Climbing Mt. Whitney

     Summit of Whitney - 2004

Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in the continental US. Whitney is just the highest point of a sequence of peaks in the High Sierra, so it is not as visually impressive as Mt. Shasta. Its climb is not as technical either. With a good level of fitness, Whitney can be climbed in one day on tennis shoes.

Mt. Whitney is on the east side of the Great Western Divide, a chain of mountains that runs north/south through the center of Sequoia National Park, "dividing" the watersheds of the Kaweah River to the west and the Kern River to the east. Many peaks in the Great Western Divide reach altitudes of 12,000ft or higher, so it is hard to see it from anywhere accessible to casual visitor.

Whitney can be climbed by a 11 mile trail from Whitney Portal, 13 miles west of Lone Pine on the East side of the Sierra. The elevation of the trailhead is 8360ft and the elevation at the summit is 14495ft (the summit is inside the Sequoia National Park). Permits issued by the Inyo National Forest - Mt. Whitney Ranger District - are required from every hiker entering the area.

Before signing the logbook at the summit on my first ascent, I checked for someone from Brazil and found none. So mine the glory is. Unless someone proves otherwise, I was the first Brazilian to summit Mt. Whitney during Labor Day weekend in 2004 :o).

The climb started at 2:30AM. In about 4 hours we went up from 8500ft to about 11000 ft on a easy trail. Then there is a long sequence of switchbacks that take you to the crest of the Sierra at about 1300ft, where the summit trail joins John Muir trail. That takes another 3 hours or so. We crossed to the other side and then climbed slightly down and up to the summit at 14500ft in about 2 more hours.

It should take about 9 hours to reach the summit and another 6 hours to go down. We had a couple of people going very slow and it took us longer, about 18 hours round trip.