Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mt. Whitney youngest climber?

Hi I was curious if anyone knew or if anyone knew how to get ahold of the information who was the youngest hiker to hike mt. whitney in one day? I beleive I was 8 when I went up and I was the youngest in the book they had up then, but I'm sure their were numerous books before and after now. I was curious though. If you know or know who to get ahold of I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks, Anthony

Hi best guess would be around 5 years old also have had talks with families doing the JMT with girls around 4 that summited from the back side and down and kids carried to the summit very young Most of these kids live at high elevation and are active outdoors all year long most tend to live in ski areas and hike most the summer. Thanks Doug

I'm sure this does not qualify, but two years ago I saw a day hiker on his way up between the summit and Trail Crest. He had an infant back pack and was carying what looked like a 6mo old infant.

There should be a separate category for people who actually did the climb under their own power. Being baggage should not count.

I have heard of 9 year olds doing the day hike. I have heard of younger kids doing the hike in more than one day. But I have not kept close track and can easily imagine it being done by someone 8 or younger -- someone like aacally.

Of course, Doug has seen it all, including kids younger than 8. The fact that he does not remember the age of the youngest day hiker he has encountered may indicate that it was not a huge deal to the adults in the party.

I think Kashcraft taking his kids up MR was pretty awesome.

First of all, sorry for straying off the original topic. There was a thread about a year or 2 ago about kids on the mountain, and I don't want to dredge up a bunch of stuff, but it kind of bothers me when people take babies to these altitudes. I've also seen the "baby-packs" on Whitney, and I'd like to know how the person that might not even be able to walk yet let alone talk, can express to the accompanying adult that they are experiencing the headache, nausea, and other related symptoms of altitude sickness. If a kid is old enough to communicate distress, by all means let them try it, but don't risk a child's life for the adult's goal of reaching the top. I camp & hike frequently with my boys (6 and 2) and the older one showed some signs of AMS at Rock Creek Lake (10,000'), so I won't even take him higher than that without proper acclimatization. Sorry again for the rant, it's just one of my peeves.

Hi Kash didn't take his kids to the summit he went with them. I was on the last section of the mountaineers route and as I turn to do the last section I could see some people in the chute so I tend to go way right and climb this section staying clear of rock fall and knocking things onto others .I was about 50' from exiting onto the summit ridge and noticed that the people in the middle of the chute had picked many routes up and then I spotted most of these were kids , so I sat and watched a while in case some trouble happened on some of the different paths , everyone did great. I slipped on to the summit, down. Some years later Kash and I were talking and I figured it was his family I watched climb that day. Now the kids are older and Take Kash to the summit! Thanks Doug

Conventional wisdom in Switzerland is that infants should not be taken above 2000m (6500') due to their higher likelihood of suffering from AMS and lower tolerance for UV rays.

When our younger daughter was 4 years old (not an infant) we made a trip to the Jungfraujoch (Switzerland) which is at 11333' above sea level. We went up by elevator to the 400 feet higher Sphinx lookout platform. Up there our daughter started to feel bad. Her heart was racing, such that we were not even able to take the heart rate. She was slowly passing out. We immediately went back down the 400 feet to the railway station level and she started to recover. Maybe it was a coincidence, but to us the 400 feet seemed to make the difference. Kurt

Our group was on the summit last Wednesday, Aug 17, and "met" a boy who was 7 years old. I took his picture and said I would post when I got back to civilization.

I hope he made it down OK, because he seemed very "tired."

Hope you will still like to hike when you get older, Mica.

http://picasaweb.google.com/taichigolf/MicaAtTheTopOfMtWhitney

Back around 1990 I ran into two brothers at Trail Crest who were doing the main trail as a day hike. Dad had pooped out and was waiting at Trail Camp. One was 10 and the other was 7. Both were tired, but still enthusiastic and making good time.

FYI: A few years ago I ran into a couple who were hiking up White Mtn with an infant in a childcarrier-backpack-thingy. They mentioned they had camped at Grandview the previous 2 nights, had visited Patriarch Grove the day before, and the kid had no noticable problems with the altitude. He had on sunglasses, a floppy hat, and sunscreen, and seemed to be doing fine.

The couple also mentioned they had taken him on a few other dayhikes at lower altitudes and hadn't noticed any problems.

And yes, they were saving the dirty diapers for proper disposal later on (easy to smell!).