Mt Whitney Zone Forums Trip Reports Main Mount Whitney Trail, 7/8/14 solo day hike

From the trip reports I've read, I'd say anything less than 7 hrs is a fast time & 5 or less is rare/exceptional, especially for a first-timer.

I have a book ("One Best Hike: Mt. Whitney") that says most first-timers will take somewhere between 9 & 11 hours, IIRC.

I'm hoping that'll I be able to do it in less than 7 someday

Doug Thompson, based on what he's seen over the past 26 years at the Portal. Ten up, six down for first-timers. I should have clarified that first-timers piece.

No significant altitude issues; I did need to slow down, and I had a very mild headache briefly while descending from the summit to trail crest, but it was barely noticeable and I popped a couple ibuprofen gel caps, drank a little water and forgot about it! I can't say I enjoyed hiking at altitude, I had just a vague feeling that I didn't particularly like exerting myself in the thin air, but luckily I did not have problems. My plan was to hike an easy 13'er in Boulder the week before, but didn't because of snow on the trail, so going into the Whitney hike altitude was still an unknown.

A week above 5k provides significant acclimatization.

Gary, didn't you go to Colorado on vacations, and basically didn't have altitude issues either?? Staying at 5k surely helps.

Yeah, Steve, staying mostly in Colorado Springs, Aspen and Estes Park, all between 7K' and 8K'. Hit three fourteeners one trip and never felt anything less than great. It's so much easier there, though - once you're in the Rockies, even by road, you're constantly between 8,000 and 12,000 feet. Acclimation is almost an afterthough - you can't help but sleep high.

Denver and Boulder are the lowboys at 5200 feet - once you start heading west you go high quickly. Trail Ridge Road through RMNP hits 12K' (Visitor Center there - honest), as does a highway over Independence Pass. Just driving from place to place assists with acclimation.

Some pics from the hike:

And a video:

Awesome job. I plan to hike the mountain in a similar time next summer.

Did you hike the whole way or did you break into a jogging pace at any point? Like on the decent?

How much food did you carry?

Thomas, I hiked the whole way...jogging would have been sketchy on the descent because of the rain!

For food, I started the day with some oatmeal, honey, and bananas, coconut water, and coffee at about 2:30 in the morning.

On the hike, I just brought snacks including peanut butter cups, turkey jerky, Larabars, dried mango, some of those chewy fruit cubes coated with sugar, and a peanut butter, honey, and banana sandwich on whole wheat bread. I think I snacked on some peanut butter cups and before trail camp, ate half the sandwich somewhere between trail camp and the summit (I can't remember where), then ate the rest of the sandwich, some more peanut butter cups, some dried mango, and the turkey jurky on the summit. The sandwich was really really dry and chewy haha. The peanut butter cups were kind of a mess, I wouldn't recommend them. I didn't eat anything on the descent.

I had planned to eat 200 calories an hour, but I ended up just eating when I felt like it was a good time to refuel. I had a bunch of uneaten food left over when the hike was done.

Hope this helps!

Can confirm anecdotally, as first timers 2 years ago, we non fitness nerds were 10 hours up, 8 hours down.

I was also super impressed by the OP's time. Nice job!

Are those water sources always reliable ? I'll be there mid-september.

No

The Spring at Switchback 22 is seasonal based on temperature & available water flow. This is critical, as one should NOT rely on this source as a refill for the summit and back.

Regarding what "Oldtimers" do -- filtering water is a highly personal choice that one should not feel pressured in either direction.

Julie,

For a list of water sources along the Trail see:
http://www.ridgenet.net/~rockwell/Whitney_water_trail.pdf

Please note the comments about water source # 10 in the notes.

In general, finding water should not be a problem.

Enjoy the hike

Perfect, thank you very much.

Coming from the beaver country I do treat water, always. I will on Whitney too I guess.