Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Best Guess - What % of 1st timers make it????

Subject says it all. i know its a hard one, but maybe someone at the store has a record?

This is absolutely off the top of my head.....

When we did the survey last summer of >1000 attempters, we found around a 70% success. However, we did not break it out by first timers, which I'm sure is lower. I'd guess 50-60%, but that is just an impression.

Like many questions raised on this board, a similar one has been asked before: success rate for dayhikers and backpackers?

But your question is about 1st timers. I think the numbers are a little lower than all timers, but not by much. It is my sense that the vast majority of those climbing Mt. Whitney are 1st timers.

Of course, repeat climbers--especially those who go up several times a year--have success rates that are much higher. (Mine is about 91%, including winter climbs.)