Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trip report 8/27. Lighting, rain, snow and hail.

Wow. My buddy and I ( Two newbies doing the whitney summit) got home last night from one hell of a hike up whitney. We left Saturday 8/24 and headed up to Onion Valley to camp. We set up camp and then started to enjoy the place. That night we saw a bear grab someones unattended backpack and run off with it. The next day I found the unlucky camper who told me that he lost over $500.00 worth of gear for two powerbars that were in his pack. We also saw three cars that were broken in by bears in the large parking lot that backpackers use. These bears can rip apart a cars window with ease. That day ( Sunday ) it started to rain and my old coleman tent started leaking real bad. The tent was in poor shape so we packed it up and threw it away. We decided to break camp and head to lonepine. It looked like it was going to clear so my buddy and I decided to do Whitney a day early since we had no tent and we did not want to spend the money on a motel room ( Wish we had ). We went to the Lone Pine vistors center at 11:00 a.m. and they had 24 unused permits. Our orginal permits were for 8/28. So we grabbed two and headed to portal. We got a camp site to store our large cooler and food in since all the other free bear lockers were taken. We tried to rest and waited for nightfall. Well on to the hike:

We left portal at 10 p.m. and started hiking ( Yes the ranger at the vistors center said it was ok but could not go on any further past lone pine lake until 12:a.m. We got to the sign a little early and waited until midnight. The sky was starting to get cloudly and the moon went away. We got to outpost camp and it started to slightly rain. No big deal we thought and kept walking. Then it started to really rain. We put our rain gear on and took shelter under a slab of granite and waited. We waited for about 45 minutes and the rain died down. We got up and started to walk to trail camp. We ran into two other hikers that had the same plan as we had, which was to leave early and summit ~ 7: a.m. We all started hiking together. My buddy and I been planning this trip for the last six months. We both had the ten esentials, proper clothing for all conditions, water and food. These two guys we met on the trail by the second lake were in shorts, tee shirts, tennis shoes. They both had medium jackets on with two day packs. One had a ripped yellow parka. They were great guys just not prepared for the weather.

We were probaly about two miles from trail camp when thunder and lighting started striking in different directions. My buddy and I colasped our treking poles and we all took cover under a large granite overhang. We sat in there for over an hour while it rained, thundered and lighting struck all around the area. Scary as hell. We wanted to go back but lighting was flashing behind us back at the portal area. We waited until the lighting stopped in our area. We all got up started walking again. An hour passed and it started raining again but with no lighting. We kept walking and got to trail camp around 4:30 a.m. We waited under some shelter until dawn broke. We saw the mountain covered in clouds and there was a slight drizzle. We saw some other hikers that camped there ready to go for it so we decided to also go for it in this drizzle. We started up the 97 (?) switchbacks. We were about 60% up the switchbacks and my buddy was about 10 switchbacks up from me when thunder, lighting, hail and snow started. The trail became a river of slush and water flowing down the trail. I yelled up and told him we needed to get off the mountain. He came down and we started down the switchbacks. The other two decided to wait up there hoping for it to clear. Really never saw them again. Hope they are allright. We got down to about switch back 20 and waited for about 15 minutes. The weather broke around the mountain and it started to clear. We decided to go for it again. We hiked up the switchbacks which felt like 1000. We got to the top and started walking to the summit. No more rain, thunder, lighting, snow or hail. Just a 10 mph breeze and some clouds which came in bunches then would slowly clear. We both felt tired and weak from the night before. We kept walking which felt like hours. Other hikers passed us on their way to the summit. We could see the summit but could not see the stone building beacuse it was covered in clouds. It was about 10:30 a.m. We waited and talked about what we wanted to do and decided not take and more chances since we were very tired and the summit was getting cloudly again. We were probaly about a half mile away from the top. We left and arrived back to portal around 5 p.m. Things I learned.

1. Bears can and will do heavy damage to your car or truck. Never leave anything that looks or smells like food. Saw a $60,000 merceds SEL ripped apart up at Onion Valley. Never leave your gear unattended. Just ask that camper that left for 30 minutes to chat with his friends at another campsite. Lost his pack to a bear.

2. Be prepared for any condition no matter what the weather man says or it looks like outside. That day we left for the hike I called my son back in Orange county who looked up the weather report on the internet which said it was about a 20 to 30 % chance of showers in that area and clearing later on.

