My wife and I just returned from a fabulous two-day climb up to Whitney. We made it to the top, although I was huffing and puffing as we got above 13,000 feet. Here's a summary of the trip & conditions:
We stayed at Whitney Portal Family Campground on the night of June 30. We're sea-dwellers from the Bay Area, so it helped to get at least one night at that elevation (approx. 8,000 feet). May I recommend Campsite #9 -- it was quite secluded and had a nice tent area in addition to a large cooking area with a picnic table. Good shade too.
We headed up the mountain around 8AM on July 1. The mosquitos were fairly intense up to treeline, so be sure to bring a bug net for your head and some DEET. There's hardly any snow on the trail -- you can easily manage in normal hiking boots. There's a stretch of about 20 feet near the summit and some other very short parts along the main trail. We took about 7 hours to get from Portal to Consultation Lake, where we made our camp. We took our time to help acclimate. There are some great campsites at the lake. Trail Camp is a little city with dozens of people camped there. Not much privacy. We had a campsite that was between the trail and the lake that was wind-protected by rocks. We saw no one else around there. You can filter water at a stream that leads to the lake.
On July 2, we got up at 5AM and saw an amazing sunrise form our camp, especially with the smoke form nearby wildfires. By the way, the smoke wasn't a problem on our days hiking, although it does get in the way of some views. We made our way up the 97 Switchbacks. These are quite difficult and seem to never end. Take your time. Once you hit Trail Crest, you can see both sides of the Sierras. Quite spectacular. The altitude hit me pretty good for the rest of the climb. I just took breaks every 10 minutes or so to catch my breath. That seemed to do the trick. We made it to the summit after about 5-6 hours of hiking.
Some recommendations:
1. Bring hiking poles -- I can't imagine how we would have managed without these, especially going down.
2. Spend at least one night at 8,000 feet or above before you get to the trailhead. This is especially true if you live at sea level.
3. Bring easy stuff to eat for the summit. I had a sandwich and CLIF Bars with me, but I had no appetite for them due to the altitude. I was more comfortable instead sucking on Jolly Ranchers and munching on graham crackers.
4. Bring a light jacket and beanie for the summit. It gets colder right after Trail Crest and these are nice to have.
5. Bring at least 3 liters (probably better off with a gallon) of water to make it from Trail Camp to summit. There are no water sources after Trail Camp other than a spring on Switchback #23.
Have a great hike! Reply if you have any questions.
Cheers,
Ryan
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