Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Mt. Whitney Summits & Attempts: How Many Have You Made?

I missed that special moment in time yesterday:

10/10/10 at 10:10:10 AM

...of course I missed the PM point in time, too. Oh well! Maybe we can watch next year for 11/11/11.

There is a name for points in time like that. Anyone know what it is? ...triplex?

Edit: Oh my! If you have the time, check Google News for:
10/10/10 10:10 AM

Just googled it and mostly stories of babies born at that moment. One professor referred to it as Binary Day.Don't quite get that.

The binary number system uses zeros and ones to express numbers, letters and special characters. Computers use the binary system.

Thanks Kevin I was going to look it up. It had that familar ring but couldn't quite remenber what it was. Been a long time since I have heard that word used.Like college 40 years ago...lol

Didn't hike with Richard for Whitney on Sunday, although he did join us for a hike to Thor on Saturday.

Only 3 Whitney summits this year - brings total to 30. I am online to make 60 for 60 if I can keep up 2-3 summits a year.

All but 3 summits have been via Mountaineers Route and all have been dayhikes(except two that started at midnight so I could watch sunrise on the summit). One of my midnight hikes was via MT and one via MR.

My favorite way to top out the MR is the blocks on the left side of the gulley. When they had the pit toilet on the summit - this route topped out right at the unprotected side of the potty. More than one person was surprised as we "popped up" at an inopportune time.

I have not been counting my non-summit attemtps. If I was to guess, it would probably be somewhere around a dozen. There are a variety of reasons not to continue to the summit and I never really counted then as "failures". I guess that is the advantage to living nearby and being able to go anytime.

I have hiked on the mountain during all months of the year, although I have not summited during true winter months or conditions - I am just not geared up for winter camping. I have summited as early as March and as late as Novemer. I have many happy memories of the beautful hikes and the wonderful friends I have met along the way. I hope this continues for many more years to come.

Could certainly have a worse habit to be into than being a mountaineer.
Some people just don't get it - and that's ok.

Tom, you're such an underachiever, dude . . .

You know, there ARE other peaks in the area...

But I've climbed it more than any other, too, but just 14 times for me...

Since I hike every week, I think my Whitney summits amount 2.3% of the hikes I do.
But now you know why we refer to Whitney as "the blonde"

So Tom....

How many times did you have to set the time on your watch so you could get that picture?  

Very cool picture!

So a certain antler-wearing acquaintance keeps reminding me . . .

Hey, I saw your name pop up on a TR last weekend - guess you made it out for a second time this season, huh? Did you stay as busy peakbagging this trip as you were this past July?

Looks like I've been focusing on Whitney too much. It accounts for 2.8% of my summits and over 12% of my fourteener summits.

Some guy made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and I made a mini-vacation out of it. I climbed Thor Peak, Independence Peak, Mt. Whitney and Mt. Muir on the brief trip.

I think I'm 16 for 19. Two of the "failures" happened on 48 hour monster hikes. One started at Mineral King and when I hit the spur trail to the summit it was snowing so I keep going down. Two years later we started in Kings Canyon and came across Avalanche Pass. I was so wiped out when I hit the spur I didn't even think about a summit attempt. One year back when I was on the USS Constellation we deployed mid March and returned early October. No hiking for me, but 36 hours after we pulled in I was at the Portal. I was dragging all morning and by the time we hit Trail Camp I had "violent diarrhea". That year was the only year I never made it to the top. The other two years I had already day hiked it or returned to day hike it a week a later.

All great hikes (except getting sick), just no summit. No biggie.......................................DUG

Attempts: 2
Summits: 2

1st summit: summer 1990, 21 years old
2nd summit: 10/3/2011, 11:20am, 42 years old

Yeah, she and I had the same conversation ... probably on the same day she had it with you, I'd bet.

CaT

Actually David, I heard it the first time I hiked with her last year - but certainly every other time since, without fail. And her point is well-taken. The views are more spectacular from places like Mt. Dana and Kearsarge Pass, and the "wilderness experience" on Whitney leaves something to be desired in the summer. She is, however, Whitney - "the blonde" (everyone wants to do her). And there's no match for the Portal experience anywhere along the Eastern Sierra (though the Whoa Nellie Deli has been a mandatory stop for me the past several years).

Maybe someone should start another thread:
What are your favorite summits?
People could list several in descending order, maybe give the reasons they liked them. It would give people ideas...

16 summits on 18 attempts. First one was in 1971 at age 11. Failed
in 1974, sick.
2nd-1977 spent the night on top and watched the sunrise
took time off to go to school get married and have kids.
3rd-1995 introduced my wife to hiking Mt. Whitney.
Since then she has summited 9 more times all but one was a day
hike. The one time it wasn't, was the end of our JMT in 2008. My
other failed attempt was in 2005,too much snow. My last summit
was last month. Looking forward to next year already.