3. I did not think there would be alot of water up there so I took to much and my pack was a little heavy for a dayhike. I should have listened to you expert guys who told me there is water up there. Let me tell you, there is water every where you guys said and posted where it would be. I really enjoyed that spring at switchback 23 ? It was soooo good and pure. Did not filter it.

I'm sure we made mistakes and poor choices, but all in all it was the hike of my life. Next time, and there will be a next time because I did not make it to the summit. I think I will camp at trail camp for a day and then summit the next day. Ah, you learn from your mistakes.

Thanks for this message board. It really helped us alot.

Very interesting report, and it sounds like you made the best of what you had to work with. After an adventure like that, I don't think I'd worry whether I'd gotten to the summit or not. It will be there next time, but as miserable as you may have felt on the (1000) switchbacks in the rain, it's a trip you're not likely to forget.

Regarding the bears, I carry non-food camping stuff in a couple of those plastic tubs with tops, which I used to leave in the car, reasoning there was absolutely no food, so why not. Then I figured out that even if a bear THINKS there might be food, I lose. So now I leave them sitting out at camp, with tops on. I've found them spilled and nosed through a couple of times, but the car has survived intact 8^)

Thanks for taking the time to do your report...very informative.

Thanks for the report and the lessons learned. The second time around is usually a lot easier, since a lot of what to expect is ingrained in you from the first trip.

It is hard to tell people exactly when to turn around during the threat of rain, but a good rule of thumb is to turn back at Trail Crest if there are any signs of clouds forming to the west. You made a wise decision to turn back if there were clouds on the summit. For more discussion on the subject, see Thunderstorm Possibility- when to turn around? .

Hi Casey I would list this report as the source of myth busters, all lighting is in the afternoon get off the mountain at..... the weather report said.... it was only a empty box in the car...., I always hike in shorts..... Great insight into your report! Thanks Doug

Climbingcasey, I am sorry that you & JPP did not summit. But you were very wise for turning back if not sooner in that kind of weather. I might just possibly go with you next time. I'll see you soon.
Doug (Samsonite)

Hey Casey. Great report. I was on the trail early Monday morning also. There were five in our group and we had as much adventure as we could handle. We left the Portal at 3 a.m. and hiked through the rain. (It rained so much we wondered which "20%" we were getting. Maybe they meant 120% chance of rain.) We hiked through until we stopped just short of Trail Camp about 7:30 a.m. By then the rain/hail was being pushed by bitter winds and lightning was cracking very close by. We even heard boulders tumbling down mountain sides somewhere above. We felt like we were pinned down between the storm coming off the mountain in the west and the lightning coming in from the east. We decided to not stick around and retreat to a more protected area. Racing to get off the exposed rock trail before Trail Camp was very scary. Wind, hail, slick rocks, streams of water and lightning strikes. Some members in our group had their ponchos and rain gear tear up and fail from the cold and wind. That's when I realized that the odds were tipped against us and we could become a statistics. We succeeded in our retreat and regrouped back near Mirror Lake. At that point we decided to leave with what we had.

All the time on the way down the trail we wondered if anyone dared to go up the switchbacks or even the summit. Sounds like you were on the switchbacks when we were getting hammered before Trail Camp. I can't believe you found the energy to go up the switchback twice in the same morning. What determination.

Thanks for your report and sharing your adventures. Maybe we'll see you up there on the redo hike.
-mark-

first of all glad you are OK. the lessons learned are valuable ones. never underestimate the weather. it has killed many before you. as you hear on this board... "The mountain will always be there." plan another trip and hope the elements will be in your favor.

my friend was the one that lost his pack at Onion Valley. another valuable lesson learned. "Make sure you store gear in bear country correctly, even for only a minute of being unattended." glad to report that after hiking around for 2 hours we found his pack, top slashed, promax bars eaten, but GPS, radio, etc. still intact.

happy trails!

Norma, I glad you found that pack and that expensive gear. I have never seen anything like that in my life. A bear running around with a pack in his mouth. A couple of those cars that were broken into by the bears just had a duffle bag inside. The blue Miata had a soft top that the bear just pushed in the back window, probaly just smelled the duffle bag and then proceeded to rip the cars interior apart. I'm not an expert on bears but it seemed to me that if a bear sees anything inside the car or truck ( empty cooler, duffle bag,trash bags with clothes inside ) that looks like it might have food inside they might go for it in the cover of darkness. After seeing how much damage a bear can do, I would never take the chance on leaving anything inside my car unattended at night. Bears are pretty smart and they are awesome animals.

