Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Lost a Cell Phone

I lost my cell phone on the Main Trail Tuesday--probably near Trail Camp, at the Camp sites up on the rocks overlooking the ponds. Any body find it?

do cell phones work on the mountain?

They do near a cliff face with line of sight to Lone Pine. See Cell Phone Coverage.

Yes, if your phone works you can be one of the many, up there, taking in the sunrise at full volume.

I've had the pleasure of doing a few nights up top of whitney and it never fails that someone will be up there at first light, yelling into their phone, "Hey Dude, Hey Honey, Guess where I am. no guess, just take a guess, yack, yack, yack."

Leave your cell phones at home, or in the car. If you want to make calls all day then stay in Lone Pine and leave the splendor and silence of an early morning on the summit, to those that have earned it, not to mention those that might not want to roll out until at least 6 a.m.

Bob, let's not start the cell phone war again. I realize there are people who object to cell phones on mountain tops, but they are pretty useful in an emergency. And I have a wife and little girl who like to hear from me when I am out on a trip.

But I wouldn't walk around among strangers yelling into my phone -- using a phone in public requires a little courtesy. Unfortunately, some phone users are lacking in that department.

Now a question: I heard someplace that cellular analog coverage ended July 1 this year. Has anyone been able to connect this month from a summit? My phone seemed only to work in analog mode -- it couldn't connect with digital.

Edit: I think Verizon has had the best coverage in the past, so I am hoping someone with that service can try.

I tried from the Summit in July, but without any luck. However, my treo uses ATT and it only gets marginally better reception than my toaster, so it may not be a great comparison.

Brent N.

Steve,

When we were on the summit of Whitney last Wednesday (7/9), my buddy was able to make a call home to find out he had become a grandpa the previous day. I believe he uses AT&T/Cingular. It must have been an important call to get through, though, because when my son tried to use the same phone in the same place to call home and let my wife know he was the third generation Rockwell to make the summit, we couldn't make a connection. Oh well... She knows now!

Kurt

On the summit on June 20,2008 with my dad. He has Verizon and had four bars. I have At&t, zero bars. For what it's worth.

I had good coverage with Verizon on my last trip, but I had to stand very close to the cliff face to get it. I still had to try more than once to make a call (even with the good number of bars). My tri-mode phone selected digital over analog.

Mom and I both have verizon... we'll try sending a text message or something from the summit (I have this horrible habit of cell yelling and hate it when others do that .... I always tell my kids that people don't go places to listen to their mouths...well I know that -no- one is climbing Whitney to listen to my mouth)...