Mount Whitney
MVP:
Darn Tough Socks—These socks were amazing in keeping my feet blister-free over 22 miles and 8100ft of descent. I had hot spots on my feet and I was sure that I would have blisters, but nope, these socks are just the best.
Hike Review:
I hiked the Mount Whitney Trail from the Whitney Portal Trailhead to the summit and back down.
The trail feels like long stretches of switchbacks connected by short stretches of campsites.
There is zero shade (except for at the trailhead), but given the alpine start, it wasn’t too bad.
The switchbacks (and elevation) are tough on the knees on the descent.
Being acclimated to altitude was a huge area of concern and something that I addressed successfully.
What I Learned:
I experienced night hiking at Sequoia earlier in the month, and again, I really enjoyed hiking before the sun came up. I didn’t over heat, sunblock wasn’t an issue, and I felt great hiking at night.
I didn’t eat above 12k feet, as my experience on White Mountain told me that I probably wouldn’t enjoy the hike if I did. I did drink a carbonated beverage at the top, and that made me burp quite a bit. It wasn’t a big deal though.
The book I listened to on the way up was a 5 star book (The Diamond Eye), and I believe it is what helped me set a record pace (for myself). I just got lost in the book, and didn’t have to contend with much negative thoughts.
On the way down, around the 19-20 mile mark, I started feeling hot spots on my feet. I was certain that they were blisters, but when I took the shoes off, I found out that it wasn’t. I believe it was the Darn Tough Socks that were amazing.
The trekking poles were worth their weight in gold throughout the hike. Definitely glad I had them.
I was slightly worried about the east side of Mount Whitney, as certain people stated that they were super scary (in terms of heights). I didn’t find them that bad because the really scary stretches were so short.
I carried two liters of water, and I never opened the pre-filtered water bottle. There was so much water before 12k feet, and above, I didn’t drink too much so that I wouldn’t feel nauseous.
I ate a chocolate pudding on the way up and half of a protein/caffeine bar on the way down (I dropped the other half). It turned out to be enough food.
The first 6 hours of the hike went very fast, where I was in the groove. Things felt automatic and the miles came easy. The last 3 hours were especially tough. It was hot and I wasn’t hiking for the fun or unknown of it, I was pressing to see if I could hike the whole thing under 12 hours (which I didn’t hit).
I wore my backpacking pack as I wanted a waist belt to help offload the weight off of my shoulders. It worked out really well, but I did wish my backpack was lighter (and smaller). a 20-25L pack with a waist belt would be a perfect size. Still, even with the weight, my shoulders felt great after the hike.
Acclimating through hiking a 13k mountain followed by the 14k mountain worked out wonderfully. I felt great throughout the entire hike in terms of altitude.
Media Consumed:
The Diamond Eye—finished.
The End of Policing—finished.
Aftermath
What Happened?
22.2 miles, 12 hrs 42 mins, 8138 ft of ascent
I didn’t think about summiting Whitney until my friend Geoff mentioned it when he hiked the High Sierra Trail a few years back. And last year, when I started thinking about tall mountains to summit, I instantly recalled Whitney and set it as a stretch goal for myself. After a year of hiking various mountains with increasing difficulty, I felt ready.
There are multiple ways to get up Whitney and I chose to hike it in a single day and via the Mount Whitney Trail. The other choices are to hike it over multiple days by backpacking the trail, and/or via the mountaineering route. I didn’t do the backpacking route purely due to the difficulty in getting the permit for that, and I didn’t do the mountaineering route because of my inexperience with mountaineering. Still, I hope to summit Whitney via the mountaineering route in the future.
I slept at the trailhead parking lot and actually got 3+ hours of sleep, which was more than what I had expected. As usual before big hikes, I woke up multiple times in the night fearing that I had missed the alarm (and the recommended start time). But I was able to get back to sleep, which I feel very lucky for.
I woke up around 1:40am in the morning, and started hiking around 2am. As I looked in front of me, I saw that there were 3 large parties ahead of me all hiking up—they were easily visible as the headlamps seemed to me like slowly moving stars embedded in the mountains. I thought it’d be pretty cool to catch up to them and I estimated that the closest party was about 30 minutes ahead of me.
I made great time, averaging about 2 miles per hour, which was a record pace for me, given that I was gaining a bit more than 1000 ft every hour. I nearly passed everyone I came across, and did catch up to two of the parties that I had spied when I started out. I don’t remember too much about my hike up to Trail Camp, as I was in a groove and the miles came easy.
I knew that Trail Camp was the last water source before the final push to the summit, so I took a breakfast break and ate my chocolate pudding that I had brought. I thought it worked out well as the pudding was delicious and it was easy to put together as it didn’t require any hot water. After what I imagine to be about 20 minutes, I refilled my water bottles to full, and started hiking again.
The switchbacks were long, but it wasn’t too bad. I mean I’d rather do these switchbacks than the rock scrambling on Mount Dana.
Once I went over the Trail Crest, I found the final section of the hike to be beautiful, and not as scary as some people stated on AllTrails and other websites. I was expecting Angel’s Landing-light, but there were only a few places with exposure, and they were so short that even my fear of heights didn’t register too much. This final section was also the part where I slowed down my pace, and really felt how tired I was.
The summit itself, as most of the hikes I do was an anti-climax, with the views being wonderful, but not much more than what I had seen on the way up. I celebrated with a short break, some pictures, and a can of bubbly water. After about 5 minutes or so, I headed down.
I really disliked the switchbacks on the way down. It just was never ending and I could not believe how slow I was hiking down the trail. But, I hiked on steadily and aimed to hit a 2mph pace that I wanted to keep. Thinking back, trying to beat a random deadline I had set for myself was a good motivator to keep moving, but wasn’t so good for taking breaks (as I passed on many opportunities).
When I made it down, I really wanted to scream a happy scream, but I deferred because I felt self-conscious. Rather, I celebrated with a cold beverage at my truck, and headed down to the post office to send my girls these postcards that I had written the night before.
