Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board One Day Summit 7-3-04

My wife and I summited on 7-3-04 one day trip.
I posted some questions couple months ago. I got a lot of help from the other people. Thank you very much. Reading the message became my daily routine after that. People are so friendly, helpful and funny.

I wanted to summit to celebrate my 50th birthday, and I wanted to celebrate my 30 years freedom from the communist China.

We met a father and his 8 year old boy. We decended around 3PM, while they were still going up. They did not have enough food, clothes, and water. My friend gave them a bottle of water and the last sandwich. We backed down to the Trail Camp and his wife was wating for him at the switchback. We left the Trail Camp around 6:30 P.M. but we still did not see them yet. We were told by Dennis, a nice guy from San Diego, that his friend was playing guitar at the summit and the father and son were his audiences.

Did anybody see them arrive back to the camp? We are worried about them and hope that they have safely returned.

Well, Happy Birthday Ray!! What a way to celebrate this and your 30 year anniversary of freedom!! How appropriate for the 4th of July weekend!

Ray,

Can you give us a run down of your records? Did you camp at the Whitney portal? What time did you leave the trailhead? what time did u summit and return?

Hi Gatormom:
I responded to your message under "Dayhiking Whitney" regarding to your question about topo map.

I did not tell people how long that took us to completed the hike because it is kind of ambarrassing.

We started at 2:30AM and got back to the car at 1:00AM. It took us 22 hours!!!!! We summited at 2:30 PM

The reason was because my wife and sister-in-law were kind of slow and I was sick for a week. I could not even drove the day before. And we took too many breaks. We even enjoyed an afteroon tea on the way back at Trail Camp!!!

I know a lot of you will laugh, but for a 50 year young man spend most of the time sitting in the office with not much hiking experience, reaching the top is much harder than you think.

The main thing is: I enjoy the hike.

I am going to Mt. Shasta next year.

We prepared a lot before we go. Please let me know if I can be any help.

Good Luck.

Ray

Hi Ray K
Don't be embarrass about your achievment,you have to be proud of yourself! I'm 57 and will attempt for the summit this August 1st after did it in 1978!
I'll take your accomplishment as my inspiration and will try to enjoy this trip not the destination.

Hi Ray,

I'll say the same "Don't be embarrass about your achievment, you have to be proud of yourself"!

My husband is 59 and not in his best physical condition. (He servived stage IV cancer for two years.) We just want to climb Mt. Whitney. We will do the best we can.

Ray,
Congratulations! Anyone that would laugh at you is a fool, you should be proud of yourself and your accomplishment. Do you plan on trying Whitney again next year? It gets into your blood, you know. :-)