Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Times to locations

Starting our 1st attempt to hike Whitney this week. (26th till 29th)
Our strategy is this.
26th Start at the Portal, hike to Outpost Camp, sleep.
27th Hike to Trail Camp, sleep.
28th Wake up early, hike to summit, hike back down to Trail camp, pack up gear and hike to Outpost Camp, sleep.
29th Pack up and head home.

I'm curious about hiking times. What would you say the time to complete each would be?

Whitney Portal ---> Outpost Camp :
Outpost Camp ---> Trail Camp :
Trail Camp ---> Summit :
Summit ---> Trail Camp :
Trail Camp ---> Outpost Camp :
Outpost Camp ---> Whitney Portal :

Times depend on variables such as weather, how well you adjust to the altitude, and what kind of shape you are in. A multi-night backpack means carrying more equipment in and out versus a day hike with less equipment.

If you are out to take an exceedingly leisurely multi-day stroll of the Whitney area, then your proposed itinerary certainly accomplishes that.

If not, then perhaps a suggested alternative might be to make it to Trail Camp on Day 1, summit and return to Trail Camp on Day 2, and return to the Portal the morning of Day 3 (in time for a pancake breakfast at the Portal Store ). Others here have done a similar itinerary as this, with the only difference being to make the generally more wind protected Outpost Camp as their base for summit day instead of Trail Camp.

See also Bob R's recent post:

CaT

As noted earlier, a lot depends on how fast that you can walk at high altitude with lots of gear on your back. Assuming that you can hike at a reasonable pace, here are some rough times to get you into the ballpark:

Whitney Portal ---> Outpost Camp :2.5-4 hours
Outpost Camp ---> Trail Camp :1.5-3 hours
Trail Camp ---> Summit :4-6 hours (without packs)
Summit ---> Trail Camp :about 3 hours
Trail Camp ---> Outpost Camp :1-2 hours
Outpost Camp ---> Whitney Portal :2-3 hours

Hmmmm, very interesting.
Thanks for posting!

Hey Fred,

21 hours for a day hike? My guess is if anyone is hitting numbers your top end numbers they will most likely turn around some time during the day.

A lot of factors are in play here, pack weight, conditions, acclimatization, familiarity with these elevation, aerobic capacity and a few more that I know I am missing.

Most backpacking will take a leisurely pace going up this mountain because there is no reason to go fast...unless you have a date on the summit the first day.

If you have day hiked White Mountain, your round trip time from Outpost Camp will damn close to that time.

just curious, but how old, fit, experienced, are you––a better "wild guess" can be made from these factors . . . but unless you're just planning a nice, slow ascent––your plan seems either painfully slow or a wonderful pleasure . . . something like that. bob

Girlfriend and I are both 30 years old. Extremely fit.
Itinerary:
6/26: Start trail, sleep @ Outpost Camp.
6/27: Hike to Trail Camp, sleep.
6/28: Summit hike, hike back down to Outpost Camp, sleep.
6/29: Eat humongous burger @ Portal Store.

Myself and a group of friends day hiked to the summit on 6/21/08. Here's some times from our ascent and descent.
Portal to Lone Pine Lake 1.5 hours
Lone Pine to Trail Camp 2.5 hours
Trail Camp to the Cables, 44 mins
Cable to trail Crest 2 hours 10 mins, (I stopped to rest a lot)
Trail Crest to Summit 1 hour and 49 mins (I stopped to rest a lot)
I had some mild altitude sickness at the top so I didn't hang out long, maybe 20 mins.
On the way back down, it took
Summit to trail Crest about 1 hour
trail crest to trail camp 1.5 hours
trail camp to portal 2.5 hours
These are just hiking times, so factor in some time for water breaks and food breaks. We began the hike at 1AM and reached the summit around 11am ish, we made it back down to the portal around 6PM. So that turned out to be 15 hours on the mountain and I am GLAD the day hike is over.

2424, I would suggest that your proposed hike is the OPTIMAL way to climb whitney. You guys will have an enjoyable time, you will have lots of time to enjoy the area, look around, do side trips to check out places along the way (Lone Pine Lake, Mirror Lake, Consultation Lake, for example), you could fish if you wanted. You'll have lots of time to interact with others, you'll have time to find the best campsites. You have maximized acclimatization, minimized fatigue, and really optimized enjoyment of the trip. You'll have time for a pancake at the beginning, a cheeseburger at the end, and carrying some extra weight for comforts will not be an issue.

If you follow Bob R's approach of hike no more than an hour, then take a 10-15 min break, you will really enjoy the trail, and minimize altitude, and you don't really have a time constraint that would make you do otherwise. You WONT feel like your bodies have been used as an anvil.

Given all issues, this is definitely the best way to go, if short time is not really a factor.

It sounds like you will do better than the ball park times that I gave you. Since you will be camping at two elevations before you summit you probably will handle the hike from Trail Camp to the Summit well. That is where most of the altitude effects occur.

I think that the one day times frames are a good reference in order to gauge ones progress. My first time up the switchbacks seemed like it would never end. I find that its best to pace ones self so that you just don't burn out.

I asked this same question 2 weeks ago as I too was concerned about hiking times since I had not hiked whitney before. I got some great advice from Verstile Fred and Bob R. With this information I had planned on the hike taking about 14 hours. I was pleasantly surprised that it wasnt as difficult as it sounded. In full disclosure, I am 32 and a marathon runner but my times were as follows.
Trailhead - 4am
Outpost camp - 5:30
Trail camp - 7am
Trail crest - 9am
Summit - 10am.....stayed at summit about 45 mins,
Trail Crest - 11:30
Trail camp - 12:30
Outpost camp - 1:30
Trailhead - 3:15
That is just over 11 hours round trip and that included frequent rest breaks at trail camp and on the switchbacks and lots of stops for pictures. I also lucked out with perfect weather and only had a light day pack and water. Very enjoyable and not as hard as I anticipated. Enjoy!

Thanks for the update. I looks like the altitude did not affect you that much, since it looks like you made it from the cables to the summit and back to the cables in under 4 hours.