(NM-AZ-NV) California: Mt Whitney, Highest point in continental US

Last but definitely not the 'least' was Mt Whitney, the highpoint of California. Having picked up a hikers permit the day before I had gone to bed before realizing the notion that I was going to attempt The highest mountain in continental USA the next morning. The clock rang quite mercilessly in the morning for some improvised breakfast in my room, and then a 1.5h drive to Whitney portal.The sun was rising along my whole ride and at 6.30 in the morning I was almost ready to start hiking.

Magnificent vistas presented themselves within the hour, and waterfalls mixed with pine forest and spectacular rocky mountains were presenting themselves everywhere. Of which you can see all three in the photo below.

Going upwards I was well aware of the fact that I had started many hours after the second last dayhiker had departed, but my lack of rest the night before and fear of sore legs meant I felt it better to keep a high steady tempo when I finally got started rather then setting of at a time in the morning where I would be anything by cheerful. The sun warming up the mountainside was a good extra motivation without presenting any excessive heat. Within just over an hour I had reached lone pine lake which is the first of 3 lakes to pass on the Whitney trail. Likewise 3 small lakes would be passed on the Mountaineers route  but I decided against it in the morning considering my late departure and the chance of being below all other climbers on that route with much loose stones. I could also leave ice axe and crampons behind then. Although it turned out I could have used them also on the main trial, but managing without them was no major challenge.

About 1 third of the 11 miles upwards were passed after 2h and it looked ok, considering I had decided to set a hard turn around time at 2pm at the latest. I did save some weight without ice axes but I did notice that I was almost alone without walking sticks. As for walking itself I like keeping balance without sticks unless winds go above 40 mph. But when facing a high number of streams like the one below, which required balancing and tiptoeing even on submerged rocks (water depths often above a foot), some balancing tools would have come in handy. I stayed mostly dry though so no harm done...

Below is a minor video taken on the ascent, at which time I was still on very good vigor, and I was also just about to pass the first people going up rather than just meeting a few people going down from the previous day and over-night camps.

Quite early one can see the needles that is the west edge of the ridge that Mt Whitney belongs too, and while the keep many thousands of feet above you with an extremely steep face in your direction it is somewhat curious as to where one will go up the trail when not actually look at a more detailed map outlining it all. The "lower" peaks in the center left is where we are heading...

At about 9000 ft, or 2700m the first snow started appearing, and the forecast for the peak was a high of 42 degrees (6 degrees C), so at higher altitude one should expect snow. What I never imagined though in July was to see lakes filled with massive ice chunks. Partly because any lake would have to be quite a bit lower in altitude and partly because when hiking in the sun it was very agreeable weather especially at up to 12 000 ft (3 600 m) where the Consultation Lake is situated and pictured below. It is also the location of Trail camp which is the higher of 2 camp sites along the way. Note that a night at that altitude will be very hard to take without some acclimatization on the way!

Shortly after the camp starts the 99 switchbacks which is what brings one up to the ridge while climbing a fairly steep, and partly snow and ice covered trial. The trial itself is a work of art considering it's location and the work it must have required the men to make it. A look up the east side of the mountains can be seen below.

Finally up on the ridge it is a "easy" 2 full miles to get to the peak, where the rail first goes down a bit to intersect with the John Muir Trail. Getting over the ridge one has a great opportunity for some really stunning views to the west.

As can be seen from my smile I was more than comfortable still, and it wasn't until close to a mile from the top, that I started to feel the adverse effects of the altitude! The first part of the hike along the ridge was  not very exposed to winds either, but the later parts forced me to put on some additional clothing.

The high sierras do offer some good views even driving around in the valleys. but they are truly inspiring when looking out form a ridge or point of higher elevation! Seeing glaciers, ice lakes, valleys with 100 degree temperatures (40 Celsius) all in one view is truly remarkable.

I had brought a good topographic map that showed that one side of the range was essentially a steep cliff, the other side however seemed to have much more spaced out contour lines suggesting much less inclination, by a factor 3-5. However as can barely be seen from the photo below, the east side really is extremely steep...

And 5 times less steep on the other side is like going from 88 degree inclination to 80. Meaning still steep as heck as can be seen from the photo below which is taken on the same spot as the one above! but in the opposite direction. The path was still fairly wide at 5-10 feet when counting the surrounding rocks, but that is still narrow if one happen to trip sideways...

Nothing bad happened on the ascent nor decent though. And after a about 2 miles crisscrossing but with a mild gradient upwards, a plateau presents itself and the mountain flattens out somewhat as can be seen in the picture below of the final stretch.

And all of a sudden the Smithsonian hut appears close to the peak. It is a really significant landmark, but you will not be able to see it from far down, nor before getting within a few hundred meters of it...

The picture below shows the approaching path that follows the small peaks from the south. The trail itself is also visible on the relatively flat part of the left side (click to enlarge photo).

The approaching valley of the Whitney trial is here seen together with pinnacle ridge going out from the left to right, ending in Thor peak.

The top shot was made in the Captain Morgan pose. Although I could not find my barrel of Rum, which was probably good, I would have loved a celebratory drink, but with 5h to go down, that would likely not have been the best of ideas. So instead it was fresh banana, energy bar, dried banana and some energized water that I feasted on. I should mention that the top was quite crowded at close to 30 people, and that continued from the last part of the ascent to about 12 000 ft on the decent at Trail Camp where the crowd then thinned out quickly.

Being a 22miles round trip (35km) the decent took me down at a good pace, although my legs started protesting with 2 hours to go and my feet started complaining especially the last hour, but rather than then the first hour when hiking for 12h! As can be seen below my taped and bruised feet were quite thrilled to be out of their shoes later in that evening.

This bottle was emptied around 12000 feet, and at the hotel at 3000 feet elevation the increased atmosperic pressure had done a good job illustrating just how much less air there is at higher altitudes, and adding 5000ft more elevation difference would show the difference from my home state Michigan to the top of Mt Whitney...

Lots of snow in the surroundings, but not too much on the path. 22miles round trip (35km), which took just under 12h to complete.

Full update to come.

Stats:
State: California
High point: Mount Whitney
Elevation: 14 494 ft (4 417 m)
Date: July 14, 2011
Total elevation to date: 149 668 ft (45 618 m)
Access: Hike, class 1 (up to class 4 exposure) 12h round trip minimum. 22 mi/35km round trip.
Difficulty rating (of 10): 7
Potential Difficulties: