Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trip Report 8/10-8/19

Here is short recap of a long and wonderful trip around the Mt. Whitney area. Pictures are available on the link at the bottom.

My Cousing Ronald and I left the bay area Friday afternoon and headed for Lone Pine. We spent Friday night at Horse Shoe Meadows to start our aclimation. We picked up our permits on Saturday and went back to Horseshoe.

as a side note I have never seen the Horse Shoe area so over crowded. There was one group of 3-4 families (15+people) that where stayin there for a 5 days! and another group 12+ women that were there for 3 days! none of these groups had any plans to head out overnight. It was my impression that the campground was for hikers heading out with permits but I may be wrong. This lead to people sleeping anywhere they could get a bag or tent and there was no hope of finding room in the bear box's. No toilet paper int he restrooms, etc. If this keeps up it will end up just like the portal with Bears knowing there is plenty of prepackaged food available laying around and food in cars.

Anyway, In the morning we headed out to take the Rockwell variation from the end of Horse Show Meadows up the right drainage and on up to Cirque Peak. After summitting we headed down to New Army Pass and camped at the spring that is on the West side.

The next day we went past Soldier Lake and crossed over to the Miter Basin and headed up to Sky Blue Lake and on up and over Crab Tree Pass to Crab Tree lake. Long day but that put us close to Whitney for a summit trip the next day.

We worked our way up to Discovery Pinnacle (3 hours with full packs up loose scree) lots of fun! We then dropped onto the main trail and left our packs at Trail Crest. We hiked to the summit and back to our packs and this was most enjoyable to not have our full packs. The weather was great and we spent about an hour on top. Then it was back to our packs and down to Hitchcock Lakes.

We slept in and then I fished for our breakfast (eggs and trout taste great)we left about 11:00am for the artic Lakes and over the Whitney Russel Col. We hiked down to Upper Boy Scout Lakes and camped.

The next day was to be the highlight of the trip as we were going to go up the Rockwell variation above Boy Scout Lake and then take the East Ridge to the summit of Russell. What a great alpine route with nice exposure and increadable views. This has to be my favorite summit route to date. I felt what it must have been like for John Muir to explore the High Sierras.
On the way down I did a quick trip up Mt Carllison(sp?)and then back to camp at Upper Boy Scout.

The last day I fished for Breakfast again and then we hiked out to the Portal for a burger and a beer.

This was a great way to see a lot of country and do a loop around Mt. Whitney. If you dont mind cross country travel and carrying your pack up scree feilds and over mountain passes I highly recommend this route.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/9069940@N04/74Gn8V

Nice! Looks like I have a route to add to my list!

-L

Laura,

From your past trip reports I know that you would have no problem getting over the mountain passes. It is a great route and keeps you away from the crowds.

Just curious, How does the champaign affect you at altitude? There are times I am already light headed by the time I get to the top and a little bubbly might finish me off.

Happy Hiking!

Stephen

Thanks, Stephen! Scree kills me, actually, just like bad snow, but I'm just moose-headed enough to keep plowing upward.

I've not had a problem with the champagne at altitude, except that it acts differently out of the bottle. It tends to 'explode' in your mouth with bubbles, causing a 'surprise re-gurg' (LMAO!) in unsuspecting people. In other words, don't swig it!

The funniest part of it is that even the splits (small bottles) are so bloody heavy compared to the liquid inside. But then again, it wouldn't be me if I wasn't carrying a heavy load!

Enjoy!
-L

Of course champagne tastes like soda water to MooseTracks. Here's what she was handing out on top of Mt. Baldy earlier this year. No bubbles in that bottle!



By the way, thanks again, Laura!

Mmmmm.... scotch... It's not just for breakfast anymore.

I'd have to say that the Moet and Chandon my parents brought with them to LP last week for my surprise welcome home went extremely well with Doug's pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage!

And besides, I only drink good bubbly!

Hey, don't forget the Kahlua brownies I brought on that hike, too!

-L