The summit of Mt
Whitney
~ 14,500’
~ 22 miles RT
My first overnight
snow backpacking trip. It was a beautiful hike all the way up and down but also
a bizarre one where my hiking partner, Hrishi, and I had to split up at Trail
Crest. I summited with a bunch of wonderful strangers, while Hrishi stayed behind
to offer support to stranded day hikers at 14000’ while they awaited
extraction. Below is a short description of the 2 day backpacking trip.
Starting out on the
Mount Whitney Trail from the Whitney Portal trailhead around 7am.
First up,
weigh your backpacks! (This does not include the weight of our mountaineering
boots ~5lbs) Glad of all the rucking that we did lately! Rucking with a 45lbs
pack made carrying this 33lbs pack much easier.
The
first couple miles of the Mt Whitney trail were pretty gentle uphill with few
patches of snow, a couple of stream crossings, and
breathtaking views all around 🏔
Once the trail got
snow covered, it was crampon time! The slope stayed relatively gentle until
Bighorn Lake with some steeper sections that I traversed given my weaker calf
muscles (that I’m working on improving!). It was also down to a single layer as
the sun was scorching down on us. We crossed a stream where I almost took an
involuntary dip but caught myself.
Then came the frozen Bighorn lake and beautiful 360 degree views!
After that is a steep climb to
Mirror lake.
Mirror Lake is the
last stop with freshwater available unless you want to melt snow at Trail Camp.
So make sure you filter some if you need it. It also means you need to
lug all of that water up to Trail Camp. This is where we came across most of the
remaining folks who were headed to Trail Camp.
And then it’s up and
up to Trail Camp. That last stretch is a slog but at least you know you are
making camp at the end of it and a good night’s sleep (hopefully) awaits...
We started out at
the trailhead around 7am and got to Trail Camp around 3.30pm.
Hrishi snagged us
THE perfect #camping spot in a sheltered nook, relatively safe from potential
winds and then immediately got to work with melting snow for water and making
dinner. After that beautiful but tiring slog up ~5000’ I was looking forward to
a warm dinner. I fell asleep to the sound of someone calling out/yelling. I
dismissed the sound thinking it was either just happy hikers celebrating or I
was dreaming because who in their right mind would be out in this cold night
... Little did I know that this wasn’t a dream...
Catching the sunrise
from the chute.
At this time of
year, the 99 switchbacks were inaccessible. So we started up the chute ~3.30am.
It took about 3 hours to trudge up the chute and to figure out a way to take
care of business behind rocky outcrops on an otherwise 40 degree slope. (Ps.
Don’t forget your wagbags)
Also, for the first
time ever, I struggled with nausea from altitude sickness while coming up the
chute but managed to keep it under control by taking some acidity meds.
After Trail Crest...
View of Mt Muir and the spot where a day hiker injured himself at 14000’ the
night before.
The yelling I
thought I’d dreamt about was actually his two companions calling out for help.
They spent the night at Trail crest and near Mt Muir without food, water, or
shelter and not many warm layers. Hrishi stayed back with some other
hikers to help the stranded hikers while I ‘hitchhiked’ to the summit with some
from the ‘group of 12’. Check out Hrishi‘s full report on the rescue attempt on
his blogpost if you haven’t read it already!
The view of Mount
Whitney on the trail from Trail Crest.
The section after
trail crest was relatively straightforward, though sketchy at times. The snow
was pretty hard packed that early in the morning, so we didn’t need crampons on
the trail.
The
summit pic 💪🏻😎🏋️
All that strength
and endurance training came in handy for a faster hike up!
The view of
snow-covered mountains as we began the descent from Mount Whitney.
And then we went
sliding down the chute a.k.a. glissading
It was mid-afternoon
when we headed down from Trail Crest. The snow was slushy enough to get a
smooth glide.
As we quickly packed
up camp, we got to witness the chinook that flew all the way from Seattle
successfully rescue the injured hiker. That little black dot right under the
chopper is the sar personnel rappelling down. It’s not everyday (thankfully)
that you get to see a high altitude helicopter rescue; it was a sight to
behold.
After
some steep shortcuts, we managed to get down from Trail Camp to Whitney
Portal trailhead in under 3 hours! And with that ended the hike to Mount
Whitney 🏔
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