Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board It's blowin like crazy up there.

Just got home from a quick trip to Trail Camp. I arrived at the Portal Friday 8/29/08 11:30 PM after working all day. Not having any time to acclimate I spent the night in the car got up at 4:30ish and was on the trail by 5:30 AM Sat. on my way for a solo 2-3 day trip to MW via main trail. I arrived at Trail Camp at 12:00 PM and set up base camp.
On the way up I saw a SAR helicopter make several trips up the mountain and later saw 2 SAR gentlemen on their way down on foot. I asked what had happened and they said a man fell on the swithbacks on Thurs. had facial lacerations and he was being med-evac'ed out on Fri. The SAR's were told to get out of the heli and walk down as there was no room or weight allowance for them.

This was my 1st attempt at lighter backpacking with a 26 pound pack.The weather was very warm and beautiful until late afternoon Sat. where dark clouds came and went and the temp began to drop.I was aware of possible thunderstorms and monsoonal moisture to include even a possiblity of snow.By 5-6 PM it was getting increasingly windy and cold.By 7 PM I got inside my new lightweight tent/shelter a Six Moons Design Gateway Cape which is a poncho that you can insert your hiking pole into and then stake the corners for a 11 oz. poncho and make it into a roomy one person tent. It went up easy and I was very pleased with it.I noticed that as the winds increased that it was very flappy and noisy but held up well.

To get out of the wind and rapidly dropping temps I crawled into my Big Agnes 0 degree bag with the air mattress insert. I REALLY love this sleep system. So warm and comfortable. It is nice to have an air matress than doesn't slip away while laying on it and so very confortable by packing standards.By 9:30 PM the winds continued to blow and the gusts rattled my shelter knocking down the pole several times,pulled out the stakes and rock anchors and made sleeping impossible.I was amazingly warm inside this shelter but because the gusts increased to 50-60 MPH, by my guess, the walls blew up and required repeated getting out of bed to re-stake and rock down the sides.This is a great light-weight shelter for most conditions except high winds.

I managed to stay warm and out of the wind even though by 3:30 AM Sun the winds were now steady 40-50 MPH with frequent gusts 60-70 MPH by my estimation and those who stopped at TC to look for some relief from the wind on their way up to the summit.By 4 AM I knew that I was not going to attempt to summit due to the high velocity winds. By 4:30 AM I was packed up and headed down the trail by head-lamp. The winds were so strong that they actually turned me 90 degrees, and my pack which turned into a sail. Several gusts were strong enough to blow me sideways where I had to stumble and catch my self.Going down that section between Trail Camp and Trailside Meadows in the pitch black moonless dark is challenging to my comfort level but with the increasing strong wing and high velocity gusts it was downright scary.The winds never let up all the way down to the portal which I reached at 8:30 AM.I chatted with Doug, I had bacon and eggs,hash browns,sourdough toast and jelly,coffee at the Portal store.WOW breakfast never tasted better.It was so good to be out of the wind and eat some real food.
I made the 2 and one half hour drive home and stopped to get gas still wearing my thermals and warm layers only to be shocked how hot the rest of the Owens Valley is. I took that much desired shower, put on clean clothes, reclined in the recliner and had a hard time believing that earler this morning I was up at Trail Camp with hopes of summiting but now was in another world far away. It was like an out of body surreal memory. Weird. Back to reality.

How quick things change...We summited last Thursday and it was beautiful, warm, no wind, and not a cloud in the sky.

The mountain and mother nature have a mind of their own. For those that hike/climb we need to be prepared for anything.

Glad you made it down safely.

Thanx for sharing your story and Im glad you made it down ok. I was wondering if it was blowing everywhere in the sierra this weekend. I got blown six ways to sunday on Mt. Lewis in Yosemite yesterday. Today it was even worse in/around Mammoth.

Oh, quite a story!

that doesn't bode well for my co-workers - they were going to try a one-day summit on Thursday or Friday. All first timers since the one person who had prior experience couldn't get off work.

Yes, it is amazing when you first get home, what a different world it is up there.

Those winds must have been awful. Spent a night like that at the base of Mt. Williamson many years ago. We also bailed after that horrible night.

My first attempt a Whitney last June started off with perfect weather until we got about an hour from trail camp. We were hit with wind gusts that we later found out were up into the 80MPH range. I think sustained winds over 77MHP is a category 1 hurricane!! We attempted to setup our three tents, I was successful but my partner had a pole break from the blowing winds. I had just staked mine down when my partner felt pretty uneasy about being up there in that. We decided to break camp and on the way down got snowed on!!!! And this was JUNE!!!!

