Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board first timer

Hi everyone-

I just turned 40 and have two babies at home. I will be hiking the trail a month from now. I am very intimidated as I have not had much time to physically prepare for the hike. I was looking for some words of encouragement from people who were able to summit without being as prepared as they should have been.

Also I have will be doing the hike over 3 days, two nights and was wondering how I should break up the hike and how long each portion of the hike should and could take. I will be going with my husband who is in great shape and my brother and his girlfriend who are in great shape and 8 years younger then me.

Also, any good recommendations on food.

thank u in advance mamacita

You came to the right place!

Read over the many topics posted on this board, and maybe get a book on climbing Mt. Whitney.

If not done in a day, which I prefer myself, the standard option is to backpack up to Trail Camp, then on your second day, go for the summit. Back to TC, where many may decide to pack out that same day. I'd say roughly it may take a good while to carry your load up to TC, so don't start late. It takes up to all day to summit from there, for many, and hiking back to the Portal may run a few hours.

My first time, I had climbed Half Dome as a backpack to see how I'd do, but then nearly died on Whitney due to a terrible T-storm that hit while I was descending back to Trail Crest. I climb a lot of peaks, now, but I talk with a lot of beginners. It can be an agony if you are not prepared, and I have no hesitation to call it possibly the most miserable time in your life, for the unprepared or unfit (with little or no experience).

It's not easy as some will say, but if you are in condition, it can be glorious!

Mamacita,
I made my first journey up the Whitney Trail the year I turned 40. I've been back 8 times in 6 years. The trips I've made after going through weeks or even months of conditioning were by far easier than the trips I made with out preparation. Most of my trips were day hikes. Making the ascent over 2 or 3 days will allow your body to acclimate and condition as you go, providing that you are reasonably healthy to begin with.

The topic of conditioning for the hike has been discussed a few times before on this board. You can find lots of good information by using the search feature. You might try searching for topics like: preparation, conditioning, warm-up hikes etc.

Altitude affects some people a lot more than others regardless of how physically fit the person is but in my opinion, being in good shape definitely helps.
-Rick

I did it last year as a 3 day/2 night trip as you propose. I do a lot of hiking but not much above 6,000 feet.

I did some day hiking a few days before Whitney to get in better altitude shape and camped around 9,000 feet for about 4 nights also. Those day hikes were fine and I did not suffer at almost 13,000 feet.

I went up to Trail Camp which is at 12,000 feet. It is about 6 miles and almost 4,000 feet. I took from 7am to just shy of noon.

I did get queasy on that first day but I think that may have been due to eating too much, too fast when I stopped at Outpost Camp. It passed and I did not have any problem with it on summit day.

Summit day was from around 6:30am to the summit by about 10:30 am. Enjoyed it immensely for almost 2 hours.

Back down to Trail Camp. Out the 3rd day.

Some folks prefer Outpost Camp. It has trees and is more sheltered but you have a longer summit day but a shorter first day. Also some find it easier to sleep lower.

I did not sleep well at Trail Camp the first night but did better after the summit. Excite or elevation - it did not matter.

Just take your time. Drink lots - including electrolyte replacement drinks and eat foods you like but probably lesser in fat to ease digestion.

Have a great trip.

Hi, Mamacita,
Congrats on turning 40 and the babies!

I did this as a dayhike on July 5th with my husband (we are 36). I have had a lot of hiking experience but hadn't done much in the last three years until a week before our Mt Whitney hike. We did Yosemite Peak a week before; Mono Pass three days before, and the Portal to Lone Pine Lake the day before the big hike up to the summit.

It took us 18 hours to complete the hike. We started at 1:30 am, reached the summit at noon, and were back at the trailhead at 7:15 pm. We went slowly, drank water and ate somewhat regularly (Hydrolyte seemed to help us once we hit Trail Crest) . I was a touch nauseous at times when trying to swallow food but that was about it as far as altitude sickness (aside from the labored breathing).

I read a couple of books, "How to Climb
Mount Whitney in One Day", by Sharon Baker-Salony (written for older folks and amateur hikers) and one called "Mount Whitney: Mountain Lore from the Whitney Store" written by Doug Thompson and Elizabeth Newbold (the folks who run the store at the Whitney Portal) plus, read this message board religiously every day for about two or three weeks. The info gathered through these mediums were undeniably helpful.

There are a lot of things to take into consideration: how physically fit you are; how you respond to high altitudes; how committed you are; how prepared (water, food, clothing) you are; the weather...

Since you are taking a few days to do it, I think your chances of summiting are pretty high. Some training before hand wouldn't hurt, though.

Tips that were helpful to me:
Make sure the shoes you hike in are broken-in and very comfortable.
Don't forget your blister kit (know your hotspots and pre-treat the hotspots before starting the hike).
Also, this was my second hike with trekking poles and I loved them. I used to do hikes half this long and would be in pain descending due to knee pain. My knees were not an issue after this hike which still amazes me. The poles also help with stream crossings, rocky trails, and sandy granite (all of which you'll hit on this trail).

