Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion 2012 Whitney Hike Calendar

Had two of three applications hit. First timers party of 3 entering on July 4 and July 22. Wish the dates had more spread, but hey... see me twice in July. Thanks for all the good info !

Overnight permits

I'll be hiking the main trail July 6-7. Looking forward to getting out west again!

I was just checking out of curiosity, and found this:

There are 12 available overnight slots for the Mt Whitney Main Trail, entering on Sunday, July 1.

Check it out: Mt Whitney Trail Overnight availability ...you may need to click the "Find Permits" button.

I'm new to the Whitney Zone. This is a great forum, many thanx to all that have posted!

My wife and I are leaving from Cottonwood on 06/21, NAP, Crabtree then Whitney on 06/23. This will be my second time. Can't wait to get back.

Hi All,

It's been fun staying in tune with the current conditions and activity as the quota has opened, and I gear up for my attempt in mid-June. I'm writing about my preparations and whole experience on my blog.

SteveC, thanks again for suggesting to camp at Horseshoe Meadow. I just posted my itinerary and thought I would post a link here in case anyone had any further recommendations based on experience, or wanted to follow along. My Whitney Page

Diamox! DMO, since you are investing so much on this trip, everyone in the group should get a prescription for Diamox from your doctor. You will likely need to educate the doctor on its use as an aid in treating/reducing altitude sickness symptoms. For AMS, people take either half or a whole 125 mg tablet twice a day, starting the day before you ascend above 10,000'. You should get the prescription, and take a day's dose while at home to see how it feels. The recommended dose is low, so you should not experience anything.

Your spending one night at 10k, and then climbing to 12k the second night is pushing your acclimatization schedule, so having the Diamox along could play a significant part in your making the summit. (After sleeping at 12k, many people wake up feeling awful.)

As for your itinerary, I'd consider staying after the hike at either the walk-in campsites at Whitney Portal, or a room at the Whitney Portal Hostel in Lone Pine (Doug at the WP Store owns it), where a bed in a shared room is about $20 a night. Then, take a leisurely drive through Death Valley, stopping at the sites you zoomed by on the way to Lone Pine. DV is a spectacular place to visit.

Edit: Search this forum for recent Diamox, threads, and Ken and Harvey are both doctors with altitude experience, so pay attention to their words: KM & HL

Fison, party of 4, July 18th thru 20th. Staying in Lone Pine the 14th thru 16th and Portal night of the 17th.

Did this 16 years ago, now time to summit with my 14 year old son.

Hi everyone! Just registered, but been lurking around the forum for a while, getting excited for my trip. Heading up to Whitney very soon... 5 of us total, first time to the summit for all of us - 4 dudes, 1 girl (I'm the girl). We're going to Kearsarge this weekend for a night or two (any info on conditions, any suggestions, totally welcome), then we'll camp at the Portal on 19 May, Trail Camp 20 May, summit and back down to Portal for one more night on 21 May. Hoping that the Kearsarge trip will make the Portal-Trail Camp-Summit less likely to induce AMS. One bonus, none of us are super-star athletes, so we'll take it nice and slow Thanks to all of you for posting such great info.

Will be hiking out and back to Whitney summit from the Cottonwood lakes trailhead beginning Aug 26 and ending Aug 31. Will overnight at Soldier Lake, Rock Creek, Guitar Lake, Crabtree Meadow & Soldier Lake. Hope to summit Mt Whitney on Aug 29 weather permitting. Sidetrips include Mt Langley & Sky Blue Lake. Nothing better than hiking in the Sierras.

Our Permit Dates are from 5/18 - 5/21, goal to finish 5/18 & 5/19.

Trail: MT
Overnight
Party Size 3

Two guys and 1 girl from Austin, TX

Our permits are june 24th, overnight, there are 3 of us. hoping snow will be all but gone

Ours is on June 2 and 10 of us including father and son(15 yrs old).

I will be going from Onion Valley to Mt Whitney with the family August 12-18th.

Then a day hike up the main trail September 17th.

Happy Hiking,

Scott

Today is the day Dustin WeGoRTW. Have fun guys and keep us posted....

I have updated the calendar: Josh, Alana (updated), and calsurfer Scott.

Sure hoping Dustin will report back with conditions, and maybe even a trip report!

Thanks for updating the calendar. Your awesome man!

Trip report coming soon when not posting from my phone, great hike on the mountain good news is that four groups made it through the switchbacks but we did the chute up and down, glisading was a blast!

Awesome! so i am assuming that the switchback is open now? how was the snow?

Party of 3 Thurs May 31 at the Portal- 1 from Houston, 2 from Santa Monica. Fri June 1st at Trail Camp. Will be acclimating with a little wine and The Eagles.

Here is our trip post - http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/topics/24237#Post24237

Not sure if I would say the switchbacks are wide open but doable for those determined with some risk involved.