Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board How many times have you summited Mt Whitney?

What does a 'back to back' climb mean to you?

Oh, by back to back, I was thinking of anyone who has either climbed it on consecutive days or climbed it twice on the same day on different routes.

As mentioned I've reached the summit 22 times ... more often via the Mountaineers Route. Like Richard Piotrowski I've dayhiked in all months of the year though not consecutively. Richard has reached the summit (using both dayhikes and overnighters) in over 12 consecutive months. In fact he might still be on a consecutive streak right now.

The goal of 12 consecutive months of dayhikes has yet to be attained.

Like many others I'm drawn to Whitney for a variety of reasons: proximity, accessibility, and familiarity. It does get a little old but it never ceases to be a challenging hike. Besides the main trail and the mountaineers route there's quite a few ways to mix things up a bit on the hike up and back.

-Rick

Hi Whitney hikers,

My wife and I did my first and her second summit on the main trail Aug 24, 1997. 10 years later I've been to the top a total of 62 times and Betsy's total is 36 times. I have done what I call the double (portal to top to portal to top and back to portal) in 24 hrs on 5 occasions. We met Bob Rockwell some years ago and greatly admire him. My goal is to be in his 100 summit club. Betsy would have more summits if she would stop looking for the 6 mile marker or flowers along the way. By the way my first summit was when I was 50 yrs old.
They call me crazy Jack.
Happy hiking from WTNY N1 and his wife.

Jack:

My wife and I had the privilege of running into you as we were ascending (and you were descending) the Main Trail just below Lone Pine Lake around 2:30 early one August 2006 morning, and, as though it was a scene straight out of "Groundhog's Day", we ran into you a second time a few hours later as you came up on our heels at Trail Camp. We've spoken of you several times to our disbelieving friends ... you're an inspiration to us all -- keep up the good work!!

BruinDave

Summited 4x total first time 1971, 2x this past year day hike & three day. Turned 50 last year with total left knee replacement and femur straightening same leg as well(lots of metal!!). Three long years of healing and therapy. Was beginning to think I was not going to be able to get out in the wild again. Had been climbing for the past 15 or so years with the bad leg amazingly. So many people out there have no idea what their missing with perfectly healthy bodies!

One of our goals this year the MR and more...Happy New Year!!

Wow, that's awesome! 62 times and 5-double climbs is impressive, as is the 100 summit club. I have 99 more to go.

Do the top floors of skyscrapers count as summits?? Living in Manhattan, I know I've done 100 of those - I use the stairs to train. I've made it a point to become VERY familiar with the stairwells in buildings I am in after 9/11...

xtreemnoise - I completely agree - so many people out there with perfectly good bodies and they fail to realize what they have. I realized this for certain after an ankle surgery and a subsequent compensation injury which sidelined me from most things I love for a good year.

The streak (17 months) is still alive as I made the summit on what would have to be declared one of the most awesome New Year's Days I've ever seen.

Photos: http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/4100285

It was strange seeing that nobody else has signed the register since our Dec 1-2 trip. I was very disappointed in not seeing GigaMike's signature again. I hope he just forgot to sign the log as I'd hate to hear that his one-days streak is over. (With tongue-firmly-in-cheek) Maybe this is the start of a calendar year of day-hikes. (And I did press the "Easy" button in the summit register box.)

Oh, BTW, I don't know what my count is.

Awww, Man! What idiot left the door open?


"Date Taken: 2008-01-01 15:47:28"

Is that Hut half empty or half full?

Maybe we can get Richard to bring a shovel up there.

We are going to have to send Bob R. back up with a measuring tape...

I vote snow blower. Moose Tracks can carry the gas can.

Steve could you post that pic again? I am not able to see anything...

Find one that runs on propane: I just got a new BBQ and mega-can to go with.

What the hell, I'll just bring the 'Q. It's got wheels on it for G-D's sake!

RAC, it's just Richard's picture from his smugmug site. If you are viewing from somewhere where smugmug is blocked, you won't see it. Here is the link to the picture: http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/photos/239025645-M.jpg

Richard: Since you were maybe the only person up there since the last month... Back in December, was the door broken so it would not close? Would putting a couple of rocks up against it help keep it closed?

The hut is not much use as an emergency winter shelter when it is full of snow.

The door was closing just fine when we were there last month. Wind probably sucked it open or blew it open and closed enough to screw it up. Sometimes it gets blown completely off. I'll bet after this storm the hut will be filled to the ceiling.

The door is just fine. I propped it open so that I could take a photo of the amount of snow that the wind will blow into the hut thru the very small gap at the bottom of the frame. When I opened the door to look inside, I actually thought it was kind of cool that you'd have a readily available source of water. It would probably also act as a fairly good barrier to the draft that comes thru.

My uneducated guess is that the hut is probably 5% full; not nearly half full.

Ah, got it. That put a smile on my face!

I'm always amused at how easy you guys digress...

Anyway I've been up the main trail seven times. Every year I think I'm going to venture out and hike new areas. However, each year there are new people who want to climb Mount Whitney and I'm a sucker for helping first timers! It is one of the best feelings seeing someone on top for the first time and sharing that moment with them.