Welcome to Gary's Mt. Whitney Adventure!
Here is what I did in California in July 1997:
I flew into Las Vegas, drove to Colorado to do some climbing
& meet with friends (see picture at right), then drove back through Vegas, across Death
Valley into Owens Valley and up to Lone Pine. I checked
into the Best Western (an excellent motel), sorted my gear, packed
my pack, and went to bed at 5 p.m.
I couldn't sleep much, so at midnight I stopped trying. I loaded my car, checked out, and drove the 13 miles up Whitney Portal road to the parking lot at the trailhead. I got out (temperature a very comfortable 60 degrees) and started hiking at 01:00. The moon was so bright that most of the way my headlamp and flashlight were not necessary.
The trail is not steep and pretty easy to follow in the dark except around the campgrounds, where it passes through clearings with lots of trails branching off to campsites, solar latrines, etc. I got to the base of the switchbacks above Trail Camp (12,000') while it was still dark. The sun rose pretty quickly as I headed up toward Trail Crest.
The only tricky spot on the trail was sloping snow on a ledge
traverse on the switchbacks, but a cable had been placed there
to help the more timid (read: the author) get across.
On the switchbacks and at Trail Crest, I passed several people who were having altitude problems. None of these made the summit that day. It's probably a good idea to take the switchbacks slowly if not already properly acclimated.
From Trail Crest, the trail drops! a little (I hate when that happens) until it meets the John Muir Trail coming up from the west. From there I traversed for about 2 miles below Mt. Muir and Keeler Needle until finally, I reached the base of the Whitney summit lump.
The summit climb was a simple but lung-punishing 500 feet up to
the Smithsonian cabin on top (summit at 07:30), which was open.
I'm glad it was because it was very windy (about 40mph w/60mph
gusts) and the temperature was in the 30s, which made for a
pretty impressive wind chill. A lot of the climbers
I passed on the way down were heading up in shorts & t-shirts -
I suppressed the urge to give them the hypothermia lecture and
just told them it was pretty damn cold up there.
I hiked out with a few other people and got back to my car at 11:30. Then I drove up to Mammoth Lakes (picking up a couple of milkshakes & a cheesburger on the way) - it was 90-something degrees down in the valley. I checked into a motel around 1:30 and crashed.
Over the next few days I drove up to Tuolomne Meadows to visit some friends who were getting married on top of a dome later in the week (Congratulations, Annette & Rob!)
While I was there, I ran up and down a few domes myself, trying
to stay away from the lightning storms that were popping up all
over. I also did as much sightseeing as I could fit into two
days, including Yosemite Valley, Glacier Point, Mono Lake, and
Devil's Postpile.
I also took another hike, this time in the Mammoth area, up to the base of the Minarets and Mts. Ritter and Banner. It was a beautiful hike, spoiled only by billions of mosquitoes and a large, slow-moving mass of elder hostel hikers who would not yield the trail.
Eventually I got around the group and above the mosquitoes and enjoyed a pleasant lunch atop a little rock tower above Ediza Lake.
I had to hurry home (to Maryland) to pick up my wife and head up
to New York for the wedding of my running partner Pam (see Gary's Running Page). And that was the
1997 trip.
I'm hoping to go back to California soon and do more peak-bagging.
This last picture is a waterfall below Shadow Lake, which is about halfway to Ediza Lake.