Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board accommodations while acclimatizing

Are there any cabins or motels to rent while I acclimatize for a couple of days prior to my summit? Or are the camp sites the only available accommodations? Thanks for the help.

I haven't investigated cabins or closer options, but the Onion Valley has a camp site that's quite high (9200') in elevation and not too far from Lone Pine. I believe it's a couple thousand feet higher that Whitney Portal (8300' or so).

If you are coming from the south, you are kind of out of luck for things like that. Onion Valley campsite is high (9200 feet) and Horseshoe meadows is even higher (10000 feet) Neither has more then a campsite.

From the North it is easier. North of Lone Pine say 100 miles is Mammoth lakes. At 8000 feet, they have a lot of hotel rooms available to hang out for a few days, acclimating.

Rock Creek Lodge has cabins at 9240' and you can drive south 2.5m to Mosq.Flat at 10200' on rock creek road for the day. On the map exit Toms Place from hwy 395 north of Lone Pine. This is the highest you can get in the Sierra as a drive up.

And as additional information on the Rock Creek Lodge. For a few dollars (don't recall how much) the general public can (at least, last year) can use their showers.

Just got back from a trip this weekend. My climbing buddy and I slept at the Portal (8300'). This helped considerably. We hit trail camp on day one, summited day two and came down on day three.

I got wasted by the altitude the first time I tried Whitney a few years ago, so this year was a welcome change.

Would suggest a lot of High Carb meals to help with the altitude. I took Exedrin for any pain or headaches. Also, I read a few studies that suggested that ginko would hold AMS at bay. One study suggested 180mg per day. Another suggested 120mg per day, but suggested you start your regimen 5 days before you head up the mountain. I started two days before and took 180 mg. (You can find both studies by searching for "Altitude Sickness"+"Prevent").

I am pleased to report not a single symptom of Alitude Sickness this trip and we summited on Saturday with no problems.

Glacier Lodge in Big Pine to the north has cabins at about 8000 feet. Here's a web address: http://www.395.com/glacierlodge/

You Can also read a previous post on the subject at http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001933

A big thank you to all that responded to my question. I will most certainly check out all leads. If anyone comes to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and needs help, I will be glad to return the information hospitality shown here. Our trip to Whitney will be during the last week of August and I can barely wait fast enough. Thanks again to all.

what about the whole hike high, sleep low theory? in that case, would it be better to sleep in a hotel and not at portal? also, a good night's sleep would prob be easier sleeping low..

If you're coming down from the north on 395 (from the Bay Area, Yosemite, or Reno), spend a couple of days around Mammoth Lakes. Nice town, about 8,000' and lots of opportunities for day hikes that will take you up above 11,000' or so. When my son and I did Whitney in 2001 (see trip report under "highpointing" on my <a href="http://www.mtritter.org">WWW site</a>), we flew to Reno, drove to Mammoth the first day (3 hours from Reno). The next day, we drove over and hiked up Glass Mountain, about 11k'. Stayed in Mammoth overnight and drove down to Lone Pine the next morning (about 2 hours south of Mammoth).

We were backpacking, so we picked up our permit in Lone Pine and hit the trail about 11:00 a.m. and took our time to hike up to Trail Camp. Did the summit the next day, no problems with altitude.

(We live near St. Louis, so about 500' at home.)