Mount Whitney October 26/27/28

[veronika v]

If you have hiked Mt Whitney I would gladly appreciate your advices. Thanks!
Veronika

[diazjaniss]

Following!

[Rina G]

I haven’t done it, but I would like to join you….please keep me post. Thanks.

[mml712001]

I hiked Mt Whitney as the ending to a backpack of the last section of the John Muir Trail last year. We camped at the ponds after passing Guitar Lake and left sometime after midnight to reach the summit in time for sunrise. I felt great on the hike up and the sunrise was beautiful. It was very cold at the peak with patches of ice, even though it was still August. The hike down to Whitney Portal was LONG. There are lots and lots and lots of switchbacks. It was a beautiful trail though. You would definitely want to keep up on current conditions. You could also check on JMT or Mt Whitney Facebook groups to see what others are saying of their experiences.

[veronika v]

Thank you mml712001, I will definitely check the FB groups suggested.

[R W]

Veronika –

My friend just did Whitney on Friday. She said she felt the entire trail was like the steepest sections of Vivian and was way harder than Gorgonio. Her key was to go very, very slow (she had planned to start at 10:30 pm). She had never been higher than Gorgonio but did not get altitude sickness and was able to summit and descend safely with this approach, while she did see someone getting rescued off the mtn.

Also, her Garmin put the mileage around 26 (maps say 22), but she also logged 20 on Gorgonio, and not sure where exactly she started. She is good about starting and stopping her watch, so idk.

I will be talking with her soon, and I am sure she’d be happy to share her experiences with you. And congrats to my friend and fellow SoCalHiker on rocking Whitney! You go girl! I am SO SO proud of you!

[CeCe Lorthioir]

I did Cottonwood Pass to Whitney for 4 days and 42 miles in Aug. Acclimation is key which you are doing. Summit early and off the summit by 11am. Thunderstorms and lightning typically happens by afternoon. Bring microspikes–ice reported on the cable part of the switchbacks, which is the steepest part. I used Mountain Forecast to monitor weather, https://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Mount-Whitney/forecasts/4418. And stay hydrated!

[Daniel Marucci]

I did Whitney on 9/22/2017 with with some hiking partners that did San Gorgonio with me last year. One of them could not acclimate and ended up stopping on the backside (past Trailcrest), about 1.5 miles short of the peak. He knew he couldn’t make it up to the peak by our designated turn around time of 1:30 pm. My advice is get there early on the day before and pick up your permit. Go to bed early and get a little rest. On hiking day, we started at 2:00 am. I wish we had started an hour or 2 earlier. We were definitely slowed down by my buddy, but I really wanted him to make the peak. We made great time (for me) until about 6:00 am and about 12,000 feet. We were under 35 minutes/mile until then. It got slow after that. We summit-ed at 1:15 pm and were on our way back by 1:30 pm after watching a short wedding up there. We made it back to Whitney Portal at 9:20 pm in the dark.
-Bring a GOOD headlamp and batteries
-Bring layers. You are hiking late in the year. We were near or below freezing ALL day.
– Go up to Whitney Portal the afternoon before you hike and talk to people coming off the trail about conditions and snow cover.
– Watch the weather on Mountain Forecast. See above post by CeCel
– Bring lots of water, or purification stuff.
– Travel as light as you feel comfortable with. Only you can make those choices.
– Bring good gloves or mittens for sure, and a face cover / muff.
Be willing to turn back if weather looks bad. You are climbing late in the year. You need microspikes or equivalent (Yaktrax, etc) for frozen areas of swtichbacks. Tradgedies are born of people who decided for forge ahead when deep down inside they knew they should turn around. The mountain will be there next year. Don’t get caught in a storm this late in the year on that mountain. If you hit Trailcrest and look into the Sierra (Sequoia National Park) and see weather moving in, you need to seriously consider turning around. It’s still a long hike to the peak (despite the mileage being short), and the weather can close in fast.

Good Luck, be safe!!

Dan Marucci

[Author]

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