezing cold. Could he go inside? They said they had no room. He went to the next tent and got the same response from two females. Now he figured he was going to die of hypothermia and pleaded with them. They finally said OK; they were going to leave for the summit and he could get in their sleeping bags. They did, and he did.

At 8:30 AM, after 3.5 hours of “sleep,” he got out and starting hiking down. Six hours later, he met us below Mirror Lake: a distance of 2.5 miles.

We asked about his pain and he said it was severe and constant. A couple of people had given him Motrin and Aleve, but they had made his stomach upset. Steve offered him a different kind, and he eagerly accepted. We asked if he were able to continue down by himself, and he said no problem; he was just going slowly. His spirits were very good. There being six hours of daylight left to travel less than 4 miles, we wished him luck and continued up.

By 3:00 PM, we reached Mirror Lake and decided to turn around. The impending two more days—and nights—of uncomfortable conditions were encouragement to come back another time.

For no particular reason, I offer this picture:



Passing through Bighorn Park, we picked up Jay, and he was happy to turn around as well. Just below Bighorn Park, at 4:30 PM, we met Stephan again. He had managed to descend less than a mile in two hours. He was off trail to the downside, having started to cross a small snowfield, and did not see the continuation of the trail on the other side. We told him to come back up, and he asked for help with his pack. His poles were of little use, one having broken and the other was bent. He said it was a lot better with his pack off!

So Steve offered to carry his pack down to the Portal for him and leave it by the store. Of course that meant if he was not able to make it out, he would spend a second night--with temperatures in the teens--and now without the contents of his pack. At that point I realized we could not leave him to descend alone. At his rate, I estimated he would reach the Portal between 9 and 10 PM—if he were able to keep walking.

I decided that Steve should go on, with Stephan’s pack, to get to the Portal and turn off any impending search. He was now a full day overdue, and he said his daughter would be panicking. Steve would call his daughter and tell her her father was OK. Jay and I would assist him, and if at some point he were not able to continue, we had the contents of our overnight packs to make do. One of us could go for help the next morning if necessary.

The next four hours were slow, but uneventful. I stayed somewhat ahead, providing a carrot to keep him moving, while Jay engaged him in investment banker banter to hopefully keep his mind on something other than the pain. I knew he would not have eaten or drunk nearly enough, which would contribute to weakness and slowness. He complained of being dizzy a little. We managed to get a few bites down him, and a few sips of water, but only now and then.

Initially it seemed he could walk a couple of minutes before stopping to rest, but toward the end it was about 45 seconds of walking and 15 seconds of rest. We arrived at the Portal at 8:30 PM. Stephan had managed a day climb of Mt. Whitney in almost exactly 43 hours.

He said he would get in his car and drive home; it would be a seven-hour drive. We strongly encouraged him to spend the night at the Dow Villa but he didn’t seem convinced. He was most interested in finding a mini-mart where he could charge his cell phone and call his daughter. Jay, Steve, and I got our gear organized and loaded, and started down the hill, fifteen minutes or so after we parted company. We passed him, driving slowly, about three miles down from the Portal.

-----

The lessons:

• Summit fever can kill you. As you ascend, always be thinking of how the descent will go, and be ready to turn around. The mountain will always be there.
• Take some emergency bivy gear. A few ounces could save your life.
• Don't depend on your fellow hikers to be good samaritans.
• Guardian angels may be real.
• Always, always, try to get out of your predicament yourself. You may be all there is.
• Stephan did. He did not sit down and tell people to go get him a helicopter. Had we not come along, he probably would have survived another night on the trail, and got down late afternoon the next day for a burger and fries.
• Mt. Whitney has stories to tell.

BOB,

I love your pictures and enjoy your trail reports. I think the photo of you shaking stephens hand may be my favorite. I have been on the summit several times and enjoyed all of them, I look forward to the day I find some one like stephen.Stephen is going to tell all his friends about what you did for him. Sometime we inspire people, motivate them and do not even realize it. Thank you BOB.

