This past weekend (June 5 and 6) I climbed Mt. Whitney for the first time with 4 other guys. I posted this report under the First Timers thread, but wanted to make it easier to find for those looking for current conditions and have added a link to pictures here:
Trip Report Photos We started out from Whitney Portal at about 9am on Saturday with packs loaded and hearts high. We set a very methodical and deliberate pace along the trail. We did not deviate much from the trail since none of us knew where we were going outside of our trail map. There were a few places along the way to lose the trail, but we managed to pick it back up with not too much difficulty. We kept a pretty good schedule and would stop every hour for a 10-15 minute break. We stopped at Lone Pine Lake after about 2 hours of hiking and had lunch there. From there, the hike started to be more in the snow than not and the trail was a bit easier to lose. We hit the major points along the trail - Mirror Lake, Trailside Meadow, Outpost Camp - and then got out above the tree line. Once above the tree line you could see where you were going rather easily and just pursue the path of least resistance. The snow was a little soft in places, but the boot path was pretty well established and not too much postholing. We pulled in to Trail Camp at 4pm and there were plenty of places left that were free of snow. We camped in the rocks to the left, which was nice for a little privacy, but a pain in terms of getting water. This was made especially worse by the snow condition and the postholing between our set of rocks and the rocks next to the water source. Regardless, we got set up and had a nice dinner and then turned in around 7:30.
We set our alarms for 3:15 to try to get on the trail at 4:00. We were a little slower in the morning than anticipated (retrieving water being one of the causes) and did not set out until 4:30. From Trail Camp we put on our crampons and grabbed our ice axes and headed for the Chute. The climb to the Chute was steep, but nothing too intimidating about it. Once on the Chute, we began to make switchbacks up to the top of Trail Crest. The snow was pretty crusty and a little hard in places, making footing very important. The Chute was very steep and a bit intimidating at times, but everyone of us made up without incident. About 3/4 of the way to the top we quit making switchbacks and got into a nice bootpath straight to the top. This was tiring, but much quicker. Also, we climbed on the right side of the rocks - not sure if this was the best route or not, but it seemed more direct. Once at Trail Crest, we rested and took off our crampons (this was a very good move). It took us about 2 hours and 10 minutes to get to Trail Crest from Trail Camp. From Trail Crest the trail was in pretty good shape. You really don't encounter much snow or ice for the first 1/3 of the trail. The second 1/3 of the trail had a decent amount of snow on it, but during the ascent the snow was in great shape with very good footing. We got to the base of the summit and put our crampons back on to climb up to the final scramble to the summit. It was probably not necessary to wear the crampons, but we were erring on the side of safety. We took our crampons off once we got to the rocks (we were off trail at this point) and scrambled over rocks until finding the trail. From this point it was about 10-15 minutes of walking to the summit. It took us about 2 hours from Trail Crest to the Summit.
On the summit it was perfect weather, with views as far as you could see. We all shed some clothing at the summit to prepare for the descent. We were some of the first people on the summit that day and largely enjoyed it to ourselves. After a while we welcomed 10-15 people. Once the summit started getting crowded we headed down - maybe a little too soon since apparently someone got engaged shortly after we left.
Our trip down from the summit to trail crest was a little more dicey than going up. Much of the snowy sections had turned to hard ice and were quite slick. We did not use crampons, but were moving very slowly through these patches, as one slip would be your last. Nobody had trouble, but care was a necessity. We got to Trail Crest after a little more than 1 hour after leaving the summit (the last bit of the trail is straight up hill and brutal!). At Trail Crest, we donned our crampons and tried to figure out how to attack the Chute. We all started out a little differently, but ended up plunge stepping down once we got a little comfortable. The snow at this point was pretty soft, but in a good way, as our plunge steps creating some very solid steps. About 1/2 way down we saw people glissading from the top and realized that the snow was so soft that it was nearly impossible to get out of control. So we sat down, took off our crampons, and glissaded the rest of the way. This was awesome!! Wish we had done it from the top.
We got back to Trail Camp a little less than 2 hours after leaving the summit and were greeted with postholing snow conditions and thousands of flies. We packed camp as fast as possible because Trail Camp was not a fun place to be at that time of day (hot, flies and the smell of many of our group's wag bags - gross!). We headed out on the boot path and had pretty good snow. It was soft and slushy, but not much postholing. We pretty much stayed with the path and did not try any of the shortcuts we saw boot paths leading towards. This probably slowed us down, but at least we knew where we were. We pushed pretty hard from Trail Camp and made it down at 5:30 (about 3.5 hours after we left Trail Camp).
At the Whitney Portal we all showered and enjoyed one of their much lauded hamburgers. We were all very tired, but very satisfied with the journey.
This was a great climb and we all had a great experience. I look forward to my next climb, wherever it may be.
