Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion How bad is the exposure on the Whitney main trail

First: To Steve C and all of the other experienced people on this forum and everyone that has posted I want to say thanks for all of the great information and advice.

Question: I love to hike, camp, and be outdoors and I really enjoy a good physical challenge but I do struggle with too much exposure and heights. My son and I hiked up to trail camp at the end of June 2016 but did not summit because there was still too much snow for me and our gear was only trail shoes and poles. We are going back next week.

My question is how much worse is the exposure on the 99 switchbacks and on the backside as compared to the hike up to trail camp?? There were a couple spots hiking up to trail camp after trail meadows that had exposure on the left side. I could tolerate that level of exposure but to be honest much worse than that and I start to get uncomfortable.

The you tube videos of the trail with the go pro cameras really distort the vertical look to the trail. Input from those who know the trail up from trail camp would be greatly appreciated...............thanks

Not too bad on the switchbacks; not too steep, and they are short. You can stop at each turn and catch your breath. It might help to keep your focus on the trail in front of you and think of something other than your fear of heights. Stay close to the uphill side when passing other hikers.

If you have music to listen to, that will help keep your mind on the task. Talk to your son and reassure him, taking the focus off our own nervousness. If you feel intimidated by certain sections of any trail, take a deep breath and move quickly through it.

The hike is worth the effort and you will feel a strong sense of accomplishment that will help you overcome other issues.

Here is something that gives a pretty good look at the trail:

http://www.modernhiker.com/2010/09/20/hiking-mount-whitney/

I am no fan of heights getting dizzy past the second rung on a ladder. However, I never felt uncomfortable in the least on any of my five summits. Several years ago, a guy took a camcorder the entire length of the trail. This was before the GoPro camera was invented. So, the view is more conventional. He sells a set of DVD's covering every inch of the trail at:

http://www.hikealongvideo.com/Whitney.html

You could view these and see for yourself.

There are a couple of dicey spots. All safe, but if heights bug you, you will get a little zippy up there. Bu they are over quickly, and you will appreciate the thrill immediately after.

Carry one big hiking stick, like a six foot bamboo pole. Helps you hold on.

I could have written your original post, JMH. And I could not agree more with the responses you received. My son and I summited on June 26th ascending from Guitar Lake and then descending via the switchbacks to trail camp (we finished our trip to the Portal the next morning). There are indeed some brief stretches of the switchbacks that are well outside my comfort zone, and crossing the top of the chute from the end of the switchbacks to Trail Crest (covered with re-hardened snow at the time) was second only to watching my son lead the way in terms of sheer terror. But it was so very worth it. As the other posters suggested, focus on reassuring your son making just the very next step your goal and you will be fine. I cannot remember how many times I muttered "Good job, stay to the inside" during that trip. It made all the difference. And trust me--if I could do it, you can.

Good luck!

Goose, Wiff, Richard, and Bob thank you for the responses and suggestions. My son and I successfully summited on 7-23-16.

The bottom line was that the main trail turned out to be just wide enough for me that I was able to push past what were some very scary spots. In the videos I watched on-line the trail looks much narrower than I found in person. And some of the spots that looked to have huge drop offs on the videos turned out to not be that steep in person.

For anyone who has the fear of heights "bug" the worst parts of the trail for me were:
1.) The back side a couple tenths of a mile after the 1.9 mile Whitney sign: There are a series of about 8 "horseshoe" circular parts to the trail that start at about the 9.2 to 9.3 mile point. Each one of these circular parts to the trail are about several hundred feet in length each. As you are going around these circular parts up the trail, the drop offs on the left side of the trail are extreme and very nerve racking. The trail is not perfectly flat and you have to step over or around some rough terrain spots and some fairly big steps and rocks right in the middle of the trail.
2.) The final of the 99 switch backs: It is a very long switch back. The trail is kind of narrow and the drop off is steep enough in many spots that I think it would be very tuff to stop your fall if you stumble off. "Passing" other hikers on this long narrow switch back was kind of scary because there were a lot of people on the trail when we were at this point.
3.) A 20-30 foot snow field on the backside just before the final turn up to the hut. The hiking poles were very helpful here. You can step in the foot prints of the preceding hikers but the snow was sloshy and slippery.
4.) The switchbacks coming up from trailside meadows and just before consolation lake.

As far as the 4 windows on the backside and the traverse across from the final switch back thru trail crest, I did not find these parts to be too bad. I'd estimate the trail was 5 feet wide so I just stayed right in the middle. The cables also were not bad at all because all of the snow was melted and the trail was very wide. I had read some posts about people going outside of the cables when they are snowed over. No way, I would never try that.

Living in Chicago, we had really never hiked before and we had never done any physical activity at any elevation over 1000 feet. So tackling Whitney for our 1st two hikes ever was quite an amazing experience. I spent many hours reading the forums, studying the maps, and watching the trail videos. I can't say enough about how helpful the people in this forum were. Thanks for all the advice and help.