Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Whitney One day Pack Contents?

I have seen many different post on the pack contents for overnight stay on the Mtn. My question is what to take and meet the saftey reccomendations. I drink a ton of water carry a filter and carried close to 30lbs. on last years one day. This year I am hoping to carry 15-20 lbs. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I find that checklists tend to make me overpack, so I have simplified my checklist for an outing, dayhike or backpack, down to the following 4 items:

Shelter
Kitchen
Bathroom
10 essentials

Note that 10 essentials covers almost everything else. I have grouped my 10 essentials into 4 categories to help me remember them:

What I eat: Food, water
What covers me: Sun gear, rain gear, extra clothes
Illumination (think about it!): Light, matches, map&compass
Hardware: Knife, first aid/emergency

The substance and quantity of each category then is adjusted to meet the conditions, avoiding taking more than needed.

First thing is to make better use of your water filter so you don't have to carry much water. Stop often to drink and carry less water between stops. Carrying extra water is a sure way to carry too much weight. You might want to carry 2-3 quarts above trail camp, but not lower on the trail.

I always have a small daypack with some food, small first aid kit, camera, suntan lotion and perhaps a lightweight nylon jacket and thin liner type gloves for colder weather.

I can't think of any time lately that my day pack for a one day hike was over 10 lbs.

It all depends on the ambient temperatures, which will affect your water consumption on the Trail Camp to Summit RT. If a cold front moves through you will more clothing than you would during July's heat.

Always bring extras so that you can make decisions at the trailhead after talking to returning hikers.

Whenever I do alpine hikes, I usually pack 2 additional layers (one of them being winter gear), gloves, winter hat. The next part will vary, but I plan to pack 4 liters and the plan for me will be to reload on water at trail camp and again on the way down. Along with that I have iodine tablets. You also might want to bring first aid while you're at it too and dont forget the food but pack easily digestable food as your digestive system wont work as well at altitude. You're going to burn easily 4000 to 5000 calories on this trip (assuming 150 to 200 calories per mile).

Some of those numbers need to be tailored to your needs. Some people need more water, some less. But after my last experience on Whitney, I plan to overestimate my water needs just in case for whatever reason I need that extra (be it for myself or if someone royally gets in trouble themselves)

SeanB.

On a one day trip you don't want to try to replace all the calories you burn. If you are used to eating 3000 calories per day and you try to stuff down 4000 calories and hike for 16 hours at the same time you will probably end up with, well, a lot of uneaten food in your pack. You will only want to eat as many calories (of complex carbohydrates) as your body can absorb per hour, and then let your body burn fat reserves for the rest.

Well actually I don't pack nearly that many, but you do want to replenish *some* during the way. In my case, its usually in the neighborhood of 1400, which is like eating a candy bar (power bar, GORP or whatever) every couple of hours.

Perhaps I should've clarified that