Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board First Timer needs help

We have the one day permit on 7-3-04. I am 50, I am doing step master 30 min Mon, Wed & Fri, Weight lifting on Tue & Thur. Hiking on Sat and 2 hours tennis on Sun. (I skip when I am busy)I hiked up the Mt. Diablo, 15 mile round trip with about 3500 feet gain. I did it in about 6.5 hours. My trainer in the club made me frog jumping last week for 20 min. My leg were hurt. Am I ready?

Can anybody suggests any good training place in Sacramento area? I never been to the high altitude mountain.

Will I get lost in Mt. Whitney?

I doubt seriously whether you will get lost on Whitney, that is nearly impossible on the main trail.

I would suggest you do more hikes, Diablo is good, but you need many more hikes under your belt. The best preperation for Whitney is hiking. My personal feelings are that tennis and frog jumping are worthless in terms on conditioning for this specific activity (hiking long distances). I would be running 20+ miles a week, stairmaster 40 mins. a day, 4-5 times a week and weight lifting as you see fit.

No one can tell whether you're ready or not. Are you overweight? If you are, try and reduce as much as possible prior to climbing Whitney and certainly expose yourself to high altitudes, above 12,000 feet, before you attempt the hike.

Sounds like you're doing fine so far, but you need to be hiking once a week to get your legs in hiking shape. Best of luck!

shoulder and leg workout are great for conditioning. i hike every weekend in socal and run and lift almost everyday even if it is 20 min. Get miles on your boots with weight on your back.
it made a big differance for me. The first hike i did in mid march took about 8 ours w/ 4800' elevation change about 12 miles rt. I did it friday in 6. I felt 10 times better the next day also.

I think you'll be ready. Just spend at least one night (the more the better) at Horseshoe Meadows or Portal campground before the big day to get used to the altitude. Get an early start and enjoy the walk.

Hi Ray,
Well you're in luck, you live near my area and as I spend all of my time hiking in the Sacramento to Lake Tahoe area maybe I can give you some ideas.
A good place to start is at your local football field. Get a backpack, load it with the weight you intend on carrying on Whitney and do the stairs at the stadium. American River College, Sac City and Sac Stae have nice tall stadiums but any high school with a modern field will do.
Another good place to hike is at Sierra College. Their cross country course has 2,3, and 4 mile options up and down rolling, challenging terrain. Do a Google search and you should be able to find a map to the course.
In Foresthill there is the Foresthill Divide multi-use trail. You can do an out and back or do the entire 11 mile loop. Take I-80 to the Foresthill exit and then turn right on Foresthill road, take it about 4 miles to the obvious parking lot on your right, you'll see all the cars and a porta-potty.Again do a Google search for the Foresthill Divide Trail for map info.
My plans for this summer, from easiest to hardest is Loch Leven Lake at Big Bend on I-80 near Cisco Grove(Just did it last Saturday,tons of snow above 6500'). Next up is my 8th ascent of Castle Peak at Donner Summit, then Mt.Tallac at South Lake Tahoe,then Round Top by Kirkwood, maybe Pyramid Peak at Echo Summit on HWY 50,then the highest peak in the Tahoe area, Freel Peak. I figure if I can do all of these peaks my attempt of Whitney in late June should be pretty straight forward.

You can find detailed pictures and directions for all of the above hikes at SummitPost.com or on Google. I would say one of the more important things you can do, wherever you hike, is to carry the weight in your pack that you will carry on Whitney or within five pounds. Hope this info helps, good luck.

Ray - Stryder is pointing you in the right direction, get out of the gym and up on the mountains with a pack on your back. Start lower altitudes with easier hikes and lighter pack and build up to higher/longer/heavier. When you can carry 40 lbs at 12,000 feet for a 3-4 hours, you are in great shape. You could probably do fine on Whitney with much less conditioning than that (most of us do, frankly), but that would put you in shape to really enjoy the trip. Also, there are many beautiful hikes very close to you at Tahoe which you can enjoy in the process. You might also try the Great Flume Trail. It runs along the side of the mountain above the lake (one end starts at the parking lot for the Pondersosa Ranch (of Bonnza fame) just south of Incline Village). That trail is rated one of the best mountain bike rides in the world, mostly for its view. They've also just completed a wilderness trail all the way around the lake that you can do over a period of days (hiking down and staying in hotels at noght, if you like).

The trail around Lake Tahoe that Sam speaks of is the Tahoe Rim Trail. Do a search for the TRT and you can find some pretty detailed maps. Part of the TRT goes over the summit of Freel Peak, which will be my last objective before Whitney.
The TRT is a multi use trail like the Foresthill Divide trail so watch out for the mtn. bikers and horse poop, escpecially on the weekend.

If you do the part of the TRT that we did (near Echo Lakes and Ralston Peak), take care with all the excess rocks that it seems the trail builders placed all over the trail, way beyond anything that occurs naturally. It's like an obstacle course (we're not talking about small gravel to hinder water erosion, but rather, large rocks all over the place!).

Are you ready? Based on your post no. There is much more to day hiking this mountain than beating yourself up in the gym and hitting some low elevation mountain. However, it is a very good start.

Most of this trip is mental. You are talking about 13 to 16 hours on the trail, most of it over 11,000'. Have you spent a lot of time hiking over 11,000'? Take a peek at a Bob R thread for first timers to get idea what got a lot of us to the top successfully. Plan 3 or 4 long duration big gain day hikes, the higher the elevation the better.

