Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Climbing Accomplishments in 2014; Plans for 2015?

As we near the end of the year, I'll start up the "what I did this year" and "what I plan/hope to do next year" thread.

No trips to Whitney (nor even CA) for me this year but I did succeed in summitting Kings Peak, Utah, on the fourth try. Weather stymied two of the attempts and on one, I had altitude issues. This year, we picked a beautiful weather window. Kings Peak is non-technical but the last 1,500' from about 12k up to the summit at 13,528' are a miserable boulder hop up a 45-degree rubble pile. That aside, the hike in takes you through some very pretty country so I didn't mind too much having to repeat the hike in order to finally bag the peak.

Plans for 2015 center around Mt. Hood since the weather was impossible the last time I was up there. Two feet of fresh snow, making the avalanche risk just too severe to even think about it. Hopefully, I can pick a better day next May.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with family and friends. Best wishes for 2015!

Well since I wrote a whole novel describing my first time for first timers I'll try to keep this shorter.

What I did this year:
I got off my butt after 13 years and summited Mt. Baldy for the first time and I ended up liking it so much I went 6 out of 7 more times!
I summited White Mountain, Cloud's Rest in Yosemite, Yosemite Falls, Mt. San Gorgonio, Trail Crest on one Whitney attempt, and finally Mt. Whitney for the first time.

What I plan for 2015:
I want to summit Mt. Langley and see the Conttonwood Lakes, I have several people who want to summit Whitney next year with me and I plan on taking them up White Mountain and San Gorgonio, not to mention Mt. Baldy (which I plan on summiting almost every weekend next year if I can, hope to meet some of you!).

I fell in love with the Portal and the Zone and I love this website! Thx to all,

Dan a.k.a. Halfdomer Homer

What I did this year: Summited Half Dome and Mt Whitney for the 2nd time in my life, along with hiking the 200 miles in between known as the JMT. This was an epic adventure shared with my 12 YO daughter. Success is never guaranteed; it is earned thru hard work, tough climbs, long miles, careful preparation, training and situational awareness. My dreams of "one day I'll do the JMT" became reality. This was the year we got it done.



Plans for 2015: Return to the wilderness, possibly Mt. St. Helens or anywhere out west.

I secretly climbed Mt. Whitney every day in 2014, just to surpass Crazy Jack. In 2015 I plan to wrest the Portal Store cooking duties away from that slacker, Myles Moser.

OK, Mystery Solved. On some of my 2014 crazy Whitney hikes I thought I kept seeing somebody that resembled the Abominable Snowman hiding on the trail.

Now I know it was only Mr. T-- from Maryland.

For 2015 I want to write up a breakfast order that Doug Jr. will understand.

Happy Holidays, The real Crazy Jack