Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Is there cell phone reception at the top of Whitney

I am hoping to snare a cancellation or no-show to hike MWMT this weekend. My family is worried no matter how much I explain that I will not be "alone" on this solo hike because of many others on this popular trail. I am not the kind that does stupid things on trails either. Still.....
T2n

Hey T2n
I have found three places where I was able to make calls.
1. The east side of Lone Pine Lake. A bit of a hike off of the main trail, but you can make a call from there.

2. The ridge right before Consultation Lake.

3. The Summit

I didn't try Trail Crest, but I would bet you could get reception there too.

I just did Whitney solo and my wife (and mother) both didn't like the idea. Look into the SPOT II GPS tracker/messenger. It not only allows your wife to track your progess, but you can send her pre-programmed messages. You can even send out an emergency message.

Here is the record of my Whitney Summit trip on Sept 7/8
http://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=1eb14c7e72bbf06a4

This thread talks about the SPOT II
http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/ubbthreads.php/topics/7027/1

Depends on what carrier you use, too. Tom, what is yours?

I use Verizon

AT&T is notorious for no coverage on Whitney. I never had a single bar on my phone either trip up the mountain.

Tom:

Both my son and I both have Verizon and neither of us could get any kind of signal from the summit, (couldn't text either). Oddly enough we could text from Upper Boy Scout Lake, but that was it. Probably not worth lugging them up Whitney, (at least not with Verizon).

Kent Williams

I didn't trust the cellphone. And the call that I did near Consultation lake last about 30 seconds and then I lost reception.

I didn't call from the summit, but I did send and receive text messages.

rent a sat phone if you really must.

I have Verizon as well. I had signal most of the time and was able to send my family a victory photo from the summit. The only trouble was between trail crest and the summit, where the needles seemed to be in the way. My advice: if you trust yourself personally, tell them there's signal the whole way and that you'll check in occasionally. Nobody will know the difference

I somehow got one bar on my Verizon phone on the summit but couldn't get a call out (or text). It drained the battery trying to find a cell which seems to be something every Verizon phone I've owned does. My advice is to leave it back at your car and look into the Spot II (that's on my personal "wish list"). Besides, I find not hearing or feeling obligated to a cell phone one of the joys of hiking.

ATT is complete garbage around Lone Pine - my phone only works OUTSIDE of town heading north on 395, while my son's works just fine in town, both ATT, almost identical models. We once got a call near Lone Pine Lake coming down from Whitney, but never were able to replicate that from up there with the same phone.

Meanwhile, back on the other side of the Sierras at Lake T Edison, ATT is what you need - you can call even from the far end of the lake where the ferry picks you up while Verizon users have no signal.

Verizon is what the locals around Whitney prefer, but it's still a hit and miss on the mountain - most phones are too weak to initiate a call from the summit. The Portal store has switched to a satellite phone to have reliable communication.

T2n,

Just tell your family not to worry and to trust that you know what you are doing, and then stand by that. People always tend to hand-wring about the unknown, and it's almost never warranted. As long as you know your limits, stay within them, and don't do stupid things, as you say you don't, then you'll be fine. Tell them this is a hike; you're not going to jump out of a plane or something. On Whitney, you truly are never alone up there, not that there's anything wrong with being alone. Hope you get your permit, and above all else, enjoy the experience and don't let family worries or anything else detract from that. Then go back home and tell them what a wonderful experience you had, and that all their worrying was for nothing. Personally, take whatever cell you have. If it works, then call them from the summit with a "wish you were here" call; if it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. I wouldn't go to any extra expense for a Satellite phone, etc. Not worth it for this trip.

Also, if you want to show your family what it is like in advance, click here. On that page, there is a set of videos of about every one-tenth of a mile of the trail at real-time speed. Then there is a set of videos of every inch of the trail digitally sped up to mimic a 7 mph hike. Both sets are split apart into around 10 separate videos covering each of the respective sets. Anyway, watching these will give you (and your family) an idea of what to expect, and should hopefully allevitate any fears they may have about your hiking this relatively straightforward trail.

CaT

By the way, some cell phones do a funny "time switch" when you approach the Whitney area, and may be off by a couple of hours.
People have depended upon their cell phone alarm to wake up, and ended getting up two hour later than they thought, and didn't know it!

Use another method of telling time and waking up, unless you are SURE it is correct.

Get a Tracfone. They rent air time from cell carriers so you aren't stuck to just one.

I have one and have made calls from the summit of Whitney and the Portal. I've never tried it at Trail or Outpost camps. Generally my experience has been if I can see the town of Lone Pine I have coverage.


hiiker

> Get a Tracfone. They rent air time from cell carriers so you aren't stuck to just one.

Any idea which carriers they contract with? It would be ideal if they worked on all carriers. But somehow I'm doubtful they do.

This will work, no matter what.
I didn't say it was cheap, though.

been waiting for months on more details and as I expected, this is not a product that makes any sense for my needs. The monthly $25 premium fee alone would be sufficient to rent and use a modern sat phone for a full month each year. No thanks - and I have no need for email on Muir Pass.

I'd like to know which site rents a sat phone for $25/month with usage fees. I needed to rent a sat phone this summer for two months, and checked sites, including the one H_langford recommends, and found that when all was said and done, it would be at a minimum of $600 for the period, way more than our budget. This was for the most basic phone available, with a minimum purchase of airtime.

Would you care to share where a phone can be rented for $25 a month? Would like to take advantage of it next summer as my group will be returning to the same location (B.C.).

Thanks.

nobody rents a sat phone for $25 per month. I am just doing the math, given that ATT forces you to pay that rate over the duration of the contract, you are looking at $300/year, even if you only need the sat capability for one month.

$140 and up per month is where the costs for a sat rental are right now - example

http://www.satellitephonestore.com/iridium/iridium-satellite-phone-rental.php

There is no contract. I suppose you could purchase a month at a time. It is a regular cell-phone. It does run on the obsolete Windows Phone 6.5.

I expect the next generation will be a whole lot better.