Thinking about logistics and acclimation for a July 9 day hike permit with a group of 4.
Current plan is to spend the nights of the 4th/5th/6th at 7500ft near Bridgeport, doing some hikes up around 10k-13k feet in Yosemite (off of Tioga Pass) during the day. Then we'll drive south to Horseshoe Meadows to camp the night of the 7th, and try to stake out a tent site or two at the walk-in Whitney trailhead campground on Monday the 8th to get to sleep early so we can get started 1:30-2am. It'll be the first ascent for all of us.
Some open questions:
- As I understand it, both Horseshoe Meadows and the trailhead campground (but not the portal campground) are walk-in, first come first served, though the Whitney trailhead only permits a single night. Am I right in thinking that arriving early in the day should give us a very good chance of securing a spot to camp, and that we shouldn't need additional wilderness permits beyond the Whitney permit to stay there?
- Given the risk of thunderstorms after noon on the summit and variable hiking speeds in our party, my best guess is that budgeting 9-10 hours to go up and leaving around 2am is about right - we averaged around 1.5mph when 3 of the 4 of us did some hikes around 12k feet in Colorado last month. But I'm curious if anyone thinks this is a poor choice of timing.
- Water usage: I tend to drink a lot on hikes, so I'm planning to fill up with 4 or 5 liters departing Trail Camp or the switchback 23 spring. Some other party members seem to get by on a lot less, but I'm still encouraging them to have at least 2 liters when they head out from Trail Camp.
- Hiking/acclimation schedule ahead of time: I want to get everyone used to 12k+ elevation before the hike to reduce altitude sickness, but I also don't want to exhaust us all by going on an intense trek the day beforehand. Am I right in thinking that a Mount Dana summit (5.2mi, 3k vertical gain, summit of 13k feet) on the 6th or 7th, and then relatively light exercise until the big hike, is about the right schedule?
- Food: How tough is it to imbibe calories at elevation, and should we load up on food while we still have appetite further down the slope? I'm expecting to take some snacks with me but still end up at a substantial calorie deficit by the end of the day.
- Weather: Forecast looks pretty brutally hot, at least at low elevation. I'm expecting the ascent to be a fairly comfortable 50-70 degrees the whole way up, and the descent to start getting unpleasant below 12k feet once we're well into the afternoon.
- Anything else important we might be missing in our plans?