Casey:

Thanks for taking us along on this adventure. It is proof in itself that there are times when the mountain just doesn't want to be climbed.

While I am glad that you and your friend made the decision to turn around, I think there is a lot more to be learned from this particular situation. There is a great book that reviews not only the basic meteorology of thunderstorms, but also storm safety. It is called: Lightning Strikes: Staying Safe Under Stormy Skies by Jeff Renner (ISBN: 0-89886-788-6). I bought it at the Interagency Center in Lone Pine this past spring as prep for my trek, and it really gave me some good ideas of what to watch for and how to act if a storm were to develop in my area.

For example, you said you took shelter under some rocks. While Renner states that "a cave offers protection only if it is deep", he doesn't say how deep. I've heard at least 10 feet, as "ground currents can jump from the roof of a shallow cave to you and then to the floor." Lightning has also been documented to strike up to 10 miles from the center of the cell, and if you can still hear thunder, you're probably within range. Another basic rule of thumb is to wait at least 30 minutes beyond hearing the last roll of thunder before resuming outdoor activity.

Dealing with a lightning storm was perhaps my primary concern in prepping for my trip. The fact that Dennis posts week-daily weather reports is incredibly helpful in gathering last-minute information for anyone's adventure. It's a significant part of what happens in the mountains, and needs to be absolutely respected.

I'm really glad to hear you made it out safely. Whitney awaits your return.

-Laura

Casey:

In the future the NOAA weather site has been right on the mark. Run up www.wrh.noaa.gov/ and then put Lone pine zip 93545 into the box on the left. I've been hiking by it all summer and it has been spot on correct up to 5 or 6 days in advance. Weather.com is also pretty accurate, but go with the NOAA first.

You were very smart not continuing to the summit. Discovery Channel did a story of 2 young men about 1/2 mile from the summit who took refuge under a rock shelf with an aluminum blanket and both got struck by lightning. Both survived, but very badly injured. One would have died of heart failure but either the other buddy was concious to do CPR or someone came along. Can't remember.

Have faith in the NOAA website and there's still time this year to get the summit.

Casey,

Great trip report and glad you are safe, and have given yourself the opportunity to try again. In August 2005, my kids and I, after much planning and anticipation, turned around at Trail Crest due to pea sized hail and ominous clouds. In August 2006, we summited with beautiful blue skies during the entire time we were hiking.

Anna

I would like to underscore what has already been said. In fact, I will say it slightly more strongly. You don't have to leave a pack unattended for an entire minute. Here is a true story involving personal stupidity.

In 2001, I took my 11 year old son to Whitney for the first time. We had a reserved Portal camp site for 2 nights. We got up at 4 AM on the day of the hike. I was rummaging in the bear locker getting the packs together. I put one pack on the picnic table about 5' from he locker (with no food inside, or so I thought). Suddenly, my son said "Look, Dad -- a bear." I turned around to see a bear grab the pack and run off with it. Without thinking, I followed the bear in the dark. Across the stream, I came to a clearing and he was sitting there with the pack. I realized that I was not being very smart and that there were two possibilities if I kept advancing. The more pleasant one was that he would run off and I'd never see the pack again. The less pleasant one involved me in pieces. So, I retreated and the bear headed up the hill.

Back at our campsite, I could think of nothing to do but eat breakfast. The bear showed up, evidently wanting to join us. I shooed him away, put everything back in the locker and went to where I had last seen my pack. I found it about 200' up the hill. It was pretty well torn up but the contents were mostly intact. It turned out that there were a couple of packages of Cytomax inside, which is what attracted the bear. He got them and a hat I had clipped to the outside.

We did the hike and had a great time. On the way down, all my son was interested in was when we could do it again.

I still have that pack hanging on my "wall of shame" at home. Fortunately, I have not had to add to that wall.

climbingcasey

Great TR!!! Good luck with your next trip on Whitney. Mountaineering is about making smart decisions along with training, prep, research, gear, etc. It sounds like you made some good decisions. Thank you for sharing your experience.

MC

"Lessons learned are meant to be taught." m.c. reinhardt

Here is my experience with t-storm probability in weather reports. 20% chance of t-storms equates to 50% chance you will end up in one. 30% chance of t-storms means 100% chance you will encounter one.

