Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Post of general excitedness and prep plans

Very pumped for our late July summit attempt and so glad to have found this forum to share excitement and get great tips so far.

Did I mention y'all have already saved us thousands of dollars? We thought we would have to go with an expensive guided trip since we didn't win the lottery, but your tips here led us to finding out about the good chance for walk-ins. THANK YOU!

This will be our second 14er as a family (two young teens and two 50-year-olds). The first serious overnighter for the other 3; I've done quite a few years before and we've all done some minor ones. We've done some long days(14+ miles) and we've done some multi-day trips (Paria Canyon and an 8-day bike trip DC to Pittsburgh.)


Putting together our lists and taking a jog around the block each morning (though I had to take almost a week off as my knee was swollen and hurting. Doc said slight osteoarthritis and gave me an Rx NSAID, it feels almost 100% now, but I think I will hike instead of jogging.) The block is 2.2 miles and includes about 300' of elevation in a steep section. It's not huge, but it's enough so I get a chance to get the heart moving.

We're going to do a laden hike this weekend in the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon, then more longer hikes when the kids are finally done with school next week.

We've bought our backpacking 4-tent - the hogback - to supplement our car-camping tent. I need to dig out my backpacker stoves to make sure they still work.

I actually don't have much time left. Whitney is near the end of our month-long car-camping trip (this is our 5th one of those,) so I need to be ready in 2 weeks, really. Then we will drive and hike our way from NY to CA via OK, NM and AZ, land in Cali at Joshua Tree, up the Pacific Coast Highway, to Big Sur, Yosemite (half dome warm-up?) then down to Horseshoe Meadows then Whitney. Last stop is Death Valley then home by way of UT, WY, WI, and a cousin's wedding in Washington DC.

So - planning in full swing!

I am still taking ideas about gear.
I had decided on a BearVault, but now I am seeing that maybe the ursack is approved? true? Would love to have the lighter weight and space-fexible design. Sounds like people are using liners for it?

Planning to make some freezer-bag dinners. We had contemplated not cooking, just taking cold food. But I'm thinking a cold evening might really enjoyed the heated stuffs. Thoughts?

Decided to go ahead and buy rain pants. We've never used them before, but it seems that almost everyone considers them really useful.

I'm buying backpacks - the ones we've used so far are very old and would probably lack comfort on a very long heavy hike. They worked okay in Paria where they were heavy with gallons of water, but we needed practically nothing for overnight warmth gear, including no stove, since it was over 100°. This made the packs very light on the way back.

Shoes - I'm going to use my well broken in trail shoes. I know the footbeds compress over time, but I think they will remain comfy for yet another year. This kids' feet have grown and they totally resist wearing hikers to school so they haven't broken in as much.

Well, that's my start. I'm pumped.