Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Summitted 12/10/06 & A Big Thank-You

Apologies for the delay in posting this, we only got back to Scotland today, although our luggage is still making it's way across the Atlantic.

It was our plan to take 3 days to climb Mt Whitney and we had a permit for the 12, 13 & 14th of October. When we got to Lone Pine we realised that the weather was changing and our best chance of making the summit was the 12th Oct, our first day.

We changed our plans, with a 3am start from the Dow, a 4am start from the Portal and a tent pitched at Outpost Camp before proceeding onwards and upwards.

We made the summit of Whitney at around 1:30ish, we had the summit to ourselves and spent 30 minutes taking as many pictures as we could, it was a superb day not a cloud in the sky.

We started down just after 2pm and reached the top of Trail Crest just after 3. Going down the Zig-Zags was Ok at that time, but I know we were cutting it fine because the water in our Camelbacks was starting to freeze.

We were down at Trail Camp just before 5 and down at Outpost camp just after 6pm.

We awoke the next morning to a faint pitter-patter on our tent at around 6:30 to find that we were in the middle of a snow shower. Everything had closed in around us. We decided to break camp and get down to the Portal ASAP.

We had a huge communal breakfast with the chance to meet Doug et al. A great way to end a great 36hrs

We could not have managed Mount Whitney without all the information that we were able to glean from this site. To those who post with experiences and to those who posted answers to my questions many thanks.

Congratulations, Shona, on your trip and successful summit. That was a perfect call to head to the summit your first day.

Hope you enjoyed the rest of your travels while you were here.

Will you be posting any pictures?

Hi Steve,

Just downloaded pictures from Camera, will look at making them available.

Currently battling jetlag

Thanks

Jonathan & Shona

Congrats on a successful and safe trip. Sounds like you made exactly the right decision to hoof it all the way up on the first day and settle in back at Outpost Camp for the night.

Now that you've done the tallest peak in the lower 48 Colonies, how about plans for the next few? Mt. Elbert in Colorado is the second highest state highpoint in the lower 48 at 14,433' and a very nice dayhike.

Who knows? We may get you hooked on <a href="http://www.highpointers.org">highpointing</a>. I ran into a couple of highpointers from t'other side of the pond at this year's convention.

If you get hooked on the Sierra, plenty of great peaks to climb there, as well. I have to throw in a plug for my eponymous peak, <a href="http://www.mtritter.org">Mt. Ritter</a>, of course!!

Good to see you made it ok Highlandcollie! The weather when we summited Whitney in September was nasty.High winds and snow.But worth every step.And yes Alan,Mt.Ritter is a fab peak.One day I'll return
and climb Ritter!

Congrats on your accomplishment. Lone Pine and the area have a great charm, I love being there! Quite diverse from Scotland.

Out of curiosity, have you ever hiked Ben Nevis? If so, how does it compare to Whitney? And can it be done as a day hike? I've driven by it on my way to see 'Nessie. It looks amazing!

Thanks,
Lance

Hi Lance,

We used Ben Nevis as a training hike for Mt Whitney. Although it does not have the altitude issues that you encounter with Mt. Whitney you have to start from sea level which gives you a good 4500ft climb.

The best way to do Ben Nevis is to take in Carn Mor Dearg and the Arete. You get superb views of the North face of Ben Nevis (Total ascent 5775ft). This is easily done in the day.

If you are interested Email me I have some pictures taken in September, they are quite atmospheric.

Great post. It shows plans are made to be changed to cope with conditions. Too many on this mountain get summit fever or feel the permit is written in stone, unfortunately the forest service fosters the latter.

You realized the weather was marginal and chose to camp lower and in a somewhat sheltered location and started your summit attempt from there and not from where you told the forest service you would be.

Congratulations!