Mt. Whitney

September 1, 2022 / 14,505’

RT STATS: TOTAL TIME - 13 HR & 54 MIN, 22.17 MILES, AND 6,690’ ELEVATION GAIN

TIME STATS: 7 HR & 41 MIN TO SUMMIT, 41 MIN AT SUMMIT, 5 HR & 32 MIN BACK TO TH

RATING (HOW MUCH I LIKED THE HIKE): 8/10

Mt. Whitney—”THE BIG ONE IN ONE DAY”—quoted from the shirt that I got from the Whitney Portal store following this hike. Mt. Whitney was my first 14er that I’ve summited outside of Colorado…my 56th 14er overall. Why Whitney? Whitney is the highest mountain in the lower 48 and I was looking to go out west outside of Colorado (although, Colorado will always be my favorite place out west). So, Whitney was months in the planning….by this, I am referring to the Whitney permit lottery. For each day in season (May through end of October), only 100 day hikers and 60 overnight hikers are allowed on the trail. Although I knew that I wanted to hike Whitney since the end of January (and the permit application opened on February 1st), I didn’t apply until March 14th—right before the application was going to close. I was being indecisive on my dates, so I put it off. Anyways, I woke up to an email on March 24th that said “Congratulations! You were successful in the 2022 Mt Whitney Lottery at Mt. Whitney and have been awarded Thursday, September 1, 2022.”. This was actually the first date that I applied for (you can list up to 15 dates in order of preference), so I was happy!

Long story short, I ended up taking off all of February-May (16 weeks) from any training (I still walked a bit). I should say, at this time, I had no clue when I would “train” again, but I was hoping for my Chicago Basin/North Maroon trip (which was successful) and this trip. It was an answered prayer and a blessing. Although my “training” wasn’t what I wanted it to look like (and still isn’t), I am so grateful that I was able to get these trips in. My mountain buddy (my dad) had already summited Whitney 1.5 months before I was even born, but he was still in to do Whitney. Whitney would be the first peak of the trip and we would do another one or two (note: it ended up being one—White Mountain Peak).

Okay, so this will probably be a very long post, sorry ;). Below is a breakdown of Wednesday, August 31st (the day before Whitney):

I flew out of GSP at 5:40am to ATL. My dad flew out of CHS to ATL and we met there for the flight to LAS (VEGAS lmao). Since the flight would be long, my dad and I got Qdoba in ATL at 7:30am in the morning. I made it a rice bowl instead of a breakfast bowl because, although I love breakfast, Qdoba is the BEST for lunch/dinner. We boarded the flight to Vegas a bit later, and landed at just over 9am PDT. I was low-key shocked to see slot machines all in the airport….no comment. We got out bags and started the drive to Death Valley/Badwater Basin. We stopped at a Panda Express in Pahrump and it was good.

We eventually go to Badwater Basin (the lowest point in the United States—282’ below sea level). I walked around a bit, while my dad RAN for a bit. It was about 120 degrees at the hottest point…yes, I am wearing a long-sleeve because that is what I wore on the plane and it’s good sun protection. After this, we drive up to Lone Pine (the town closest to Whitney Portal), drove up to Whitney Portal to scout it out, and then get dinner at this place in Lone Pine (I forget the name). I got a veggie pasta with marinara and grilled chicken…the picture makes it look a lot better than it actually was, unfortunately. It had a ridiculous amount of noodles and not enough of the other stuff. After this, we went back to the Best Western to get ready for the hike the next morning.

The next morning…MT. WHITNEY DAY. Waking up and starting early didn’t feel “early” because we were coming from EDT to PDT (a 3 hour difference). We left Best Western at 3:37am, arrived to Whitney Portal at just after 4am, and started the hike at 4:15am. The first 1.5 hours it was pretty dark, and then the sunrise was starting to become pretty prominent. I took off my headlamp just before 6am.

Although Whitney in one day would be physically demanding, it was nice not carrying a helmet and being able to completely relax in that aspect. Whitney was just a trail with no route-finding. I will say, I was worried Whitney would have a lot of marked signs or something obnoxious like the bullseyes on Longs Peak, but, thankfully, it did not. We took a break just past the Trail Camp and chilled/ate. This break was 3 hours and 39 minutes/6.68 miles in and lasted 23 minutes. I ate my FAVORITE TRAIL FOOD (cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter and extra-cheddar goldfish). SO GOOD. I won’t really talk about the food breaks in this post, but wanted to give a shoutout to THIS FOOD (just like I did in my Windom and Sunlight posts).

After this point, we were to begin the 99 Switchbacks. I thought it was easy, but I guess I have the perspective of all of the Colorado mountains that I have done. 1 hour and 46 minutes after leaving the spot where we took the break, we reached “Trail Crest”. Trail Crest is located at about 13,600-13,700’…meaning we had a little less than 1,000’ more to gain and about 2 miles until the summit. I talked to some guy for a bit about the Colorado 14ers a bit between Trail Crest and the summit, which was cool.

7 hours and 41 minutes/11.24 miles later, we reached the summit of Whitney! Obviously, Whitney is a very popular mountain to attempt, so there were probably 30 people on the summit. We were on the summit for 41 minutes doing the typical summit things (eating, reapplying sunscreen…at least for me lol, taking pictures, and being AMAZED at the views). I met a woman who has summited Whitney 30 times, and says she does it every year. So very cool…especially at her age!

Soon enough, we started the hike down…it would be a long way back, but certainly not as long time-wise as the ascent. We hit Trail Crest 1 hour and 12 minutes after leaving the summit. I took my hiking poles out at this point to use for the rest of the descent.

We descend the 99 switchbacks and ultimately take a break at the 11 hour and 4 minute/16.17 mile mark. This point was probably about 10+ minutes outside of Trail Camp (on the Whitney Portal side). This was a 16 minute break.

After this, I totally started getting flashbacks from Snowmass Mountain. COMPLETELY different, but hear me out: the last miles were simple, but just felt like they kept going on forever and I would never be done! I love this, but this is how I felt on both of these mountains :D Also: Whitney start time: 4:15am, Snowmass start time: 4:17am, Whitney total time: 13 hour and 54 minutes, Snowmass total time: 13 hour and 53 minutes. So many similarities.

22.17 miles and 13 hours and 54 minutes later, we finished “THE BIG ONE IN ONE DAY”. SO MUCH FUN, but also sad that it was over :’(. Pictures below summarize the end of the hike:

Shortly after, we were on our way up to Bishop (about 1 hour away), which was to be our “home base” for the next 3 nights. We tried going to the Texas BBQ place, but it was taking a long time, so we left and went to El Pollo Loco. I got a burrito bowl and a side of broccoli (yes, so healthy after a long hike). Look, I love my trail diet of cinnamon raisin peanut butter bagels, extra cheddar goldfish, and gummy bears, but it sure does feel good to eat REAL FOOD (no offense to my trail diet) after a long day. After this, we went to the Holiday Inn Express and went to sleep. This details of this trip is to be continued in the White Mountain Peak.