I'm curious to know if many people/anyone summited today (Sunday). My 105-pound Maid of Honor and I (I'm 120 pounds) were nearly blown off the mountain a couple of times by some insane wind gusts. Not to mention that it was just too darn cold for us. I've done this hike nearly 10 times over the past 4 years and have never seen weather like this. I typically do it over July 4th weekend but have also done it in August, September and even October. Physical exertion, dehydration and the risk of altitude sickness are one thing, but doing all three against 40-50mph winds is a whole other story...

I've experienced high winds at Trail Camp more times than I have not. A noisy tent is no fun, let alone one that whats to be somewhere else.

For you next experience, Doc, how about 40 to 50 MPH winds on the summit with the temperature at about 10* F. ;-)

It the process not the destination.

Blooty
Thurs. and Fri. weather was reported to be beautiful. It didn't turn bad until around 5 PM on Sat.

Jaxgev
I too wonder if anyone made it to the summit on Sun. or even today.I passed at least 25-30 people on their way up the mountain and there were at least 20 camped at Trail Camp hoping to summit Sun.

I feel bad for a gentleman fom New Jersey that had spent 4 days acclimating at the portal and waiting for a cancelation for a permit.If only he had gone a day earlier. This was his second attempt at summiting Whitney.He had been successful in the lottery process and was here a few weeks ago but developed altitude sickness at Trail Camp so bad that a Ranger told him to descend.He was very dissapointed.So he came back to try again.I am afraid he was denied due to the wind.
Sat. night while the weather was begining to turn I told him that if the winds continue to get worse than they were at that time I would turn around and go down in the AM. He made the comment "Yeah that is OK for you cuz you live so close.I have to travel across the country to do it." It made me realize how I take for granted the wonderful outdoor oportunities we have here in California.

Steve C
Yeah it was the weirdest feeling to be in the comfort of my house, clean, resting in a comfortable chair as opposed to the rock furniture at Trail Camp and trying to come to grips that only a few hours earlier that I was up at 12,000 feet in what for my experience was pretty extreme weather.

wbtravis
No Thanks. I had all I wanted in a backpacking expeience.I have been in below zero cold on the East Coast(Football games) before but I did not like the high winds. I woudn't even entertain the idea of trying to summit in that kind of weather. It may have been doable but it wouldn't have been any fun so what is the point?

Doc,

Do you know how the guy fell on the switchbacks? Did he just slip?

Jackie

My brother made it to the top and I talked to ten others who made it. They were coming down around 5. My brother reports he had the summit to himself and only stayed ten minutes...........................DUG67

This just in from Humphries Basin:

Myself and two other were denied anything other than leisurely strolls on SAturday, although watching the clouds blow over Saturday morning was a real treat. It was strong where we camped, could not imagine being up higher and more exposed! Yikes!!!

-L

Hi This is my first post hope it works. We are very thankful for all that have contributed to this site. We (The love of my life and wife of 20 years)started training and doing the research in Feb.2008. This site has been priceless. Without it we would not have prepared properly.Mt Baldy, San G etc.
We got a walk-in on Thursday after being unsuccessful in the lottery and calling in 100 times. We made Trail Camp by 6 pm Thursday. Summited on Friday.WOW what a awesome day.
Noticed a little wind as we were leaving Sat morning. Feel bad for all those heading up that we past on the trail on our way out. Big wind no fun.
The only thing we should have been more prepared for was a better first aid kit. Large compress bandages steristrips, rubber gloves and wrap will be added to our kit.
On our way down (about five switchbacks before the cables)we came across a fellow hiker who had made one tiny misstep and landed one switchback down. Fortunately the wife and I make it a habit to pack out a little extra trash on each hike. Some vermin had thrown down (on the trail near the crest)two small table cloths and my wife was nice enough to put them in my pack. A small group of hikers contributed what first aid they had with them. So with the few sterile bandages and a clean sock and the trail trash (two abandoned tablecloths)we were able to temporarily stop the blood flow from a broken and gashed kneecap and hand.This tough son of a gun walked on down to trail camp where the whole camp pulled together first aid and even came up with an awesome nurse or three.They rebandaged,splinted and took care of the injured man until SAR and the CHP chopper took him out Sat morning. Kudos to the SAR guys who hurried in on foot in the night,the fellow hiker with the cool Sat phone,everyone who helped in camp but especially the father and son team that made it to the top and together made it back to trail camp one painful step at a time. My small aches and pains melted away when I saw them endure the pain of a broken kneecap with a cheery heart. I was most concerned during their almost 4 hour descent from the cables that shock or exaustion would force them to stay out on the trail all night. I just spoke with the son and he reports that dad will recover completely now that the doc removed the granite chips that he took out hidden in the wound and made the necessary repairs. I love the type of people that you meet in the high country. God bless you all.

