In preparation for mount Rainier climb I was doing as many 14ers as I could in summer of 2016. Although I did not win lottery permit this year, I was able to find a spot for myself and my friend Jerry on Sameer Deshpande's permit. Permit date was August 7th. So this was a perfect time to get some altitude training for my Rainier Climb.
This was my 3rd attempt on Mount Whitney - having summitted once on June 21st 2015 and once failed attempt in early June of 2015. In short I knew what I was getting into.
With my prior experience of not getting enough sleep before a big hike, Jerry and I opted to go to Lone Pine on Saturday at 3pm. We had healthy lunch in Lone Pine. I bought my food for next day. Sameer handed our permits to us. By 5.30 pm we surrendered to our bed in Whitney portal hostel.
We woke up at midnight and met with Sameer, Mark, Lisa and Mandy at 12.30 pm. Then we drove to Whitney portal about 13 miles from Lone Pine. Whitney portal is trailhead for Whitney Main trail. Here we met 2 other members who had camped at portal - Sammy and Cehan.
After one photo at the beginning of hike we stepped on trail at 1.20 pm - a good start time for a moderate pace 22 miles dayhike.
After staying at the tailend for first 5 minutes, I decided to lead the hike and pace myself. Surprisingly I kept a faster pace than rest of the group, despite carrying a 30lb backpack. Sameer and Jerry were keeping pace and were right behind me. Rest of the group feel behind after 10 minutes. We 3 decided to keep our pace and meet rest of the group at first break. We took our first break after 1 hour of hiking and covering about 2.25 miles.
We waited for rest of the group, but they arrived almost after 10 minutes. Once they caught up and took break, 3 of us decided to continue. We had to continue because we were getting cold because of taking a longer break
After walking for 10 more minutes we entered Whitney zone. One needs a permit to continue further
The trail gets little steeper at this point. Sameer and I kept our pace. Jerry started falling little behind at this point - which was little concerning for me because Jerry is much stronger hiker than me on a good day. Sameer and I took our next break just after outpost camp - about 4 miles into hike.
Outpost camp at 3.8 miles in and at 10,000 feet is the lower camp on whitney trail. Trail becomes considerably rocky and steeper after outpost camp. Sameer and I slowed down a little bit to conserve our energy. By 5.15 am Sameer and I had reached 0.25 miles from Trail camp. We decided to take a break for breakfast here - Since trail camp can get windy and cold.
We ate our breakfast and waited for Jerry for about 15 minutes. When Sameer realized that Jerry is farther away than what we were expecting, he decided to move on. Although Jerry arrived right when Sameer was leaving. Jerry looked tired but he was confident to continue.
So Sameer and I stepped on trail again to deal with most dreaded section of the trail - 99 switchbacks. Right after trail camp ( 6 miles in and at 12,000 feet). Altitude started kicking in at this point and I decided to take it easy here on. Sameer was ahead of me on this section. He was always within touching distance from me.
By 7.30 am I completed the switchback section and had reached trailcrest ( 13,600 feet and 8.6 miles total ) Sameer kept moving because he wanted to break his personal best time. I decided to wait for Jerry. After waiting for about an hour I started asking about him to hikers who were reaching trail crest after me. All of them told me that they did see a white guy in red jacket struggling on switchbacks. They reported that he was out of water and was sleeping by side of the trail. Not a good sign for a strong hiker. I decided to turn around to help him. I descended about 300 feet and I met Jerry. He looked exhausted. He was out of water and was ready to turn around. I gave him some coconut water and ibuprofanes, I was willing to turn around with him.
By this time rest of the group - Mark, Lisa reached where Jerry was taking a break. mark encouraged me to summit since I was training for Rainier. Jerry seemed confident that he can turn around and reach back till the care without any further trouble.
So I decided to continue my hike to summit. By 9.30 am I was back at Trail crest. Having lost about 2 hours, I decided not to take more breaks and continue to summit.
Trail drops about 200 feet elevation in next 0.25 miles, where John Muir Trail connects to main trail. trail gradually gains elevation for next 2.2 miles to reach highest point in lower 48 states. I was feeling strong and by taking 3 short 2 minute breaks I reached summit at around 11am. I enjoyed views from the top. Got some pictures and celebrated my 2nd Summit.
