Mt. Whitney

Spoiler alert: very photo-dense entry.

Don’t know if it was due to the elevation (9536 ft), but I woke a bunch of times and was restless. Terrible nights sleep. However this morning when getting ready, I had made my decision on what to do regarding Mt. Whitney. I figured I did not want to hang around at its base for the entire day and then have to restrain myself from eating everything in my bear-can. Once there, I’d might as well summit the same day. I left after a tedious break up of camp (first I left my phone inside my sleeping bag, which was all the way at the bottom of my pack, and then when I was repacking, I tore up the plastic bag I use to protect my sleeping bag from getting damp). When it was 0700 and I was finally ready to head out, I really missed my music to accompany me while crushing the early morning miles.

After having hiked a little over 6 miles I arrived at Crabtree Meadows. The last place that PCT-hikers are allowed to camp before heading out onto the Mt. Whitney Trail. Yesterday I spoke to hiker called Rad, about meeting up at the Crabtree Meadows, to do the summit together. Around 1130 I arrived at the meadows, and he was already there. We agreed to hike out around 1400, and see if we could enjoy the sunset as we were descending. I quickly pitched my tent, because the mosquito’s wouldn’t give us a moments break. I thankfully used the free hours to nap and have a lunch that hopefully would carry me up the mountain. No use for a heavy haul, I would only bring some snacks, water and warmer clothing for the way back.

I’d never hiked with Rad before, so I had no idea about his pace. Later during the day I found out that he loves to do trail-running and has got several ultra’s under his belt. He likes to race. Without food and gear in our packs we we’re considerably faster than usual; it felt like we were flying. It wouldn’t be for long that we reached the first lower altitude lakes with the impressive granite walls on all sides.

We chatted with a couple of day and/or section hikers, but kept a steady pace going along the lower elevation meadows until we reached Guitar-lake.

After Guitar-lake, the trail quickly gained in elevation and the hiking became more strenuous. Climbing higher and higher along the rocky trail, the views became more and more spectacular however. The lower part of the Mt. Whitney trail had been beautiful, but now we were getting really stoked. Around us more and more mountain features started to appear and it wouldn’t be for long that we’d got the feeling we were about level with the roof of the Sierras.

Other than us, there were only 2 other hikers climbing towards the summit. I guess the afternoon ascend is not a very popular time. We knew that we’d be hiking through the dark when we’d be hiking down, so we brought our headlamps. As we got higher, I started to notice the lack of oxygen in the air and my thoughts wandered off to several years ago when we had summited Mount Kenya. During that adventure I was dealing with pretty sever altitude sickness, which manifested itself in the form of a blinding headache when we started the descent. Not fun. Mt Whitney is approximately 1200 feet lower in elevation, so I considered it a fairly comparable hike, and I hoped I would fare better this time.
The final stretch was tough, with lots of false summits giving the impression that we’d be there soon. Rad had hiked ahead, being the faster hiker, and around 1830 I too reached the summit! The views were unbelievable. Rad and I celebrated and took our time to take photo’s, eat snacks and give our legs a good rest.

Because Rad was real excited to take photos of the setting sun, we took our time before heading down again. We stayed at the summit for almost an hour. At this stage I was real confident that I wouldn’t have to worry about altitude sickness; I felt good. The past couple of weeks of hiking, and last week of staying and sleeping at higher elevation must have helped a lot with the acclimation.
When the sun started setting we got ready to hike down. The sights we were presented with, were out of this world. Rad and I couldn’t stop talking about how unbelievably gorgeous our surroundings were. The full moon definitely added to the experience.

We put our headlamps on and started flying down the hill. The other two hikers we met during the day, had a permit to camp on the top of Mt. Whitney (pretty cool) so during the sunset descent I believe we were the only ones on the trail. The last couple hours we hiked in the complete dark, but with the full moon out it was a magical night. The moon cast moon-shadows of surrounding peaks on the granite walls, real impressive. Around 2230 we stumbled into camp, where we got a quick dinner. It had gotten real cold, and while we were shivering outside and fumbling with our food we reminisced on the amazing summit-experience.We both agreed that it had been a spectacular day, and I thought it pretty cool that we’d had such a blast, given the fact that we’d been only got properly acquainted yesterday.
Mount Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states; Check!
And it was amazing.

When you feel the world around you
Spinnin’ out of control
You can find someone around you
To bring you out of the cold
But you don’t ever have to hide
What you really feel inside

So put ’em up
Two high
We can walk together with our hands up in the sky
So put ’em up
Tonight
We can come together
We won’t give up on the fight

Moon taxi – Two high