Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Looking for another hike than Whitney

Hello,

My name is Frederic and I am new to the forum.
I live in Colorado but have to travel to LA in the next weeks/months. I immediately thought of extending my stay and going to Mt Whitney. However, the permits are so challenging to get that I am starting to consider other trails to hike.
Would anyone recommend an area to hike that would be beautiful like Mt Whitney trail but easier to access ?

Thank you in advance

If WHitney is what you really want, go for it. OVer the next few weeks, months, daily walkups are ever easier to get, and not uncommon even before labor day. Are you looking for overnight or a day hike?

I'm looking for a day hike, or more a run. My plan is to "bag" it in 4-5 hours. The problem is that the permits are not available until the end of october which puts a question mark on the feasibility of it since snow might be possible.
I'm used to snow and storms as it is common here in the rockies but Im also willing to have a Plan B in case I have to forget about WHitney.

Thanks!

Hum, I don't think you'd be able to bag Whitney in 4-5 hours, it is more like a full day hike.

The only 14er that you can bag in such a short time would be White mountain, since you can drive up to 12k and hike the rest.

Other day hikes to cool peaks that I'd consider much more fun would be:
- Olancha (12,133'): The hike is about 6.5k feet, 20 miles.
- Langley (14,026'): The hike is about 4k feet and 19 miles via Old army pass
- Tyndall (14,025'): The hike is about 8k feet and 25 miles.

Neither of these require permits if you do them as day hikes, but they would be pretty long days.

Im sure Whitney is feasible in 4-5 hours in "running" mode. It might take more time depending the conditions but I definitely intend to do it in less than a day.

However, thanks for those suggestions, that is definitely what I was looking for ! Easy access trails (no permits) and no less uglier :-)

Frederic

Got me curious about how long it would take runners to complete the Whitney Main Trail. Based on the link below, the fastest known time was 3 hours 20 minutes. Incredible!

http://fastestknowntime.proboards.com/thread/47/mt-whitney-ca

Matt Dubberley set the ascent (1h47m40s) and car-to-car (2h38m15s) FKTs for Mt Whitney via the Mountaineer's Route on August 2, 2015.

Andy Anderson had the previous the ascent (1h49m10s) and car-to-car (3h03m05s) FKTs, also via the Mountaineer's Route on Aug. 28, 2014.

Sid Hayes seems to have the FKT ascent of the Mt Whitney Trail, 2h08m20s, 24 August 1992.

Vernon Morris has the car-to-car FKT for the Mt Whitney Trail at "just over" 3h20m, set in 1991.

Gina Lucrezi set the women's car-to-car FKT for the Mt Whitney Trail at 5h29m22 (ascent in 3h9m40s), August 10, 2016.

Charity Dubberley set the women's ascent (3h10m8s) FKT for the Mountaineer's Route, and women's car-to-car (5h10m51s) FKT, August 9, 2017.

Tina Lewis set a new women's ascent (2h57m9s) and round-trip (5h36m3s) FKT for the Mountaineer's Route, August 16, 2017.

Right, I don't pretend to be as fast as those elites but I came up with 4-5h as I compared to my close 14er here in the Rockies : Long's peak.
The trip is about 16 miles, +-4,500 ft and it took me the first time I did it when I was living at sea level about 5 hours round trip. Long's Peak Trip Report

Now my estimate could definitely be wrong as I've never taken the trail and as it depends on the conditions etc....
My point was that I'm not planning on spending the whole day up there.

But given the recommendations, I'm now highly considering Mt Langley.

FredericJB,

Very impressive racing results. Good Luck with your run, whichever one you end up doing.

Here's the Whitney FKT (Fastest Known Time) thread, from 2 years ago.