Hiking Mt. Whitney

The time had come. Time to conquer Mt. Whitney. It was 1993 when I hiked the Whitney trail for the first time. I was with my sister and we hiked up to Outpost Camp - a relatively easy day hike. Since then I have always wanted to hike to the top but never thought that I would have the opportunity or ability to make it. So here I am, thirteen years later carrying a 35-pound pack ready for this anticipated and challenging trip to the summit.

Steve, who organized this trip, got the permits and gathered eight people to make this two-day trek. Our goal the first day was to hike up to Outpost Camp. We got started late in the morning, knowing that even at a slow pace it would only take us four or five hours to get there. We all weighed our packs at the scale and I had the lightest. Some of the other packs weighed almost 50 pounds! Turns out my pack should have been heavier because I needed to carry more water. I had a water filter, but since it takes time and effort to take off the pack, set up the filter, pump water and put everything back, I was reluctant to keep using it. It also seems that I drink more water than most people. I was drinking about 1 liter per hour of hiking.

We started up the trail after a taking a group photo, winding up the trail towards Lone Pine Lake. We had to cross several small streams along the way, and the spray from the running water felt good in the heat. Once we arrived at Lone Pine Lake, everyone took off their packs, had some food and relaxed. A few of the guys even went for a swim in the cold waters, and one tried his hand at fishing. After about an hour, four of us packed up and headed to our camping area. It is only a one-mile hike from the lake to Outpost Camp, so this stretch didn't take very long. Once there, I set up my little tent. About this time the weather rapidly changed.
The sky got dark, the wind picked up, the temperature dropped and it started to rain. It wasn't raining hard, but it is no fun cooking food and pumping water in the rain. And did I mention that there were more mosquitoes? This time I had most of my skin covered except for my hands, and that's where they were trying to bite me. By the time everyone ate and got their food placed in the bear canisters, it was time for bed.

The plan was to wake up at 4:30 AM and start hiking by 5:00. Good luck! Well, at 4:30 my alarm went off. I hadn't slept too bad, maybe five hours with three trips to the "bathroom" during the night (where I once again scanned the area for bears - there were none). Somehow I became the human alarm clock, walking to everyone's tents and saying "4:30, time to get up". No matter how hard we tried, everything took longer than expected. We didn't start hiking until after 6:15. People were probably getting annoyed at me as I kept saying "we need to get going!". I couldn't wait so I left on my own.

I was full of energy and made it quickly to Mirror Lake. I was following the trail and soon realized I didn't know where to go. The trail ended! I wasn't lost, because I knew how to get back, but then I heard Jim's voice from way above telling me to turn around. Seems I missed the turn at the Mirror Lake sign. So much for my head start.
The next milestone was Trail Camp. It is about three miles from where we camped. This part of the trail was very steep, it had fewer switchbacks and much of the path was hard rock.
It also had our first snow crossings. Most of these weren't too bad, but one in one spot the trail was only one foot-width wide. Hiking poles weren't much use here - just careful steps and good balance (on the way back it was icier and I slipped and stopped from falling a great distance down a steep, snowy hill by leaning into the snow). It was along this trail that the group started to spread out, with some people walking faster and other stopping more often to eat or take photos. Eventually we all made to to Trail Camp. I had never been this far along the trail before, and didn't know what to expect. We were already passed the treeline, and this area looked like a Moon-scape. There weren't that many tents set up. In fact, I couldn't even see where there was room for many tents with all the rocks. We stopped here for some food before we headed to the dreaded 97 switchbacks.

As we got closer to the switchbacks, we realized that we didn't know how to get to them. There was a huge snow field in front of us with what looked like several paths that had been created by previous hikers. Up to this point, we were surprised that there were so few other hikers on the trail. We were hoping to follow others who knew their way. So we decided to follow the most worn path across the snow. The snow was soft and required lots of work as we went straight up the side of the hill, with our legs sinking deeply into the snow. We finally got to a point where we could see the trail in the dirt off to the right. These were the switchbacks. Once on the trail, the hiking was much easier. I was told that there was a spot coming up where I could filter water. I had already drank most of my water, once again. I finally got caught up to the leaders and we stopped to refill our water. This is the last place to get water, so I filled up 4 liters worth. This took a long time, plus I was sitting uncomfortably on a jagged rock. By the time I finished, everyone had left me behind, except for the brothers, who were slowly making there way up behind me. I wanted to catch up to everyone else, so I skipped eating, which was a big mistake.

