Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board First time hiking Mt.Whitney as a day hike

Hello,
I will be hiking Mt.Whitney for the first time in a few days. It will be a day hike. I will not camping over night to acclimate. After reading about so many people getting AMS I have to admit I am getting kind of scared now to attempt this hike. I am in pretty good shape so I am not worried about the strenuous hike. I am more scared of getting AMS and possibly being to sick to get back down to a safer elevation. Are there any people here that hiked for the first time without acclimating before hand that have AMS or none AMS stories that can share with me. I hope I don't chicken out.

What exactly you mean by "not camping over night"? Are you planning to arrive to Whitney Portal on the night of the hike, park the car and immediately start walking?

I was in your boat two years ago. The stories of AMS are scary.

Two years ago on my brother and I made our first attempt. We spent a night at Onion Valley and then the next at the portal. We are both in good shape (run 25-30 miles/week, spin and other cross-train, strength training, etc). Cardiovascular-wise, not a problem. During the ascent, my brother got sick (AMS?) and I did not. He was getting worse and we turned around (just past the cables). As we descended, he got much better.

Last year (without any acclimating), same thing happened (not quite as bad) and we made it to the top. Things that probably helped in our second attempt:
1) Drink plenty of water
2) Don't rush, there's no prize for making it to the top fast (we hurried during our first attempt-second attempt was about 13 hrs total including an hour at the top).
3) Eat (we took mini bagels along and munched on those throughout)

In my opinion, don't fret over AMS. Understand and know the warning signs and be prepared to turn back. There is always another attempt.

The rule of thumb is not to take a headache higher. A headache is usually primary symptom of AMS. I have had symptoms of AMS come on suddenly on a 14,000' summit, which made the return rather adventurous.

Listen to what your body is telling you and make sure to lather yourself in summit fever repellent.

Hi Shay, Ive done the day hike 8 times, with no ams. I sleep at the portal 2 nights and take aspirin before during and after the hike.
If your in great shape it helps but you can still get ams.
theres always next year, and im sure youll do better.
OH Ya when your done with the "ultimate day hike"
you really need to go to pizza factory pizza!!
unitedwestand

Everyone's different as far as their tolerance of altitude and susceptibility to AMS. Personally, the last two times I went up Whitney as an overnighter, I drove to Lone Pine (3700') from sea level, spent the night there, then carried a 35 lb backpack to Trail Camp (12,000') without any problems. Spending the night at 3700' is not acclimating, of course; just makes the point that I personally tolerate altitude changes well. Nor am I recommending doing this. Because of its unpredictability, next time I try this, I just may develop AMS. And then, there are people who'll drive to Mammoth Lakes (7900') and develop some degree of AMS. I think just about everyone would agree that going from below 5,000' up to 14,000' within 24 hours is pushing your luck.

Everyone is different. And every visit is different. I've had headache, no headache and one time stumbling past the Trail Crest sign (turned around right then). I don't sleep high but I get some elevation a day or two before dayhiking. I like to visit Horseshoe Meadow to just hang out and read a book all afternoon, then I sleep down in the Alabama Hills.
You won't know until you are there. If it doesn't feel right don't push it - the mountain isn't going anywhere.

The others posters who answered said they did some acclimatization first and had some problems -what you propose is ZERO acclimatization first. That is different. This will limit your speed, enjoyment, success rate, and potentially your health.

(1) perhaps Ken will see this and may know from his medical research there. I don't know what (low) percentage of truly ZERO-acclimatizers make it up and back, but my guess is that Whitney dayhikers with some degree of acclimatization have chance of AMS something like 40-50%. The chance for a ZERO-acclimatizers must be higher, maybe 70-80%. The degree/extent/effect of AMS obviously varies as well, and so there are some successes and failures in either group despite feeling bad and/or risking more.

(2)AMS studies show that being in good shape does not improve your odds, in fact, some would say your faster climbing (until you hit the wall with AMS) is counterproductive. Still, I'd rather be in shape.

My younger son is prone to altitude issues. He has been very lethargic at Mammoth going from sea level and when he went fishing with Scouts at Table Mountain below South Lake above Biship his Scout leader called me at 10:00 pm as he wasn't looking good. I told the leader to give him water and check on him regularly and if he was in poor shape in the morning I would make the drive and pick him up. I had no call in the morning as he was fine. The next year I was leading a group above South Lake to Bishop Pass. We did not camp with the troop at 9500 feet but instead camped lower at 8700 to acclimatize. We had plenty of time and after dinner drove up to see the fishing group. Sure enough my younger son was tired, but he had drunk a lot of water in the afternoon and taken a nap. He was fine the next morning when we checked in before hitting the trail.
Some people have issues at altitude. My youngest could care less about going above 7,000 feet.

I'm very susceptible to AMS with symptoms hitting at 10,000 feet. I did Whitney in about 3 days about 10 years ago and had no trouble after getting through a headachey night at outpost camp.

Just got back from another hike above Bishop. The highest point first day was 11,400 feet. First night at 10,800 was fine. Second night at 8,200 was horrible - had trouble breathing - essentially mild HAPE. Very little headache or nausea (AMS) at any time during the trip. Was taking Diomox so maybe it cured the AMS but didn't quite do enough to prevent the HAPE. Was smart enough to go lower and was fine the next few nights at 7,300. Did not attempt to go back higher.

