Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trip Report - August 31, 2016

TRIP REPORT - August 31st:

I hiked the main trail yesterday as a day hike. It was my 15th time on the trail, the 14th consecutive year - it was just as enjoyable as always!

I was concerned about this year's trip because I had heard so many horror stories about the road construction. For a while I was concerned that my streak of consecutive years was going to be jeopardized. Such was not the case at all - in fact I found the road construction to be little if any impact (it certainly made parking at the trailhead a lot easier at 3:00 in the morning!).

I have found over the years that the most critical element for success on Whitney is proper acclimation. This year I spent 3 days in the Sierra's hiking mountains to get used to the altitude. This time in the local mountains paid off as yesterday's day hike was easy.

I slept at the Portal one night and got up early and was on the trail by 3:30 am. I finished at 2:00. It was windier and a little colder than I expected (I wore convertible pants and made a stupid mistake - it was really warm in the parking lot at 3:30 am, so I unzipped the bottom leg portions and started with shorts. Unfortunately I left the bottom portion of the pants in my car, meaning I had to hike the whole trail in shorts. I won't do that again - I was cold on the top of the trail.)

I was concerned early in the day when I saw lots of gray clouds in the area, but no adverse weather materialized and it was a perfect day on the trail.

I always look forward to the hike every year. The trail is beautiful and it is always nice to meet other hikers, especially the JMT folks.

I look forward to coming back again next year.

PS: The new road surface is a nice upgrade!

Good report, I was there the day before (Aug. 30th) and although it was only my 3rd time on the mountain I agree that acclimation is key (I spent a couple nights at Onion Valley with a day hike to Kearsarge Pass). The theme of the day on Tuesday was also cold and windy!

Can I ask how you train? Your round trip time is great!

I am lucky that I am retired so I have lots of time for fun things like hiking, biking, and backpacking.

I road bike year around about 240 miles per week. In the summer I hike lots of trails in Southern CA - San Jacinto, San Gorgonio, and Mt Baldy. I also hike all the trails in Tuolumne, Yosemite, and along the 395 in the summer time, and then I always hike Mt Whitney every August!

Thanks, sounds great!

Hiker Neil: Congrats on another successful summit, and your string of 14 consecutive years. I did my 15th successful summit on August 2nd, as I completed the entire JMT. Exited at the Portal on the 3rd to celebrate my 60th birthday. Let me say that the double cheeseburger with bacon was quite a treat after 23 days of trail foods. Big Whitney Mike

I am planning to hike JMT next summer, so my 2017 summit will also be the conclusion of a long JMT trek.

Congratulations!