I continued up the switchbacks, meeting up with Mike. There were several patches of snow to cross, making the trip slow and tedious. We then made it to the famous cable section. The snow was so thick here, that the only way to get by was to go on the outside of the cables, in the snow, and then back inside and up a 6 foot rock. We helped each other out here, but even so, this was the scariest part of the hike. One slip and down the snow covered hill you go. Once we all passed this section, we continued up. The whole time I noticed clouds forming to the south and west. I knew this wasn't good. If my sister was with me she would have had us turn around at first sight of any clouds. She is smarter that us - we kept going. After all, is was only 10:15 AM - thunderstorms usually happen after noon. The higher we got, the colder the air became. I put on an extra jacket and kept hiking. Then it started to rain. Then the rain turned to hail. Then the hail turned to snow. At this point the eight of us were widely scattered along the trail. Chris was the highest up, then Steve, Mike and I and the rest were somewhere below. We were discussing what to do. Mike and I both agreed that we should go back down. Steve said "Maybe it will just blow over". Storms on Whitney never "blow over". Just as somebody asked "Should be go back?" there was the loud clap of thunder. At that point we all quickly turned around and headed down to safety.

At the time I didn't realize what had happened to Chris. Just before the thunder, he saw or heard an electrical arch between his hiking poles. Wow! That is too way close. Turns out that there were other hikers on the top who also got caught in the storm and had to run for their lives as they heard the static electricity in all the rocks and their hiking poles. The trip down the trail wasn't to difficult until we hit the cable section. The snow was more icy and I had to hold onto the cables to keep from sliding away. Good thing the lightening did not strike then! Further along the trail, I heard someone yell and saw Erin lying on the rocky ground writhing in pain. He had twisted his ankle and fell over. We didn't know that to do. His brother Tony said "Come on, get up. You can't stay here". Typical brother. Well, he wasn't going anywhere for a while. After about 20 minutes, Erin was able to stand. They gave him painkillers, carried most of the stuff in his pack and he was somehow able to walk on his own. We didn't know what to do if he could not have walked.

We later found out that there was a woman higher up on the trail that needed more help than Erin. I read on a forum after getting home that this woman was rescued by a man who we passed on the switchbacks. This man was on a ten day hike with his sons. We passed them on the way up and down, talking to him briefly, but enough to learn his pack weighed 70 lbs. The man ended up carrying this woman who was soaking wet, delirious and probably ready to die if she didn't get medical care, back to Trail Camp. He had a satellite phone and called for help. A helicopter was later sent to pick her up. She was lucky he and other hikers helped. We had no idea this was going on behind us.

The three of us in the lead took a different path down the long snowfield below the switchbacks. I don't know if it was a better route or not, but as we watched the others behind us, suddenly one of them started sliding down the snow. No, he didn't slip, he just wanted to slide down. Turns out it was Jim and he said he had the ride of his life. Glad that someone was having fun for all of us.

By the time we all got to Trail Camp the snow and rain had stopped, but we still heard thunder rumbling above. The skies were very dark so we kept up our good pace. Hiking down the trail we walked faster and took very few breaks. We just wanted to get back to the cars as soon as possible. At one point I ended up alone, between the faster and slower hikers. I suddenly started feeling very sad and depressed. I guess the realization that I wasn't making it to the top finally set in. I wanted to make it so bad, that the disappointment was very hard. Then I remembered reading the night before we left about all the sicknesses you can get from hiking at altitude, and depression was one of the symptoms. So I quickly turned my thoughts to happier times and preceded on.

I seemed to take forever to get back to our camp site, where we still had to pack up. The camp site was now very crowded. The night before there was only one other tent besides our six. Now it looked like a small city, with people running everywhere. As we gathered our belongings, Steve, who started feeling sick eariler, got worse. He had to sit for a long time before feeling well enough to walk again. I too felt somewhhat sick, probably from the altitude and also not eating enough food, but not so sick that I couldn't get ready. I think it took us one hour to pack up all our equipment for the final leg of our journey. The other five hikers who were not injured (or me), agreed to carry much of the equipment for Erin and Steve. Jim also wanted to carry some of my weight, because he knew how bad my knees were hiking down San Jacinto. I ended up giving him my tent poles, which weighed about 3 ounces - at most. I also want to mention that Jim was very helpful with getting ours packs adjusted correctly, and he cracked my back several times relieving my upper back pain. In fact, everyone worked well as a team, helping each other out.

Jim, Darin and I were the last to break camp. I tried my best to walk fast with my full pack, sore knees, tired muscles and blisters on my toes. I know, sounds like I'm complaining. Darin set the pace for me, but it wasn't until it started to rain that I sped up to his liking. I was basically the last one down. Even the two injured hikers beat me. How sad. We arrived at the parking lot around 5:15 and were back at the hotel by 5:45. After a shower I was ready for pizza and beer - and so was everyone else. We were all feeling better by dinner time, completely forgetting how bad we felt as we hiked down. We all agreed that the hike was a success, even though we didn't summit. We all had fun and survived.

It was a learning experience for me. Now I know what to expect and I know what to do differently next time. I needed a bigger pack, poles that don't collapse, broken-in shoes, bigger variety of food (I don't think I can eat another Clif Bar), more warm-up hikes, and if possible, camp at Trail Camp for a shorter trip to the summit. Also, hiking later in the year with less snow would be better. My knees aren't getting any better, so I can only hope I'll have another opportunity to make it to the summit. In fact, Darin and Steve are already talking about trying the Mountaineer's Route up - which is shorter but much steeper.