Sameer was there on summit for last 1.5 hours. I grabbed a quick bite on my lunch and then two of us started retracing our way back at 11.30am. We came across Mandy and Cehan just 5 minutes into our way back. We took some pictures together and started descending again.
About 20 minutes later we came across rest of the group. They looked tired but were in a shape to summit. We spent some time with them and continued our way down.
By 12.45 pm we were back to trail crest. Without wasting much time in breaks we started going down on never ending 99 switchbacks.
By 2 pm we had completed switchbacks and were down to trail camp. Sameer decided to wait for rest of the group here. I decided to walk down by myself because Jerry was already down at trailhead waiting for me.
Next 6 miles stretch to trailhead is the most boring and tiring part of the hike. Moreover I was doing it by myself. So I kept singing songs and kept walking down. I took a small break at outpost camp to hydrate myself. By now I was getting little impatient to get over with this hike.
I swiftly covered last 3.8 miles from outpost camp to trailhead in about 1.5 hours and by 4.30 pm I was back at the car.
I had completed my 2nd whitney hike in style.
It was time to celebrate it with a beer and some food in Lone Pine!
My tips for the hike
1) Reach to Lone Pine the day before
2) Get atleast 4 hours of sleep
3) Start early, no later than 2am for a moderate paced hiker.
4) Pace yourself and take breaks. This is a marathon and not a sprint
5) Hydrate yourself to avoid altitude sickness
6) Eat high calorie food - Cliff bars, snickers. But eat!
7) If you get mild headache, its a sign of altitude sickness. Take ibuprofane / advil before it turns into sickness. Once you become sick then there is no option but to turn around
8) Carry an extra pair of socks. Change the socks when you are down to trail camp on the way down.
9) Way down is super boring and feels much longer than way up. Have some music on your phone to listen to
10) You can carry 2l of water and a filter in early season. You can refill your bottles at multiple streams before trail camp. There are no streams above trail camp.
In late season ( August and September ) - carry 3L+ of water because a lot of snow melts and one comes across fewer streams of water.
11) Enjoy yourself
This was my 3rd attempt on Mount Whitney - having summitted once on June 21st 2015 and once failed attempt in early June of 2015. In short I knew what I was getting into.
With my prior experience of not getting enough sleep before a big hike, Jerry and I opted to go to Lone Pine on Saturday at 3pm. We had healthy lunch in Lone Pine. I bought my food for next day. Sameer handed our permits to us. By 5.30 pm we surrendered to our bed in Whitney portal hostel.
We woke up at midnight and met with Sameer, Mark, Lisa and Mandy at 12.30 pm. Then we drove to Whitney portal about 13 miles from Lone Pine. Whitney portal is trailhead for Whitney Main trail. Here we met 2 other members who had camped at portal - Sammy and Cehan.
After one photo at the beginning of hike we stepped on trail at 1.20 pm - a good start time for a moderate pace 22 miles dayhike.
 |
| Starting at 1.20 am |
After staying at the tailend for first 5 minutes, I decided to lead the hike and pace myself. Surprisingly I kept a faster pace than rest of the group, despite carrying a 30lb backpack. Sameer and Jerry were keeping pace and were right behind me. Rest of the group feel behind after 10 minutes. We 3 decided to keep our pace and meet rest of the group at first break. We took our first break after 1 hour of hiking and covering about 2.25 miles.
We waited for rest of the group, but they arrived almost after 10 minutes. Once they caught up and took break, 3 of us decided to continue. We had to continue because we were getting cold because of taking a longer break
After walking for 10 more minutes we entered Whitney zone. One needs a permit to continue further
The trail gets little steeper at this point. Sameer and I kept our pace. Jerry started falling little behind at this point - which was little concerning for me because Jerry is much stronger hiker than me on a good day. Sameer and I took our next break just after outpost camp - about 4 miles into hike.
Outpost camp at 3.8 miles in and at 10,000 feet is the lower camp on whitney trail. Trail becomes considerably rocky and steeper after outpost camp. Sameer and I slowed down a little bit to conserve our energy. By 5.15 am Sameer and I had reached 0.25 miles from Trail camp. We decided to take a break for breakfast here - Since trail camp can get windy and cold.
