Thanks for all the great information on this site. It was truly helpful in making our journey a successful one.
We had an amazing adventure climbing Mt. Whitney. We arrived on Tuesday and picked up our permits and headed over to the portal store for a burger and fries before we headed up to our first destination – Outpost Camp. We stayed at Outpost for the evening for a couple of reasons – it provided some nice protection from the wind if it were to blow, we didn’t have to carry our full load to Trail Camp, and it gave us the opportunity to really enjoy the trip. A group of individuals tried the switchbacks the same day we arrived and were unable to make it past the cables due to ice. Thus we decided the chute would be our access to the summit. Unfortunately, we got a late start at ~730am. I would highly recommend a much earlier start so you are not hitting the chute on the way down when it has frozen back over….more on that later.
The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. No wind, sunny, and warm. The trail was absolutely perfect up to the chute. Two individuals in our party had microspikes and two had crampons – we all had ice axes. Although all made it up just fine, I think we all would have agreed that crampons were a much better and safer option for the chute. I just don’t know how people risked going up the chute without microspikes/crampons and an ice axe. The words risky and unsafe come to mind….
It took us ~2 hours to make it up the chute. Once we arrived, the view from the Trail Crest was absolutely spectacular. We took a much needed break here and then moved forward. As we moved onward and upward, there were a couple of spots before the needles where the trail was snow/iced over. I have to say they were quite frightening to maneuver because of the sheer drop if one were to slip – crampons and ice axe are a must. In fact, those couple of spots was almost show stoppers for me as well as another member of our party. However, our partners in crime helped us to maneuver safely forward. The rest of the journey went quite smoothly and we reached the summit successfully!
Now for the way back. Again had to maneuver the scary spots and make it to the chute. By the time we arrived at the chute it was unfortunately reaching 4pm. It was terrifying looking down the chute knowing that it was beginning to ice over. All members of the party attempted to do the sitting glissade down the chute. I managed to get going too fast and lost control. Fortunately, I was able to self arrest. If you have not practiced glissading and self arrest do not attempt them for the first time here. I don’t care how many videos you have watched please practice the skills before you hit the chute. The remainder of the way down I scooted on my behind because I was too scared to attempt glissading again. We all made it down to the bottom safely!
It was an easy trip back to Outpost where we rested for the night. We headed out the next day and the best breakfast ever was at the portal store! Those pancakes were amazing!
Pictures below compliments of my amazing companions on this trip