THE SILENT HIKER

Variations on this story play out over and over. The last time I hiked with Bob, we were dogged by an inconceivably clueless female who we first encountered begging for food on the switchbacks, but STILL continued UP the hill. We than encountered her barfing below the summit on a late Autumn day at 5:00pm. She STILL had intentions of "summiting".

I admit that I felt nothing but contempt at that point, however, cooler heads prevailed, and Bob R sent the fool down the hill with stern words of caution. Unfortunately -- for me -- we ran into her yet AGAIN -- off trail -- on the way back down the next day. It seems that she was lost or something like that, and oh, by the way, she got back to her tent at 1:00am that morning.

No words of advice here, because the people who should be listening the most are probably not reading or doing research on websites before their trips, anyway.

"Plan the work, and work the plan"

The concept of a turn-around time is important. But I don't think people consider this, and just think "whatever", in terms of how long it is going to take.

People who run marathons do it in a few hours. People who spend a lot more time in full-on exercise mode are punishing their bodies to a degree they may not understand. Most of us don't have a lot of experience with profound exhaustion, and how limited we become. This experience describes it well.

I really like his attitude of self reliance towards getting himself down.

Hey, I know some of those trail workers!

I think we can all be thankful that there are knowledgeable, helpful people out there in the Sierra...we just have to hope that when there are people in need, these people will be around. Unfortunately that will not always be the case. I think it is always important to assume you will spend the night, and prepare as such with at least a bivy, as Bob mentioned, and some extra layers and food. You don't have to be in luxury, you just have to survive the night.

Sounds like it may have been a three dog night out there...however, I think I prefer Bob's version better...

Only Bob can manage to help a gentlemen in distress and then snag a picture with a young lady who appears to be Sarah Jessica Parker on the same hike. Not quite as good as last years' pictures with the Vegas show girl though. Still classic.

If people would follow "The Lessons", there would substantially less stories to tell on this mountain.

I will add one more point, always have enough clothes with you survive a night out. This might constitute carrying an extra pound or two. However, when I tell people this the response 98% of the time is..."It's only a day hike". Mt. Whitney can get into the single digits or lower in any month of the year.

Thanks for sharing, Bob.

Great post, thanks Bob!

Bee, it's so good to see a post from you... it's been a while! I've always enjoyed your wit and directness. I hope I see you sometime this summer!

...sounds like a classic western!

Please forgive the trail descriptions...This narrative was requested by our Fire Administration...

That said...

Along the same lines,,,

A bit about Whitney 07...


At 0100 hours, June 24th, 2007 a group of Torrance Firefighters started their one-day climb up Mount Whitney. The temps were below freezing and the winds were gusting to 40 miles an hour.

During our accent we ran into groups of people coming down the trail. These groups had started before us and had been turned around by the cold and wind.

Despite the cold, we were making good time up the trail. As the sun began to rise our group reached “Trail Camp.” Trail Camp is six miles up the trail at an elevation of 12000 feet.

At this time our group broke into two teams. One team set out at a very fast pace, one team at a more measured pace. Both teams began their trip up the “Switchbacks.” This series of ninety-nine switchbacks start at just over 12000 feet and end at “Trail Crest.” (13600 feet)

The climb from Trail Crest to the Summit is a very difficult one and a half miles. The air is so thin that you literally have to stop and rest every few steps. As the second team began to close in on the summit slope, team one greeted us on their way down. (They had successfully summited.)

After eleven miles and an elevation gain of over six thousand feet, team two summited.

On the summit, one of our group (John) became acutely ill. He became weak, lethargic and nauseous. He also stated that he was unable to either eat or drink due to the nausea. He had begun to suffer from the signs and symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). The only cure for AMS is a rapid decent from altitude. Blayne Baker, Jeremy Bactat, and Tad Friedman began the evacuation of John from the summit.

