Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trail camp vs. Outpost camp

I am looking for information from those that have hiked the Whitney summit and have stayed at each of these camps prior to going to the top. If you had to do it again,where would you stay? I have hike Whitney twice before staying at Trail Camp prior to going to the top each time. This year I'm considering staying at Outpost to leesen the amount of time carrying the larger pack.

Since my wife had never done anything like this before in her life, I made our Whitney climb together a 4-day event.

Night 1: Outpost
Night 2: Trail Camp
Night 3: Was to be TC, but went back down to Outpost.

However, since we did carry our packs up to TC, I can't really address what I think your're asking: The climb from Outpost to the top and back.

Was good for aclimatization. We both had our best sleep of the trip at Trail Camp.

I will say, on our return there were some folks there who were just up there to fish and day-hike around the area. They were using 4 spots for themselves (tents) and two prime spots just for their gear (packs, poles, etc.).

That was pretty annoying since Outpost was really crowded that night and it was a struggle to find a decent spot, but I was too tired to make a stink about it.

For what it's worth...

GC,

I went w/ a group to Whitney, early August. My initial plan was to go to trail camp, to summit, and then to outpost camp. Two in my group and Doug at Portal Store convinced me to stay at outpost camp both nites. Several reasons, outpost camp is prettier (trail camp kinda looks like the moon), outpost camp is less prone to strong winds, don't have to hump your pack up 2000 more feet, dont have to break down and then re-set camp (if your going back to outpost) Less time back to portal. The negatives include - adding several hours to your summit day - both ways. The thing w/ the altitude could be pos or neg depend on how you look at it, less time at altitude yes, but if you are being effected by it at trail camp and can't sleep/eat etc, you may not be ready for summit day.

I think the advice given to me by others was sound, make your base camp - outpost camp. I certainly would do it this way again

I went up mid-July. I stayed at Trail Camp both the night before and the night after summiting Mt Whitney.

Whether it was the elevation or just the anticipation, I did not sleep much the night before the climb and did fine the 2nd night.

I kept the pack weight as light as possible so that I don't think that the extra effort was that bad. It put me much closer to the summit and I liked that particularly since I had all day to get to Trail Camp which was slowly - about 4.5 hours.

As far as scenic terrain mentioned by another poster, I prefer the moonscape of Trail Camp. Outpost is just like another forest camp - okay, not quite but sunrise at Trail Camp was incredible both mornings.

Tradeoffs!

Enjoy the climb whatever you choose.

If you stay at OC the night before the summit hike, you'll carry heavy for a shorter distance, but the summit hike will be much longer. On the other hand, except for the giant six-headed mosquitos, OC is a much more comfortable place to sleep.

What I like to do is sleep at Trail Camp the first night, have lunch there after the next morning's summit hike, and then pack up and carry down to OC for the second night. It adds a pack and unpack to the weekend, but all around it works best for me.

I have backpacked Whitney 5 times, usually staying about 12000 feet, the night before going to the summit. I have also day hiked Whitney 3 times from the car. There is a huge difference starting at Outpost camp, when compared to day hiking from the portal. I am coming to believe that slogging all the way to trail camp (or Iceberg lake on the MR) with a backpack is not the greatest. In one day you have plenty of time to get to the top and back down to outpost camp. The camping is nicer and it spares you slogging your backpack up an extra 2000 feet to trail camp. I think the recommendation of outpost camp is a good one. Next time I am doing it that way.

We went last week (8/21-8/23):

8/21: Hiked to Trail Camp
8/22: Hiked to Summit, then back down to Outpost.
8/23: Back down to Portal.

Trail Camp was very windy and cold. We couldn't sleep either, whether it was elevation or nerves (maybe both). Nonetheless, it was a much shorter trip up to the summit. There are advantages and disadvantages to staying at either Outpost or TC. It really depends on you and/or your group.

It was raining on our trip, we should have just stayed at Outpost the first night, instead of hiking in the rain.