Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Children on the Mountaineers Route???

Is anyone here who can confirm if there are any children, ages 10 and under, who have successfully climbed the Mountaineers Route? I have two monkey's (aka: children) who are well prepared to climb the route with their mother and me during the last week of August 2008.

There is no doubt in our minds that the children are fully capable of successfully accomplishing the three day hike. However, there is a nasty divorce going on and the future ex hasn't got a clue of his children’s climbing abilities and may attempt to keep them from meeting their goals through his attorney.

Any help in this matter will be greatly appreciated.
Safety First!!!

Check this earlier post.

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/50153/page/5#Post50153

If one parent is adamantly opposed, I don't think it's wise to push the issue--regardless of whether or not it is appropriate.

Is this really something you want to go to war over?

10 year olds generally don't have goals, they want to please their custodians.

This is an activity that DOES involve risk. It is hard to fathom why anyone would expose a child to risk when a parent is opposed, or is unaware of the activity, or the risk.

It sounds like this is being done to prove a point, and using a child for that purpose.......is hard to describe.

Cowboy, yes, safety first.

It is a route, not a trail. You would be subjecting young children to exposed areas, such as the Ebersbacher Ledges and the chutes above the Notch, or the traverse-walk-off.

The route is also extremely steep for little kids,as in MILES, rather than a few feet of fun scrambling that kids like to do.

I've done the MR with a nine-year-old (Richard Ps nephew), and he did great, but the boy was with accomplished adult hikers and climbers who were thorougly familiar with the route and were trained rock climbers. We do not know your degree of fitness and level of training, or your route-finding skills, which are critical for your safety and theirs. Nor do we know your comfort level at potentially life-threatening exposure. How are you at altitude. How are they? AMS is a serious consideration.

For little kids, I recommend sticking to the safety of the Main Trail, which is where I took my own nine-year-olds. And all of us on that trip suffered from altitude sickness, although we made the summit. When they were teens, I took them up the MR (and we were well acclimated, so we did not suffer AMS symptoms).

Since you and they have serious family problems going on this summer, I would recommend not taking them on the MR.

Make the trip fun, if you go--not a death march, from a kid's perspective--but stay on the Main Trail where it is safe, compared to the MR.

My father took me up the mountaineers route when I was about ten. It was very hard for me. I am sure he was very overprotective, watching my every move. I can just imagine him saying climb here, grab here, don't get that close to the edge, please be careful etc. I still remember that picture of us stepping from rock to rock across one of the boulder fields.

We spent one night at Lower Boy Scout Lake and one night at Iceberg Lake, before summiting Mt. Whitney and hiking out to the car. We went slow and took our time.

That being said, I know that the Mountaineers route is a rough place, with much potential for harm. I would not be concerned about your ability to guide your own children to the top. I would, however, be very concerned about the implications of a nasty X and how she could use any potential danger - real or unseen - against you.

Jessica's right,
Just look at the photos from this post of people climbing the MR. In most peoples minds this is CRAZY! Now imagine your exs' lawyer using them as exhibit "A" in his or her case against you. I have a very loving and down to earth wife, yet when she saw the photos of my daughter and me on the MR she about lost it. Sometimes the photos look far worse than reality, sometimes not. It's not worth it, Get all this behind you, then go.
As I've heard here a number of times...The mountain will always be there.

Kurt

you're kidding right. . . .I mean right on dude

For the record, Cowboy is a guy. He is talking about hiking with the kids and their mother. I don't think that this information changes anything, but it is what the fellow wrote.

Setting aside the politics of the pending divorce, and in response the original question, I know of parents, that are friends of mine who took their 9 year old daughter up the mountaineer's route. The dad is an accomplished mountaineer, the mom and daughter had some previous hiking experience. They made camp at Iceberg Lake before and after their summit push. It was no big deal to them.

I have tried to use this to persuade my wife to go with me telling her that "even our friend's nine year old can do it". (It hasn't worked yet.)

This was from the original post....What does this mean? Is this optimism or real-life experience?
Have they done a 3 day "regular" hike elsewhere? anywhere?
Have they backpacked elsewhere? anywhere? multi-day?
Have they performed well at significant altitude?

personal note: I turned around with my younger son when he had AMS at age 10 on the Whitney Main Trail. He already had plenty of hiking and backpacking experience, but all at altitudes <10,000 ft. In retrospect, I would require all three factors before taking any kids (or adults for that matter) on MR:
(1)significant hiking and scrambling experience, (2) multi-night backpacking experience (not just car camping or one-nighters), and (3)previous altitude exposure. All these can be obtained in a graduated fashion, rather than putting all the eggs in one basket and rolling the dice. Of course, some do it the latter way, I wouldn't.

Hope this helps, Harvey

In response to Cowboy's inquiry about taking small children on the Mountaineer's Route, I have a couple of thoughts:
1) Most people on this website who are familiar with the route would say that it is not a good idea for safety reasons.
2)I have been on that route myself numerous times and I have never seen a young child and have only rarely seen a teenager. That should speak for itself.

In addition to that I happen to be aquainted with the family involved in this issue so I will add a couple more observations.
1) The adults involved have very limited (at best) mountaineering experience.
2) The children I believe are only 7 and 9 and have never been to altitude over 10,000 feet.

Given these facts I think a more age-appropriate hike would be a better choice.

As for their dad "Keeping them from meeting their goals," I think it would be closer to the truth to say he is a concerned father looking out for the safety and welfare of his children.