I would, also, suggest a trip to Rock Creek Canyon, between Mammoth and Bishop, a couple of weeks before you trip to Whitney and hit the Little Lakes Valley Trailhead and headout to Mono Pass or Morgan Lakes. This will give you an idea what it is like to hike over 10,000' for an extended period. Make it a weekend and camp at the trailhead.

The hardest thing for me the first time was pacing myself above 12,000' and proper hydration. My 2nd day hike was much easier and better planned.

You really have to work hard to get lost on Mt. Whitney. As hard as it is people do end up in places they never thought they would because they are tired and the mind isn't firing on all cylinders. I would suggest your get your maps ASAP and study them so you won't have many surprises on hike day.

Bill

If you have a one day permit don't worry so much about a heavy pack you should just have a day pack with food, water and clothing for changing weather. Do long distance hiking get you feet ready for miles also expose yourself to high altitudes.

Ray,
I agree with the above post and from reading the message board the people who responded to your request are very experienced with Mt. Whitney.
In our two prior summits my son and I trained with backpacks adding 5lbs per week until we got to 50lbs. We hiked up a steep hill (Gaviota Peak) 6.4 miles(round trip) 2000 elv. gain, no gym training.
A friend trained only in a gym, but he did not make it to Trail Crest. To us, walking steep trails not only builds strong legs but also feet, ankles and knees.
Good luck to you and good weather.

I think most people will universally agree that hiking on real trails is probably the best training/conditioning you can do and I believe that as well, but there are times that hiking does not fit in with a busy schedule and training in the gym is the next best thing. There are a few modifications to your gym workouts that may be better prepare you for your trip.

The average grade on Whitney is approximately 10%. When you're on a treadmill, set the incline to at least 10%. You will be on your feet for 12-17 hours so increase your treadmill time. You will also be carrying some weight on your back so consider wearing a backpack while on the teadmill. After a few minutes warmup on the treadmill I'll spend an hour at a 10-15% grade and a 3 -4 MPH pace while wearing a 15 pound backpack. A 15% grade means you climb 15 vertical feet for each 100 horizontal feet. If I have time I will follow that exercise up with rowing, swimming, or weight training. I'd also work on increasing your time on aerobic workouts like cycling (spin class), stair master, Nordic Track, etc. In the months before the big day I will also try to walk more places or take the stairs rather than drive or ride an elevator or escalator.

I agree with wbtravis that mental preparation is crucial and a great way to get that is by knocking off some tough hikes right before Whitney. In SoCal I'll train on Baldy, San Gorgonio, and San Jacinto. San Gorgonio is especially good because it's pretty close in difficulty (my guesstimate is about 75% as hard as a Whitney hike based on elevation and mileage). After a tough hike you will know better how your body will respond and you will have a big edge come hike day on Whitney.

Good Luck

I always thought a 90% grade was straight up and down (which would not be quite true using your "per 100 feet" formula). Am I confusing percent with degrees?

We climbed Whitney two years in a row (2002 and 2003), and our training was hiking for 8 consecutive weekends (each year) Black Mountain Peak in the Santa Cruz mountains. It's a 10-mile roundtrip hike, with an elevation gain of 2500 feet. Diablo is an excellent substitute. Mission Peak in Fremont is another good one too. The hiking is great for physical fitness and preparation, but it will not help you with acclimating to the high altitude. The best thing to do there is to spend a night or two at Cottonwood Lakes before you start your ascent.

C-T,doesn't a hills grade have to do with feet travelled vertically per whatever feet travelled horizontally? Like, if a certain hill has a 12% grade, that translates to an average of 12 feet travelled up ward per every 100 feet travelled forward. There was discussion a little while ago about the steepness of the chute to the right of the switchbacks, it was decided that it was about a 35 degree angle. But degree and grade are two different things, so in the case of the chute, if it is a 35 degree angle, that doesn't translate into 35 feet travelled upward per 100 feet travelled forward. I know there is a formula for turning degree's into a grade and I know that it is fairly complicated, but I don't remember it.

the formula is simple from basic trigonometry:

sine of angle = elevation divided by distance traveled as a percentage.

For small angles (less than 10 deg), the sine is approximately equal to the angle in radians (not degrees). Since 1 degree = 0.017 radians, then 1 degree = 1.7%. Above 10 degrees, the numbers will deviate.

GuitarLake,
Wouldn't that be the tangent of the angle as opposed to sine of the angle since the hypotenuse is not in play. Elevation gained would be the side opposite and distance traveled would be the side adjacent. Tangent of the angle equals the side opposite divided by the side adjacent. You are theoretically traveling along the hypotenuse. A 100 foot rise over a 1000 foot run would be a 10% grade but the angle is 5.71 degrees (the arc tangent of the grade).

Simple trig, huh?

Scott M.

Technically speaking, you are right. The grade measurement does not include the hypothenuse. I used the sine because it is nearly impossible to measure the horizontal distance. One can measure the elevation and can measure the hypothenuse. At any rate, for small angles, the sine and tangent of an angle are nearly equal, with both being equal to the angle in radians. The error in using the sine instead of the tan is truly negligible.

I know virtually nothing about grades, but I do know something about inclines. SpankyBob writes that the grade on Whitney is about 10% throughout. Pardon this pathetically stupid question, but is "grade" synonymous with "incline?"

If so, there is no way Whitney averages a 10% incline, more like a 6% one in the steepest sections, and oftentimes it's flat. My main criticism of the Whitney Trail is that it's too long and not sufficiently steep. If you're walking a treadmill at a 10% incline and you're not accustomed to this, you will definitely get a brutal case of shinsplints. No part of Whitney equates to a 10% incline, IMO.

By the way, welcome back, SpankyBob, I always enjoyed your posts last year, good to see you back!