Your report is interesting...I stayed at Onion Valley last Tues and Weds nights and was woken up one night by a bear trying to break into a dumpster...I was sleeping in an SUV, so I'm glad he didn't try to break into it (especially because it was a rental without any extra insurance for such things).

I actually drove up to Whitney Portal on my way out of the area on 8/27 and there were some scattered showers, but I guess the worst of it had passed through. It sounds like you had quite an adventure up there, but it was smart to turn back when you got so tired that you wouldn't even enjoy it.

It's OK to push yourself to some degree, but you sometimes get to the point of diminishing returns and you are smart to live to fight another day and hopefully have a more enjoyable hike at that time.

My group of four also had a permit for 8/27. We arrived at the Portal at 0130. There was scatterd rain at that time and plenty of lightning. Given the conditions of 8/26 (gathered from day hikers at the Pizza Factory) and the information from the rangers at the vistor's center, ie storms possible until 8/28-8/29 we decided to abort our hike.
I am glad no one was hurt over the past several days but I don't understand why someone would walk into jaws of a lightning storm.

About the weather: When the weather comes in from the south, strange things, at least in my limited experience, happen in the Sierras. In the mid '80s, there were a couple of humid summers. (395 was closed from floods a couple of times.) One of those summers we were camped at Guitar Lake waiting to summit Whitney at the end of a 6 day trip. We awoke at 6:00 a.m. to an hour of, rain, lightning and simultaneous thunder - only time I have ever hyperventilated from fear as we lay under a collapsed tent not even getting to 2 when counting the gap between the lightning and thunder. (There is not much coverage at Guitar Lake.)

Since the weather was coming from the South, we could not see what to expect. Once it cleared over the Lake, we had to decide what to do. Some of those camped at Guitar Lake elected to stay put for the day. We went up and over Trail Crest as fast as possible. Turned out to that the skies opened up again, with rain, thunder and lightning around 2:00 in the afternoon, just as we got to Mirror Lake or so.

My two cents on lessons learned was: Lightning is no fun to be in. Also, when the weather is unusual, the predictions are all that reliable.

Wow that was quite an adventure. Probably more than anyone would want.From reading and experience,the Sierras can deliver any weather anytime of the year. Talk about a weather dynamic.Crazy stuff.

Interesting report. Sorry that you couldn't hold out until your original 8/28 date. I climbed on 8/28 leaving Portal at 4:15 AM. Some lightning and rain initially and then off and on (mostly off) rain and hail throughout the day. Cloudy and foggy on summit at noon, with more hail on the way down but overall much better weather than you had. Lightning started again around 4:00 PM, but I was down below trail camp so no problem.

28th turned out to be not too bad a day to climb - at least it was cool and not too wet.

Great report, Casey.

I'm one of the two guys in shorts you encountered on the August 27 midnight hike on Whitney. (I'm the guy who was wearing the red shorts and trail running shoes; my buddy had the torn yellow rain poncho.) We were ill-prepared for the weather that was thrown at us. Shame on us.

First of all, I have to say that you and your buddy were great people to have encountered on the trail that night/morning. Second of all, you were making great time against the elements and certainly would have made it to the summit had you not made the wiser choice to come back another day.

After a moment of indecision -- and a start back to the portal as hail/snow hit us on the 97 switchbacks and my frozen toes and legs complained -- my friend and I steeled up and pressed on to Trail Crest, with the hope that the sun would overpower the clouds. We had made it that far. We were going to keep going, segment by segment.

By the blessing of God (that's my belief system), the sun did come through for us.

In that window of opportunity, I made it to the snow-covered summit, signed in the register (but couldn't find the summit marker with the snow covering everything), quickly snapped some photos, then trekked back to the portal. By the time I got back to the switchbacks, the snow had melted, but the crackle of lightning could be heard (mind you, not a fraction as loudly as what we heard overnight).

The walk back to the portal trailhead from there was downright grueling. But at 5 PM, I was eating a delicious burger at the portal store.

The next day we set out from Lone Pine to Las Vegas and our respective return flights home -- via Death Valley National Park. I walked two miles out into the salt flat/basin at -280 ft elevation from the parking lot at Badwater (in shorts, again) but turned around at the point when I had to finish the last of my water. The temperature reading hit as high as 131 F; consistent readings were above 114 F. Unreal.

The next morning I was back safely at my desk.

I wish you and your buddy the best. You both are quality people. I hope to see you again. In any event, happy trails and safe climbing.