I am 54 years old and I love Mt Whitney. Over the years the mountain has managed to become part of who I am. I have now reached the summit in 13 consecutive years, and stood on the top 14 times. I have hiked it by myself, with my best friend numerous times, and with other friends too. This year I hiked with my daughter. She lives on the east coast attending graduate school in Philly, so it was a very special opportunity to get some father / daughter time - which I always love. She brought her boyfriend / future fiance as well, and it was a great chance to get to spend time with him as well.
I know from previous years how important it is to acclimate so we spent 4 nights in Yosemite and Tuolumne Meadows (TM). I can't think of a better way to kill 5 days! The trails were awesome. On August 13th we left TM and headed south to the Portal to get ready for a summit attempt on August 14th.
We spent one night at the Portal campgrounds and got up at 2:30 am. We were on the trail at 3:30 am. Each of us carried about 10 pounds - including goretex jackets, food, light gloves, 60 oz of water, and one water pump. We made it to Trail Camp and made a brief stop to fill our 100 oz water bladders and to eat PBJ sandwiches. We then headed in to the switchbacks. I could hear my daughter breathing really heavily as we approached Trail Crest. We took pictures at the sign and continued on. We enjoyed the brief respite of the short downhill section (that section really gave my daughter a new second wind!) and headed across the long backside section.
Eventually we made it to the last right hand turn and started up the long uphill section to the hut. I told my daughter and Brad to not look up, and to just look down and trudge on. They did, and we eventually made it. I was overcome with emotion and I lost a few tears - I was so proud!
We took pictures on the top and eventually headed down. We took our time and chatted with fellow hikers and encouraged as many as we could. The weather for the day was PERFECT - chilly on the top, and a little breezy but no clouds at all.
We got back down in just under 12 hours. I asked them what they thought - and they both said it was the hardest physical thing they had ever done. I was particularly impressed that they both made it, because they had no chance to do any real mountain training in the flatlands of Philadelphia!
My daughter made a video of the day and it is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puozPhqrMok&feature=em-upload_ownerProud dad.
), but I'll watch it on break tomorrow at work... looking forward to it! 