We ate our breakfast and waited for Jerry for about 15 minutes. When Sameer realized that Jerry is farther away than what we were expecting, he decided to move on. Although Jerry arrived right when Sameer was leaving. Jerry looked tired but he was confident to continue.
 |
| Sunrise at trail camp |
So Sameer and I stepped on trail again to deal with most dreaded section of the trail - 99 switchbacks. Right after trail camp ( 6 miles in and at 12,000 feet). Altitude started kicking in at this point and I decided to take it easy here on. Sameer was ahead of me on this section. He was always within touching distance from me.
By 7.30 am I completed the switchback section and had reached trailcrest ( 13,600 feet and 8.6 miles total ) Sameer kept moving because he wanted to break his personal best time. I decided to wait for Jerry. After waiting for about an hour I started asking about him to hikers who were reaching trail crest after me. All of them told me that they did see a white guy in red jacket struggling on switchbacks. They reported that he was out of water and was sleeping by side of the trail. Not a good sign for a strong hiker. I decided to turn around to help him. I descended about 300 feet and I met Jerry. He looked exhausted. He was out of water and was ready to turn around. I gave him some coconut water and ibuprofanes, I was willing to turn around with him.
By this time rest of the group - Mark, Lisa reached where Jerry was taking a break. mark encouraged me to summit since I was training for Rainier. Jerry seemed confident that he can turn around and reach back till the care without any further trouble.
So I decided to continue my hike to summit. By 9.30 am I was back at Trail crest. Having lost about 2 hours, I decided not to take more breaks and continue to summit.
 |
| View from trail crest - 13,600 feet |
Trail drops about 200 feet elevation in next 0.25 miles, where John Muir Trail connects to main trail. trail gradually gains elevation for next 2.2 miles to reach highest point in lower 48 states. I was feeling strong and by taking 3 short 2 minute breaks I reached summit at around 11am. I enjoyed views from the top. Got some pictures and celebrated my 2nd Summit.
 |
| Last push to the summit |
Sameer was there on summit for last 1.5 hours. I grabbed a quick bite on my lunch and then two of us started retracing our way back at 11.30am. We came across Mandy and Cehan just 5 minutes into our way back. We took some pictures together and started descending again.
About 20 minutes later we came across rest of the group. They looked tired but were in a shape to summit. We spent some time with them and continued our way down.
By 12.45 pm we were back to trail crest. Without wasting much time in breaks we started going down on never ending 99 switchbacks.
By 2 pm we had completed switchbacks and were down to trail camp. Sameer decided to wait for rest of the group here. I decided to walk down by myself because Jerry was already down at trailhead waiting for me.
Next 6 miles stretch to trailhead is the most boring and tiring part of the hike. Moreover I was doing it by myself. So I kept singing songs and kept walking down. I took a small break at outpost camp to hydrate myself. By now I was getting little impatient to get over with this hike.
I swiftly covered last 3.8 miles from outpost camp to trailhead in about 1.5 hours and by 4.30 pm I was back at the car.
I had completed my 2nd whitney hike in style.
It was time to celebrate it with a beer and some food in Lone Pine!
My tips for the hike
1) Reach to Lone Pine the day before
2) Get atleast 4 hours of sleep
3) Start early, no later than 2am for a moderate paced hiker.
4) Pace yourself and take breaks. This is a marathon and not a sprint
5) Hydrate yourself to avoid altitude sickness
6) Eat high calorie food - Cliff bars, snickers. But eat!
7) If you get mild headache, its a sign of altitude sickness. Take ibuprofane / advil before it turns into sickness. Once you become sick then there is no option but to turn around
8) Carry an extra pair of socks. Change the socks when you are down to trail camp on the way down.
9) Way down is super boring and feels much longer than way up. Have some music on your phone to listen to
10) You can carry 2l of water and a filter in early season. You can refill your bottles at multiple streams before trail camp. There are no streams above trail camp.
In late season ( August and September ) - carry 3L+ of water because a lot of snow melts and one comes across fewer streams of water.
11) Enjoy yourself
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