As we neared Trail Crest on our decent, our team passed two men that appeared to be resting. One of the two reached up and grabbed the sleeve of Tad Friedman. He passed Friedman a note that stated, “ I am coughing up blood. I can’t eat or drink. I can’t swallow. I am having trouble breathing. Get me off the mountain. Get me to a hospital.”

We were at an elevation of 13800 feet and roughly nine miles from the trailhead. Our position was on the west side of the Sierra Crest on a narrow spine of rock. There was no cell phone coverage from our position and aerial evacuation from our location was impossible.

We placed John in a safe resting location along the trail. Baker, Bactat, and Friedman began patient assessment. We then determined that our patients best and possibly only chance for survival was with an aerial evacuation.

Friedman was tasked with patient care. Baker began to organize other individuals along the trail into an evacuation team. Bactat took on the responsibility of finding a weakness in the terrain that would allow for Cell communication to emergency services.

We selected a landing zone at Trail Camp. Roughly two and a half miles and two thousand feet below our location. We determined that our patient was suffering a severe form of AMS. Most likely Pulmonary Edema. (Lethal if untreated)

Jeremy collected all of our team cell phones and went (running at 13800 feet) to establish communications. We began the evacuation of Mr. J. Caster, a 42-year-old male and John Kubota. When our group arrived at Trail Crest, Jeremy was in the process of communicating with Inyo County Sheriffs Department.(ICSD)

They copied our patient assessment and agreed that a helicopter evacuation was our patient’s best chance of survival. ICSD also concurred with our landing zone selection.

Baker had organized an evacuation team of 10 and began the decent to Trail Camp with the patient. Bactat completed cell communications with ICSD. Friedman and Bactat were able to give Kubota a small amount of food and water and once again began our decent to Trail Camp.

As we descended to Trail Camp we could see the evacuation team led by Baker reach TC. A few moments latter the rescue helicopter landed, our patient was loaded up and was successfully evacuated the Lone Pine Emergency Hospital.
By the time Bactat, Friedman, and Kubota had reached TC, Kubota had begun to recover. There, we began to filter water for the rest of the trip down and have a small meal. As we were filtering water, a number of climbers requested that we filter water for them. Each of them was exhausted and had run out of water. Some made requests for food.

With our short rest at TC complete, Kubota (partially recovered) Baker, Bactat, and Friedman began the six-mile decent from TC to the trailhead. Two miles down the trail we passed a young man and woman resting in the middle of the trail. Bactat recognized the woman appeared to be in distress. She stated that she had “blown out her knee.” We were at 10300 feet and four miles from the trailhead.

We determined that she could hike with the assistance of hiking poles that our team gave to her and the help of her companion. Baker put her fifty-pound backpack on his back and put his own backpack on “kangaroo pouch style.”

We then began our decent to the trailhead without further incident. Upon our arrival, (22 miles and 19 hours latter) Team One met us with cold drinks and hot food.

Follow up at the Hospital revealed that our patient suffered from Severe Mountain Sickness, Laryngeal Edema, and Pulmonary Edema. Hospital staff stated that our patient in all likelihood would have perished without rapid intervention.

Inyo County Sheriffs Department Case: 07-06-101
Commanded by Corporal Terrance Waterbury



Tad

Ah, Rosie, you are just too kind! I am entirely intolerant, outspoken, & maladjusted to the day to day cheerfulness displayed my most Americans. I also will never quite get used to the concept of expectation that someone will "make it all better", as in the food-begging fool female on the hill. (It reminded me too much of the beggars abroad that snatch at your clothes as you pass by)

Back on topic...

Bob R's praise of Stephan's fortitude reminds me of the Oliver Sacks vignette The Bull on the Mountain A very fine read, indeed (short enough to read when it pops up)

Also of note is how different weather can be just a mile away. We were camped at Iceberg that exact night/day (June 23-24, 2007) and it was well above freezing with no gusts at all. (Ended up climbing the East Buttress in shorts and sleeping on the summit that night.)

Tad, what time did the helicopter arrive and are you sure it went to Lone Pine? I have a video of one passing below us headed west over Russell/Whitney Pass late in the afternoon, but it looked like it was headed to Fresno. (Probably a different rescue, I would think.)

