Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mt. Whitney Main Trail - November 7, 2009.

Negotiating the Cables.



Mike and Glen(n) approaching Trail Crest with the setting moon above.



Mike and Glen(n) approaching Trail Crest.



Mt. Whitney summit view. Iceberg Lake and the North Fork drainage.



Guitar Lake and the west side Main Trail.



Looking like summer (crowd-wise) on The Switchbacks.


I took the new Nuptse double boots out for a test. Amazing boots. Definitely the most comfortable doubles I've ever worn. Also amazing what doubling the weight on the feet will do to your body. 20+ miles with 6+ pounds, instead of the usual 2-3 and I feel like I've been beat up. (That's why I'm home instead of up on a moutain.) It took about an hour longer to get that extra weight up to the summit, so I doubt I'll be using them except in extremely bad weather on Whitney.

Thanks to whoever brought the pumkin down. I went up to clen up the Halloween decorations, but the pumkin was gone.

There were an awful lot of people out on the Main Trail on a beautiful, if slightly cold and windy day on the summit.

The rest of the photos.

A couple questions Richard:
1 - How often do you climb a Sierra peak?
2 - How many times have you climbed Whitney in the last 12 months?

1. This climb was number 135 for the year. (I don't usually keep count, but decided to try it this year.) 17 of those have been outside of the Sierra. I try to get out for a least one peak on the weekends and during the summer, I'll try and hit a few of the Southern Sierra peaks a few miles from home during mid-week.

2. I think the count would be 22 for the past 12 months. I set a goal to try and get 25 summits of Whitney this year. If the weather holds for a few more weeks, I'll probably be able to achieve it.

Amazing Richard.
In another recent post you mentioned that you have been climbing the Main Trail because it is better training. Are you training for something even bigger, or for the next weekends climb?

Nothing in particular. It's just hard to get back in to shape at this age, so I try to stay in shape. With summer gone, I'm not doing anything mid-week anymore, so I'm trying to make the weekends hikes/climbs as long as possible.

Hi Richard...how were the cables
to get around ? I was at that point about a month ago after snow with teenagers and decided to turn around . we had crampons but in the interest of saftey did not go further . in your picture where the cables are down is where we turned . Thanks for the great pics...Kent

Richard, Nice meeting you on the trail. I am “Mike” of Mike and Glenn in your pix (yes, two N’s). We are working on gaining experience and are looking for some advice. So… if I may, let me tell a bit about ourselves and maybe get some input.

Glenn and I with some others have been getting into hiking, starting years ago with sunrise hikes on Mt Tam 2,700’ in our back yard in Marin County. A few years ago we started doing some overnights and longer hikes on the coast and some day peaks in the Tahoe area. We did half dome last year and this July my 18 year old daughter and I did the high Sera trail and got up Whitney on our last day. Glenn and I have been ramping up our weekend day hikes to 12-18 miles with 2-3,000’ elevation gain up and down the local hills. We set our sights on Whitney and applied for permits for the last two years with no luck so decided to go after quota season. We hiked into Outpost Friday, started up the MW trail at 4:15. Last time I had crampons on was on a glacier in the Olympic park and Nixon was president, this was Glenn’s first time. We were moving deliberately and steadily but slower than expected about 1 MPH. About 11:00 we were on the ridge and about a mile from the summit, low of water, some head aces and dizziness, tired but feeling good. We were concerned that it would take us about 2 more hours to summit and get back to the same spot and that would put us on the switch backs about 3:pm. Things may get icy and we would spend too munch time in the dark getting back down in unfamiliar conditions so we turned back. We found the rout from trail camp to Mirror Lake to be very slow with Ice patches, we took some falls and saw others go down and one guy with a pack injured his wrist on a fall. We got back to camp about 6:15 glad to not be spending more time in the dark however obviously disappointed in not signing the book.

So now my questions. I know weight is a bug issue and I have read the reports of lost hikers, how much and what emergency gear to bring on a “day hike”? We each brought a 2 liter water bladder, my hose froze for a bit in colder temps this could be a problem, recommendations on water? We really enjoyed the hike and want to keep expanding our skills; time off work is a problem for both of us, any recommendations on other hikes close to the bay area?

Thanks for the pix, thanks also to Doug for his advice Friday AM, Mike

Michael, When using a bladder (very often for me) I ALLWAYS blow the liquid back into the bladder out of the delivery hose, resulting in no freezing in cold weather and no heating up on the hot hikes...................steve

great photos.
it doesn't look like the trail has gotten any worse since i was up there on 10/24.

Without getting in to specifics, I carry enough gear so that if I have to bivouac, I'll survive, although it'll probably be very uncomfortable. Most people would probably say I don't carry enough gear.

Acclimatization is the key to making Whitney seem "easier." Unless you're one of the lucky few, heading up to 14K is going to make you suffer if you don't have the time to acclimatize. Fortunately, I head up high a lot, so it won't affect me until I'm forced to take a few weeks off.

It was nice meeting and talking to you guys up there.

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I still do think that the most dangerous part of the trail is the section between Trailside Meadow and Mirror Lake. A lot of hard ice forming in that section.

Kent, The Cable weren't bad at all... a very nice boot track across.