Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Acclimatization - 1 day hike

Hi, my friend & myself are planning to leave Los Angeles around 6 pm in order to arrive by midnight and start the hike. this will be our first trip to hike in this high altitude. i called the ranger station to confirm our trip plan. The ranger said that our plan is pretty common by hikers.
my question is , if we don’t have the extra time to arrive earlier. should we still consider the hike?
Thanks

Pretty high chance of failure with fatigue (6 hour drive followed by at least 10 hours of hiking) and not acclimatizing. But what the heck, you get out of LA for the day and out into the Sierras. That's a good day whether you succeed or not.

Yikes! No acclimating! No rest beforehand! Are you sure you can't plan for a little more time?

You'll never know 'til you try.
Sure, you'd probably have better chances if you had time to be rested and time to acclimatize, but if nothing else, doing it this way will help you begin to establish what your limitations are (or not). If you summit, then great; if not, then you know that next time you need to allow more time, be more rested, etc. Any time in the Sierra is time well spent. If you plan to try to summit again (if you don't/can't summit this time), then just learn from your experience this time.

CaT

Wow, people vary a lot in what they will take. For me, lack of sleep is the biggest problem with your proposal. I am absolutely useless unless I get at least 6 hours right before the hike.

Four times I've slept in a motel in Lone Pine, then gone a dayhike to 14k' (and back) the next day. I've never had altitude problems other than the obvious and expected difficulty breathing. I've never started on the trail earlier than 5 AM (usually more like 6 or 7).

But people vary a LOT. If you are in great shape and are also used to extended hours, power to you. For me, it wouldn't happen.

This question is for Ken:

In that survey you helped your friend and associate with at Whitney Portal, did you collect any data that would differentiate between day hikers who had NOT done any acclimatization -- not even sleeping at the Portal -- and those who had slept only one night at Whitney Portal or Horseshoe Meadows? I am curious about Steve Peacock's assertion that day hikers are better staying low, and then day hiking and getting back down BEFORE the AMS has a significant time to affect them.

When are you going to get your wilderness permit? From your post, I assume that you have made arrangements with the Visitors Center to pick it up in the night box when you arrive in Lone Pine.

I would recommend setting an initial goal of turning around at Trail Camp and see how things go when you get there. If you can make it to Trail Camp in about 4 hours and have no significant fatigue/altitude symptoms, then consider going up to Trail Crest, etc. The whole point is to not set your goals too ambitious in the beginning. The mountain will still be there next year, and it will be more fun the second time around.

I went on the group hike up the MR last year after a long week; not much sleep; 3 hours of sleep Friday night; a four hour or so drive...

Hit "the wall" around Clyde Meadow. Eventually went on a bit further but then called it a day.

Sleep helps!

That reminds me of a post by a Disoriented Hiker on the trail who did not get a good night's sleep. I would suggest at least a nap at the Portal before you hit the trail. We do not need another search and rescue incident.

Coming from sea level to 14k with little sleep is very ambitious. If you insist on sticking to your plans, please read the orientation notes (to your left) about acute mountain sickness, and turn back if you start getting a headache or becoming disoriented. Drinking lots of water and eating carbs while not pushing yourself too hard will help too. As another post said, the mountain will still be there next year.

It would be interesting to hear the results of that survey.

I only know from personal experience that if I'm going to drive up from work/home (900'/1500' above sea level) the night before a hike that takes me up above 12000', I am much better sleeping down below 7000'. If I sleep higher than that, I often wake up with symptoms of altitude sickness and struggle all day long on my hike. When in the Whitney area I like sleeping at Tuttle Creek Campground because it is at 5100' and puts me a bit higher than home/work but not high enough to have altitude sickness develop overnight.

It took me a lot of experimenting with sleeping at different elevations the night before a day hike in the Sierra to find what worked for me. If I sleep at Horseshoe Meadows after coming up from home/work that day, I feel even worse than if I sleep at Whitney Portal.

If I'm backpacking and staring 1500' and camp that night at 9000'+, I just have to deal with not feeling so great when I wake up in the morning but it's slow going for me that second/third day.

A good book I read on going higher:

Going Higher: Oxygen Man and Mountains by Charles Houston

Steve, I can't say that the survey really was quite that specific, although I'll review things again. However, it is certainly not commonly a held belief amongst high altitude researchers that one can "outrun" AMS. I would say that the pretty solid thought is that the most important variable in developing AMS is the RATE of ascent. You go up fast, you are much more likely to get it, and that any time spent at any altitude confers some degree of protection, and the more, the better.

I can't say enough about BobR's method, which I adopted independently some years ago. Even without altitude, I think it is a very good way to hike. It not only allows for acclimatization, but it tremendously reduces the abuse on the body, particularly the feet.

Unfortunately, I cannot post the study, yet, as the terms of the Journal prohibit the information being "published" elsewhere, and that includes the internet! However, once it is, I'll get the study up in some form.

Exactly what I have found to be true (I blame it on age though ) and with many that I have hiked with. There are the exceptional hikers and bodies that can take more abuse than I.

I delay as long as I can my altitude problems. That involves a good nights sleep down low (I'm going to be high anyway in a few hours) and a good couple of meals and lots of non-alcoholic drinking.

Then I'm ready to take it on fresh the next morning early. I only have the usual minor problems, but those are going to happen anyway...so my thought is why start early on them?

Toss all this no-prep work if you are going well above 14,000 or you know you have more than the average problems up high. Then you have to plan acclimatization if you are going to function happily.

The scenario that happens a lot is the hiker who puts off packing until the last minute then packs until dawn. Catches an early flight that he just barely makes on time, because of traffic and getting a breakfast of something really salty from a McD. Gets off the plane (after a few in-flight drinks to celebrate getting this far) 6 hours later and struggles through getting a car and finding the pack in the overweight area (duh!). Jumps in the car drives 4 hours in unfamiliar surroundings, picking up a couple of beers and greasy hamburger with trimmings. Pulls in late -- after getting stressed out missing the junction and driving an hour out of the way...at trail head of 10,000'. Spends the remainder of the evening celebrating being free, finishing up the rest of the pizza and beer with friends. Doesn't really feel like cold oatmeal gruel the next morning so drinks a couple of instant coffees just to try to get the body going in the pre-dawn light.

Now there is a story of abuse and a possible bad trip coming up no matter what heroic efforts he will make over the next few days.

Coming from SoCal I would rather get a good night's sleep at home, leave at 4AM for breakfast enroute to trail head around 9AM. Leave from top of dayhike at 4ish to make it back home before midnight. Or leave top of day hike to get down before dark if staying in the area.

On your hike you will have been awake for almost 40 hours by the time you get back to Lone Pine if its a day hike. I guess some people can do that. Probably won't have altitude problems before you have other physical problems tho