Hi And yet another one last night.A tree fell in the woods?

Thanks for the link, Bee... I read it over dinner.

This story remided me very much of a movie I just watched recently - "Touching the Void". It's based on a true story of an incident in South America that was VERY similar to Oliver Sacks story (other than there were no reindeer hunters to rescue him).

Hi Bob,
I enjoyed your post very much.
You seem to know how to make a good day out of very distressed situation.
I am a day hiker from L.A. area and only hike around 10K feet elevation. I have been hiking local mountains for last 8 years so I can't tell anything about hiking to other people.
But, I have met many people who didn't study the mountains or didn't prepare physically before the their hikes. Some people flatly ignore any kind of suggestions from others on the trail. Some people are so confident on their ability as long as they wear right brand of gears and clothing on them. Some people brag about their near fatal experience by saying "It was fun!!". Some people are just hiking for weekend fun on wrong kind of mountains. Some people are hiking for loosing their weight on wrong kind of trails. Some people are hiking for their personal records which other people don't care. Some people like me are hiking for escaping from the hectic city life.
Everyone has totally different expectaions from their hiking activities so it is very important remind our self often to avoid any accidents on the trail.

I heard about you from so many people. Looking forward to seeing you in person some day and get a picture with you. Sorry, I am 63 years old thin headed guy.

Shin

Oh my gosh, Shin you crack me up! Bob does seem to be a magnet for all the cutest, youngest hikers on the mountain, but I think you'd make a much more interesting subject with Bob in that photo.

BTW very good points.

Reminds me of some years ago. My husband & I were returning from the summit to Trail Camp. We met a young European couple still heading up the switchbacks (day-hiking from the Portal). It was after 4 p.m. Both were clad in nylon running shorts & tank tops. He had no pack at all, but was lugging a gallon milk jug with some water in it. She had a tiny fanny-pack that couldn't have held more than a few granola bars at best. Certainly not large enough for any article of clothing. We suggested that they really needed to turn back, & told them that within a couple hours, the temperature would be dropping drastically (we had already pulled on fleece tops). They apparently thought we were just a couple of crazy old people & they continued upward. I guess their reason for hiking was to try & make it into the finals for the Darwin Awards!

And so another summer of Saturday Night Specials at the Portal cranks up. Looking forward to this year's editions of your Day-in-the-life-of-the-Portal-cook posts, Doug. Hopefully the bears aren't on a rampage - yet.

I agree wholeheartedly with Bob's praise of Stephan's fortitude and perseverence. Far too many injured/ill/exhausted people who can get down under their own power (and ultimately do when their choices become clear) tend to just drop and expect others to somehow spirit them away to safety and comfort. A big thumbs up to Stephan for grinding it out, and kudos to Bob, Steve and Jay for recognizing the problem and assisting. We need more Good Guys/Gals on the trails like these gents.

Hi Bob,

Do you know whether Stephan was going slowly and steadily from the beginning (in line with Doug's recommendations for 20 hours round trip) or started faster and then significantly slowed down?

I understand that he has not planed 43 hrs day hike.
I am curious whether he planned something like 24 hrs day hike or hoped to finish it faster.

There is another lesson to be learned from Bob's report that he didn't include in his narrative. Bob has summited Whitney way over 150 times. His trip to the summit was to celebrate the 60th year anniversary of his first summit (60 is not a typo). It was obviously an important milestone for him.

For someone with his experience and determination to turn back because things just didn't seem right kinda reiterates the importance of common sense trumping summit fever. There is no shame or wimpiness about turning around when weather, physical or mental conditions indicate potential problems. Any of you young guns feel qualified to call Bob a wimp?

But like someone posted earlier, we're probably talking to ourselves - the folks who really need these lessons learned don't want to hear or read about it.

Wow. Thanks for sharing this story, Bob. Like Shin, I hope to meet you on the trail one of these days.