Some favorite hiking snacks: some kind of meat sandwich, gummy bears (they don't melt and are easy to pop in your mouth while walking - they also didn't make me want to throw up), those fruit thingies from Trader Joe's (like a Fruit Roll Up but they are not rolled up, they are small, light, and easily slipped into a side pocket), mini-chocolate chip coo kies (also from TJ's), and Balance bars (the crunchy, mint, chocolate ones).

Best of luck to you and your group. Most of all, just enjoy the scenery!

Mamacita,

First time I climbed Mt. Whitney many years ago I thought I was going to die.

Here's some of what I did wrong, and what I suggest you do (right):

- PLAN, PLAN, PLAN *before* your trip. Get your gear together and packed in your pack. Plan your meals and have the food ready to go in bear can (or buy/rent a bear can so you can pack that before the hike) Main point is to have this done so you don't stay up half the night before you leave doing this. (Which is what I did that first time) You need your sleep!

- Spend the night before the start of your hike at Portal campground. That'll start your acclimatization process. (I did do this)

- Don't eat anything weird for dinner that night. My brother in law foisted his "vegetarian spaghetti" off on us. The next day - Ugh! Eat normal food.

- Have a good breakfast the day you start your hike. Like a portal pancake at the Whitney store. (One will feed several of you)

- Take you time hiking. Don't run around and waste tons of energy like I did.

- Drink, drink, drink, drink. Needless to say, I didn't and paid the price. Note: My wife does not like to drink water, but we now have bladders and she finds it much easier to stay hydrated. Much easier than stopping and taking a Nalgene bottle out of your pack.

- Eat, snack, etc. periodically as you go up the trail.

- You don't say what shape you are in other than you haven't had much time to get in shape. How did you do on any other hikes you did manage to do? I would suggest that you make your fellow climbers carry the bulk of the gear and you travel relatively light. If you are not in shape, carrying 1/4th of the load is going to grind you down and you'll likely all be miserable because you'll be suffering. It'd probably be easier for them to just take the bulk of the load in the first place. That'll slow them down a bit, but allow you to travel light and at their pace. What the heck, you said they're all in great shape anyway!

- TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE NEXT MONTH!!! Get out and do some hikes!

- Most folks to to Trail Camp for night #1, on day 2 ascend to top and back, spend night #2 at T/C, day 3 down and out. But if you're suffering, going all the way to Trail Camp for night #1 is going to be a drag. You could do night #1 at Outpost, then night #2 at Trail Camp. But then you either have to climb from Outpost to T/C, then do ascent on day 2 - OR - do the ascent and exit/out ALL on day 3. Probably best to go all the way to T/C on day 1 if you can. If you do all of the above, shouldn't be a problem.

Hope this helps.

Wow!
Thank you so much for all the great advice and encouragement. I took alot of notes and you all really got me excited to go.

I have the nanny coming tomorrow to help with the kids so I am planning on doing a day hike at torrey pines state park. I will be testing out my trekking poles for the first time.

I was wondering if there is a motel to stay in the night before I start the hike. Any recommendations?

Gracias mamacita

Hi Mamacita,

I did my first trip as a day hike when I was 40 and so did another woman in our group that year. I just turned 50 and did my fourth trip (see http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=reply;f=1;t=002276).

It is hard to predict how you will react to the altitude and the distance. If you were doing a day hike, I would recommend hiking the lower part of the trail up to Lone Pine Lake to get familiar with the altitude and the lower part of the trail. Since you are staying overnight, I guess it is a matter of how you share your load with your husband, etc. and how quickly you get acclimated to the elevation. For day hikes it is good to get at lest two nights of acclimation at Whitney Portal or above. Going all the way to Trail Camp may be too much elevation change for your first day but a lot of people like to do that (particularly for two nights) since it is a lot closer to the summit.

Hope you have a good time.

Fred

Ah, all you 30-something and 40-something kids!! When my son and I did Whitney in 2001, he was 12 and I was 50.

I concur with Trail Camp as the optimum place to camp. Shorter summit day, plus camping at 12,000' pushes acclimating. If you have the chance to spend a night or two at lower altitudes (say 8,000-10,000') before hitting the trail, by all means, do so. We spent two nights at Mammoth Lakes (8,500') with a dayhike to 11,000' in between. Made a big difference in how we felt and how well we slept at Trail Camp.

Trip report of our experience under the "highpointing" section of my <a href="http://www.mtritter.org">WWW site</a>.

Since then, we've done Wheeler Peak, NM, and Mt. Elbert, CO, and were stormed off Kings Peak, UT, and Borah Peak, ID, this summer, so we're still doing the state highpoints as time permits.