Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Mineral King to Whitney Portal

Waiting to see if he does indeed head up Crabtree. Next spot should tell. Also interested to hear about the climb up Whitney Creek. The route obviously goes, but just how well?

A couple of questions/observations:

1. I too am curious about the x-c climbout up Whitney creek from Kern canyon. It sure would cut down on a couple of miles if it wasn't a bushwhacking nightmare.

2. If I had known about his planned route, I would have suggested he head straight up Crabtree meadows from where he joined the PCT, rather than walk over to the JMT/ranger station, then turn around and head up to the lakes. It would have saved him around 1 mile. I've come down from the lakes to the PCT, and it's an easy x-c stroll to the PCT from where the trail veers away towards the ranger station.

3. It looks like he is planning on going up Discovery the way Kent described here:
http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/topics/10807

I wonder if he will choose the sand slog from lake 3456 vs the class 3 stuff below McAdie tomorrow when he considers his options. If it was me, I'd just pay the 4 hour price, rather then head up the watershed, find out the route was too technical, then head back down only to have to then go up the sand hill anyway. Yes, I'm a chicken.

Steve sent me an email before he left....

It reads, "I plan on coming out on Saturday, with an overnight at the Whitney summit. But if I have any trouble, I can always just skip Whitney and hike out. My wife and family are driving over to meet me at Whitney Portal on Saturday. I have some extra time built into the trip, so I hope I can catch a few fish. Wish me luck!"

Over the years I have dreamed of taking the XC route from the Kern River to Lower Crabtree. It seems like more and more hikers opt to try it. This past June when I was camped at the Hot Springs, I met a group of 10 hikers attempting the route. It was their first attempt. A couple days later, I met them, and they said that it was one for the memory....whatever that means. I do know however, they loved doing it.

Paul

I'm guessing he'll go for the Class 3 rock. Steve did the MR solo last year, and that goes 4a in places.

A little levity here....According to a very close up of Steve's hike (satellite level), it appears, according to the SPOT tracks that Steve, once at the shore of Crabtree Lake, swam a fairly good distance to the sandy shore on the other side. Way to go Steve!!!! A bath and hike at one time.

Paul

Hey, I'll go that one better: last year, I sent Spot tracks from the middle of Lake Edison. When the ferry was not running.

Sand monster. Perhaps he read my post? LOL

The McAdie approach looks sketchy (I've seen other reports besides Kent's), but makes (some) sense from Crabtree pass if you don't want to lose elevation & then head back NE from the lake (where Steve camped).

However, if you're already at that lake, you can see looking up towards Discovery that it's basically a walk-up from that point, albeit one involving the dreaded 1 step forward, 1/2 step backward slog.

PS It looks like he left around 10:30, so I guess he was fishing this morning. Also, he's around 30 minutes-1 hr from Trail crest, so that would put the slog @ 4.5-5 hrs.

4.5 hours to Trail Crest. Brutal, and bravo!

And now about to summit!

Our Fearless Leader!

Stevo is sitting on top of the world USA!

It would be nice if he had a smart phone and posted a message of some sort to the board. However, I must say, it has been extremely exciting following him this past week.

I guess the question is, what time does Starbucks open up on Whitney?

Paul

Is "SPOT" accurate? Steve seems to be wandering around the top of Whitney.

Paul

Unless the weather is crappy he is probably planning to spend the night on the summit plateau. The weather looks good on the webcam. My guess is that he is getting himself situated on the West side of the plateau for the sunset. Bet he situates himself on the East side for the sunrise....

LOL: he's not wandering and he's not setting up on the west side, at least not for sunset. (8:09 PM) The maniac downclimbed the final 400, it looks like east of the main chute, no less, and then reconnoitered the walk-off traverse, and returned to the summit! Probably to check it out in the wake of some questions posed about it here recently. Always thinking of us, Steve is, getting the straight beta.

Sigh, we always get forgotten way UP here in Alaska.

Ten to one we see definitive photos and maybe video of the Easy Walk-Off in a few days.

No bet!

Well, he's in the big city now, Trail Camp, population "too many", elevation 12,000'. No sigalerts on the trail, except maybe a little congestion.

paul

Congratulations Steve, on a very cool hike and summit up a challenging route. Welcome back. OF course we are all dying to know:
1. How does the Whitney Creek ascent out of Kern go
2. What was the loop up around the Crabtree Ranger station all about
3. How do you feel about climbing sand dunes
4. What can you show & tell us about the walk-off traverse

oh, yeah, and how's the fishing at Crabtree Lakes?

Totally agree...... but I also want to know about the route down Big Arroyo, and if possible, the route from Rattlesnake Creek to Big Arroyo.

Okay Steve, you have a lot of explaining to do. Damm Steve, just write a book!!!!

paul