Cool, Wadad. I'll bet he would have done the same for you! Let's treat each other the way we want to be treated.

Our group of 5 summitted on Sunday at about 830 am from Guitar Lake. It was absolutely brutal up there. The wind, cold,and window crossings were truly dangerous. We almost bagged the attempt many times. Surprisingly there were people up at trail crest contemplating continueing with only shorts and long sleeve shirts on!! Talking with a ranger at Lone Pine Visitor's center this morning, she told us the sustained winds were 50mph with gusts up to 90mph yesterday.

My buddies and I made it to the top on saturday night around 6:00 PM. Being the second time on top of Whitney we decided to spend the night to awake the early morning awesome sunrise from the highest peak in the U.S.! We were accompied shortly after we arived by a daughter and her mom that was around 65 years of age. They were also going to brave Whitney over night. They were definetly an inspiration to us! It was getting so cold and windy that night we all decided to stay in the shack over night not knowing the winds were going to blow like crazy and was not in the forecast. With just a little sleep that night because of the crazy winds that seem to blow gust over 100 mph. I was able to make my way out of shack to be greeted by these winds and the frozen ground to see the most beautiful and rewarding sunrise I have ever experienced. It was truely the best mountain experience and so worth the torturous effort. After my brief time outside watching the sunrise I raced back in my sack to fall asleep because it was way to dangerous to decend. Around 8:30 we were happily awakend by the first group of climbers who said it was safe to go down and the winds were not as bad on trail crest. We decided to pack up and make our decend to portal. On the way to trail crest we saw a hand full of people that were braving it including a 70 year old lady that was half way to whitney. She was freezing and very tired but was determind to make her 13 year dream come true. I hope she was able to make it! I was very scared she was going to get hurt going through such harsh conditions. "I Hope Your Dream Was Fullfilled and your an Inspiring Young 70 year old". As we were making our way to trail crest the winds were dying down but still very windy. There were definetly some scary parts when we were wearing our 40 pound packs which were getting blown around from the 60 mph winds. We finally made it down to Portal around 3:00 PM for of course a portal CHEESE BURGER and FRIES "YUMMM"! Over All it was a trip to remember from New Army Pass to Whitney! We will have our new pics from this trip on are blog soon. Mount Whitney Lots of inspiring people on the mountain Sunday! I hope every one made it down safely!
P.S. Please contact me if anyone found a SPOT GPS TRACKER(ORANGE). TRISTON@BUMPERDOC.COM

Hi Doc;
Glad to see you back on the trail. How did you get so light with your backpack??(I started with 56# and now 7yrs later, 35#).
I made the summit July 3rd on a 3 day trip out of the portal (7th time in 7 years @ 58yrs old).
With high wind or lightning it's time to turn back. The mountain will be there another time and that summit will be sweeter.
Best of luck!!

Yeah, we saw those "brave souls" too and all I have to say is that if any of those people are reading this, you are freaking amazing. We were freezing at Trail Camp and we had on at least three layers of North Face (not to mention we had just huffed and puffed our way up from Portal). To anyone that summited on Sunday, a big Congrats to you. I envy your durability.

Jackie

Thanks Mtn Dreamer
This was my 1st time back on MW since my cancer surgery last year. I wanted to test out the engine.
The lighter pack came from following the board and it's How to lighten the pack thread. I also used Bob R's pack list and supplimented it with some warmer clothing options and more food than he eats.
I felt great and have no doubt I would have summited if the weather hadn't been so bad.Since I accomplished that last year before my surgery I wasn't driven to summit. I used good judgement and determined that I had found out what I needed to about my physical condition.
Summiting would have been the bonus but under the extreme windy conditions not wise.I'll be back to do it again.I wish I had your success rate Mtn Dreamer.I won't count this as a failed attempt though because I chose not to go up due to weather.I felt fantastic up to Trail Camp and would have summited on Sun as planned if it weren't for crazy wind. If I physically was unable to go up then that would be another story.

Hey Doc, I forgot to mentioned all those trips mentioned were in August and September. I've had better weather on the MMWT in the middle of the damn winter. ;-)