Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Advice for First Attempt at Whitney

Hey everyone,

My small group is dayhiking Mt. Whitney on August 27th and wanted to seek out some advice across a few areas.

First, some background on our ability. Unfortunately, we live in Chicago and are unable to train on proper mountains. However, we have a high level of fitness and are active runners. We completed the Salkantay Trek in Peru with no problems last summer, covering ~35 miles over 4 days and including a climb over a pass at 15,200ft. We also have a bit of experience on some class 3 scrambling, which from what I read is the level of the harder sections of the MR. Earlier in the week before we attempt Whitney we plan on visiting Yosemite and hiking there for a few days. Knowing that, we would really appreciate some advice on the following questions.

1. Would it be unwise to attempt the MR up and main trail down? We have memorized the MR and have photos/GPS versions of the map on our phones and feel comfortable with the exposure we will be faced with at times.

2. How long (ballpark) can we expect the round trip to take?

3. Any advice on supplies other than the obvious (lots of food, water purification, etc.) that we might overlook?

4. Any other advice??

The biggest things we are concerned about are routefinding before sunrise, the sustained steepness of MR the trail, and the sheer length of the hike (~17 mi.).

Thank you in advance, we really appreciate the help!