Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Did they make it to the top?

On September 6, my group was camping overnight at Outpost Camp and spoke with 6 nice and polite women hikers who started their hike from the portal trailhead at 1:30 AM and asked us at 3:50 AM if they were heading in the right direction up the trail.

After we organized our gear, we took off for summit, took a break at Trail Camp to replenish our hydration bags and passed them about halfway up the 97 switchbacks at approximately 7:40 AM. They looked like a very unified and focused team taking slow but consistent upward steps. We last saw them when we were descending from the summit and chatted with them at about 11:40 AM as they were heading up about halfway between Trail Crest and the Summit. Can anyone tell me if they made to the top and what time they safety returned to the Portal parking lot? I just hope they all made it and had a fun and memorable celebration on top.

It's hard to know whether you are talking about us-there were 5 women from Coronado-"of an age"-struggling up at that hour of the day who left the Portal at 12:30 a.m. Some wearing stocking caps, all with hiking polls.

We made it to the top-all of us around 1:00-stayed all of 10 minutes, and then didn't get down until 9:20 that evening. It was a very long walk...However, we were up and moving the following day, happy the experience was completed.