Different times it hits in different ways. Just turn around if the headache is really bad or breathing is difficult while resting. Do research. If you're feeling good keep going.

As long as you aren't dumb about it or going too fast, you probably won't get so bad that you can't come down.

Drinking LOTS and lots of something other than merely water is one HUGE key! I use Vitalyte, formerly known as "Gookinade." The best stuff on earth! REI sells it and some few other stores. It's advertised by word of mouth and has been being continuously sold since the 70s. Anyway, It's like gatorade, but scientific and so much better as a keep-going drink. I go from ~1000ft where I live to >10,000 a lot without any problems. I can keep going and going with that stuff. My nephew. We tried the MR this spring and he totally AMS'd. He wasn't drinking hardly at all. A couple of weeks ago we went again - he drank 6 liters from trailhead to iceberg lake - 4 hours. Most of that was an electrolyte mix. Not even a hint of a problem! With a 30lb pack! Drink, comrade! Drink!

Shay, I would suggest that you test yourself at White Mt 14,264 ft (3rd highest in CA) from the South side. There is no permit. You start hiking from trailhead 11,680 ft to 14,264 ft ft in about 6.5 miles. The hike is gradual, but you are at much higher altitude for longer period.

As for other info: easy trail, there is no water on the route, so bring enough. Aim for really early morning start to avoid the hot summer sun (less water needed), and plan to sleep at trailhead for acclimation. The marmots will keep you company and perhaps entertain you.

If you encounter symptoms of high altitude (already mentioned) just turn around. If you don't, you should be OK hiking Whitney.

Broken Record Speaking...

Talk to your Doc about Diamox if you don't have time to acclimatize properly.

I just recently did Whitney as a Day hike for the 3rd time. I did this with a Friend where this was his first time.

I am always affected by Attitude, we live a Sea level and I find anytime I go above 7,200 or higher I can’t sleep. In the last few years if I go to Altitude ( Ski trips) I take Diamox. Which allows me to sleep and I generally feel better at altitude much sooner. My Friend is never really effective by Altitude but also hasn’t hiked much above 11,000.

So I think it is a Very good Example of two Similar People:
Age wise I’m 48 and he is 41, we are in the similar level of fitness, about the same size, we carried about the same weight, we Drank Virtual the same amount of water and hiked at the same pace.

The only thing we did different is I took Diamox and he did not.

This was the first Whitney Day hike where I have taken Diamox and was the Easiest most enjoyable hike yet.

I took only 1 - 250mg pill per day for two days before I arrived at the Portal. Once at the portal I took half a pill twice a day (once in the morning and then right before going to Bed). We spent two nights at the Portal before our hike. I didn’t take Diamox the day of the hike. (Zero side effects)

We were both fine and walking at a Solid Pace right up past Cables. This is where things started to change, my friend started to slow down. At Trail crest he started to get headache and by the top he had the Full on Altitude Headache and was only able to spent 15 min on top because it is time to descend. We figuring his head would start feeling better as we got below Cables. Well No luck his head was Pounding all the way down, even at the Portal he still didn’t feel better and when straight to bed.

Which was a shame, we both spent so much time training for the hike and he didn’t get to enjoy ¾ of it.

I know that some will disagree, but for me Diamox is the ticket to an Enjoyable and safe hike.

I can’t imagine going from Sea level to the Portal and trying to complete Whitney in a Day. The odds for having a really Bad day are way too high.

Until you have had a Altitude Headache it is impossible to imagine just how bad you can feel, just not worth it for me.

This is the God's honest truth. I had a 4 symptom attack on White Mountain, which did not dissipate until I was in Big Pine (4,000') for over an hour.

With that said, I had a headache that cleared between Mt. Whitney and Trail Crest.

You will never know your AMS status at an elevation until you go to that elevation or how you system will react to it.

i wouldnt recommend your plan to anyone. when i last experienced AMS symptoms i was beyond miserable.
since then i have used diamox as a preventative med w aspirin. this has worked well for me when i have
had less than proper time to acclimate but i've never given myself no time to acclimate. ive never
tried going sea level to 14000 and i wouldnt want to knowing how it would make me feel.
To me, no summit is worth that miserableness. i want to be able to enjoy my time in the mountains as much as possible.
If ur totally set on your time plan though,
i reccy diamox and aspirin.
Tell your doc you're going to altitude and you
need a scrip for diamox (generic:acetazolamide) and he should give it to you no problem.

Hey all. I climbed Mt.Whitney in one day. Took me 15 hours. No problems with AMS. Weather was beautiful, can't wait to do it again. Thanks for all the great advice.

Way to go Shay! Congrats on your accomplishment!

Your guess is wrong. Lot's of people hike the MT and climb technical routes in the Whitney area and other places in a car-to-car manner with ZERO acclimatization. They do that with reasonable speeds, enjoyment, and high success rate.

yes, it was a guess as I mentioned.

I was hoping Ken might see this and remind us of the figures his study obtained on Whitney. And just because someone gets a little tired or headache, it does not necessarily stop them, as AMS can do. I don't know if his study included successful summiteers only, or attempers and successors. Furthermore, there are likely risk-of-AMS differences between the populations of first timers vs veterans, Main Trail vs MR, or other groups. The example of car to car trips by those on MR or East Face is automatically a different group than first timers. I would expect them to have a lower incidence of AMS.

I am glad our poster had a good time. Well done.