I met the nice Swedish lady and her husband on July 6th. Here are a few of my thoughts. You can't always trust the Swedes you know.
I stayed at Lone Pine Budget Inn and arrived July 4th late, but still had time for a trip up to Whitney Portal to explore. On the 5th, I did a hike to Lone Pine Lake. That way I was prepared for North Fork and the logs which I would pass in the dark the next day.
On the 6th, I started at 2:45 am. I used my water shoes at North Fork, but at Outpost Camp is where you really need them. The water is shin deep there and no rock-jumping options.
Up from Mirror Lake right at 11,200 ft is where the snow started. Everybody put on crampons to hike the snow path, which leaves the trail and is a shortcut. Putting on my gators, zipping on the legs on my hiking shorts, crampons, etc. took some time. Check my track in the link below. You can see where I departed the trail.
https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/81833d4e531639e5f77ab4c7367b0aaf/?layer=GaiaTopoRasterFeetI got to Trail Camp around with my new Hungarian friend around 6 am. He had started behind me, but climbed a little faster. We both aimed for the snow chute. The Hungarian only had micro spikes and no ice axe. Huge mistake. I labored up the snow chute safely, but he had issues and found some rocks on the right to climb. Only problem, the rocks didn't go all the way up. Somehow he crawled his way to Trail Crest.
From there to the summit was easy but long. Hard to breathe, but I didn't get sick. I did have an Oxygen canister with me in case. The last little part up to the summit, turn right early and follow the cairns. I summited at 9:42 am. The Hungarian about 15 min later, so both used 7 hours to the top exactly.
The Hungarian and I where half way down to Trail Crest when we met the Swedish lady and her husband coming up. A few Norwegian/Swedish pleasantries and we headed for the chute.
This was the wildest and most unique part of the trip. A San Francisco lady with a 20 year old son were there. The son with no fear led us to the start of the human bobsled. We took our crampons off for safety and figured we could use the ice axe as an anchor to slow us down. The Hungarian had no ice axe, so he chickened out and went looking for the switchbacks. The SF lady, her son and I got ourselves lowered into the half pipe which starts right below Trail Crest on your right. Then the fun began. I should have listened to my wife and had my climbers helmet. I spread my legs as a snow plow and tried the anchor ice axe technique. The axe could hit the back of your head as it was hard to keep the axe in one place. After a while the slushy snow I collected between my legs started slowing me down too. It felt like riding an avalanche after awhile. Wild and fun. We started down the chute around noon and the got down in a minute or two.
The hike down from Trail Camp was long, but fun. I could brag to all the campers coming up with huge back packs. I saw a deer, enjoyed the beauty of the area and got back to Portal around 3:15 pm. Just when I was done with my first beer, the Hungarian showed up. Remember he had opted to take the switchbacks down. He showed me a great shot of me on the near-vertical part of the chute swinging my ice axe, while he was hanging onto a rock over on the side. Except for that shot, all my others are at the link below. Sorry, I didn't get a shot of the Swedish lady. Besides she was married.
https://goo.gl/photos/p6oX73XwfE1ks7k68
