Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Mt Whitney Main Trail 5-19-12

I wrote up our trip report on our blog website that links to mostly pictures with captions and videos of the conditions and play by play, but happy to answer anything I can with the highlights being:

http://www.wegortw.com/mount-whitney/

- We planned to summit in 2 days and it took us 3 (we had a 4 day pass)
- We carried more weight then we liked, but almost used it all. Trying in a single day might be fun
- It was our first time to treat water and we used only iodine tablets with neutralizer and coffee filters (we later stopped using the filters as found they weren't catching anything)
- We summited later in the day then we wanted which had us worrying about ice on the chute for the glissade down, but it was still very doable for us at 5:30pm
- Since we got down late we camped another night before heading all the way down
- It was the first weekend that I had heard of that 4 different groups of hikers made it through the switchbacks, some had crampons and hiking poles and others just had the hiking poles (we went up and down the chute)
- Our altitude sickness didn't really kick in until we made it to the top of the chute on the way to the summit, then it got bad (headache, nausea, stomach ache, ...)
- Sunrise was around 5am and dusk around 8pm
- Friday we hiked 10am - 5pm with many breaks and an hour lunch at Outpost camp, we slept between Trail Meadow and Trail Camp
- Saturday we hiked 8am - 7pm with many breaks, the main part of the chute took us 2 hours to go up and 10 minutes to come down
- Sunday we started at 8am at just above Trail Side Meadow and made it to the parking lot in about 3 hours
- Our BIG mistake to learn from in taking the chute do not enter from the cables of the switchbacks as it was very dangerous and pretty stupid on our part, enter from the snow field just after trail camp (I actually read that too before going and still made the mistake)
- Doug at the Portal Store is probably the coolest guy I have ever met and the store has great prices and super large portion sizes on food

Again happy to help, here is just a couple pics, with many more on the site - http://www.wegortw.com/mount-whitney/

Way to go, Dustin! Thanks so much for the report, especially about people on the switchbacks.

Did you have any Diamox along for the altitude?

Your pictures above are beautiful. Need to go see the rest....

We did not, wish I had known about it if it helps. We camped our first night at the portal (8360ft), second night just above trail side meadow (11,400ft), summited on the third day and camped again just above trail side meadow. We had hoped that would of been enough but learned somewhat the hard way that it did help with us coming from Austin, TX (489ft).

Awesome job guys!!! great report and beautiful photo shots.

Steve, Does the Diamox really helps? I just called my doctor and asked for a prescription just in case. I am more worried about my son who is coming and he is 15 yrs old. I've side effects for Diamox? is there really side effects?

Diamox is a glaucoma medication, but helps people with AMS. Dosages for altitude are far lower than for glaucoma, so do NOT take the 500 mg twice a day, if the Rx says that.

For altitude, people will take 1/4 (or 1/2) of a 250 mg tab once or twice a day. Here's the link, where Diamox is first mentioned in that thread Kilimanjaro Trip Report (Jan. 8-17, 2012)

I take 125 mg (1/2 tablet) twice a day starting the day before I hike.

Dustin, sorry to hijack your great trip report. ...back to the main topic:   Dustin, do you have any pictures of your trail runners with crampons?

Sure, in the slideshow - https://plus.google.com/photos/111065555287322388293/albums/5745447209062407169/5745447889924972242

Diamox makes beer taste funny.

Which, in and of itself, is reason to never take it. <shudder>

Nice work, Dustin! Looks like a fun trip. Those Camp crampons are nice and light for trail runners. Last time I tried that, though, it was my Grivel G12's on North Face kicks. I took a fast ride down the Warlow Glacier in EVO basin.

Never again, I tell you...

If you ever get the opportunity to meet up with our Moose, rule number 1 is Bring Beer.

You have two moosey choices - Kidney rejection fluid from Canada or:




Choose wisely.

Stocked in abundance in Doug's WPS beer cooler, I might add . . .

For those who haven't been before here is a cool overlay of pictures on google maps to see where each picture is taken at on the trail (per my best guesstimate)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/albumMap?uname=111065555287322388293&aid=5745447209062407169#map

That is so awesome!!! nice posting.