Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion How not to die on Mt. Whitney (and elsewhere...

I'm going to guess that all these hikers didn't expect it to snow. There was already snow on the ground, but if you see clouds and it starts to snow, you should either stay put until you know it is going to stop, or better yet, go back. If you note, all 5 hikers this year and Wade from last year were from out of state. That doesn't make them less skilled, just more financially obligated to their goal to summit the mountain.

I like the sign idea. And, I'm not adverse to the person that needs to be extracted pays at least some of the cost. I believe the three hikers in the hut did something pretty stupid. I'm glad they are safe, but come on....it was snowing, then it snowed more, it got deeper and they still decided to keep going. There may be more to the story. With Wade, I believe he really thought he could summit, had the skills to summit, but somewhere along the line he became disoriented. If you remember, he was seen and I believe was talked to by a couple of hikers past Trail Crest. They were both concerned about him and his ability to go further. In other words, I don't think Wade did anything stupid. I think by the time it came for him to make crucial decisions, he couldn't.