Steven's Peak-bagging Journey

December 28, 2017

4421m

Lone Pine / The High Sierra, CA

Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in the “Lower 48” of United States and hence needs little introduction. This gigantic massif of granite boasts more than a dozen routes but only three of which are worth a note in this trip report. The easiest option and yet the longest is a 22-mile round trip via Whitney Trail which is essentially a walk-up. In the right conditions nothing’s required beyond a pair of sneakers. For those with a little bit more experience the Mountaineer’s Route offers a more direct finish and this is particularly popular in winter and spring. And finally for those capable doing long, multi-pitch technical climbing the East Buttress is listed as one of the Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.

The three routes above all interest me to some extent but as a peak-bagger I like to keep things as simple as possible. In this particular case I had no previous experience with the Sierras and considering the amount of effort to drive that far down south the simple matter of “tagging this summit” was an absolute must. Everything else would be a bonus and that includes the route selection. This was Jake and I’s third day of this past holiday season desert trip. There was always a talk about ascending Mt. Whitney but the decision wasn’t made until the last minute after actually seeing the peak ourselves. The dry conditions and the stable weather pattern was too hard to pass. The Mountaineer’s Route would be nice but we could not find much of an update. We knew someone had just made the summit via Whitney Trail and we knew besides some traction device no other fancy gear (snowshoes, ice axe, etc.) was required.

In the previous evening we spent at least an hour sorting the gears and in the end we opted to haul mountaineering boots, microspikes and aluminum crampons while hoping to ascend as much as possible in just trail-runners. In retrospect all those gears turned out to be dead weight for exercise. The trail was icy as hell but we both managed to hike up (and down) in just trail runners without having to don microspikes nor crampons… The night was spent camping at the trail-head together with another party who just finished the climb (in 17 hours round trip). The update provided by those guys assured our decisions on gears. The alarm was set as 3:30 am and sleep came fairly easily.

In the pitch dark the task was simply putting one foot in front of another. The first creek we crossed (North Fork Lone Pine) marks the place where the Mountaineer’s Route branches off from the Whitney Trail. And then after seemingly endless switchbacks through thinning woods we started to encounter more and more snow and ice patches. There’s a tiny bit of descending before Outpost Camp followed by a long stretch of pure ice. That’s roughly where we took the first energy break. We decided to resume on without donning microspikes and then the next “point of interest” was Mirror Lake although we did not get to see anything. For one reason the lake was frozen and for another reason we were still in a pitch dark. The grade seems to mellow out a bit as we slowly ascending into the alpine. The timing for the sunrise and alpenglow was almost perfect and we got to take the second break at Trail Camp.

After admiring the granite spires on east faces of Whitney and Muir turning red, orange and then yellow we had to press on. About 2.5 hours into the plod we left Trail Camp, through a short stretch of confusing talus terrain to join the infamous “99 switchbacks”. Believe or not the number of switchbacks seems to be quite accurate but that also reflects how boring the slog is to reach Trail Crest. There’s snow and ice all over the place but not enough to warrant donning any special equipment. At least for Jake and I the trail-runners were more than adequate.

The Trail Crest marks the first time we officially got some sunshine on ourselves although it was short-lived. To skirt around the rugged terrain below Mt. Muir we had to lose about 50 meters of elevation and then traverse. The trail building was surely an amazing project back in the days that it pretty much cuts across the west face of Mt. Muir to make a possible passage. Ironically the summit of Mt. Whitney looks totally uninspiring from the south slopes.

The view was also very foreshortened. The summit appears to be “right there” but actually there’s still fair a bit of elevation and distance to cover. The “fast pace, single push style” had finally caught me at this point that I started to develop some light headache but we weren’t far from the summit overall. The final stretch of the plod after turning onto the broad summit ridge felt like eternity but eventually the hut came in sight and that’s it.

About half an hour later we figured it’s about the time to leave the highest point of “Lower 48” behind. Descending the west and south slopes of this summit block did feel much easier although any slight form of elevation regain which traversing underneath Mt. Muir felt like a drag. The summit of Mt. Muir was right there and it counts as a separate CA 14er so we had to tag it as well. The ascent was more fun than Mt. Whitney and is written in a separate trip report as Mt. Muir counts as a separate summit. The 50-meter elevation regain to get back onto Trail Crest was the worst part of this descent. I had to call an additional break at Trail Crest even though we weren’t actually planning on doing a stop there. After about 10 minutes I had gathered enough strength and our next stop would be Trail Camp about 500 meters lower down. The descent on “99 switchbacks” was not as slippery as we thought.

Downwards the rest of the way back to the parking lot would be a pure slog. There’s a reason why I brought headphones and a iPhone so music on, and down we went. We actually got some pretty decent views from the hike-out because we didn’t get to see anything on the way in. The granite faces of Thor Peak were especially impressive. Towards the end we sped up to beat 11.5 hours round trip time and we did actually beat that.

There’s not much point in lingering at the parking lot so engine on, and down we went. The view actually actually pretty good on the drive down to Lone Pine. This is another stretch that we didn’t get to see anything on the way up. At the small town of Lone Pine we did the evening routine again – some food and then a long break to sort some gears out, and then we drove another 2 hours back into Death Valley.

Overall I agree with any other peak-bagger that an ascent of Mt. Whitney is an important one that despite the lack of technical interest, this is peak that stands on top of so many major lists. However I should also comment that the ascent, together with Mt. Muir did not quite impress me even considering the fact we did it in the middle of a winter season. The unseasonably dry condition contributed to the lack of challenge but still, this was nowhere a major feat. But don’t get me wrong, as a 22-mile, 6000+ feet day at altitude is nowhere a “walk in the park” neither..