My hiking partner Helene rounded out our party of 3. We started at 4:30 a.m. on Saturday wearing headlamps until daybreak. Sunrise on the needles was spectacular. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. It reminded me of Devil's Postpile near Mammoth.

I had a setback at 7:30 a.m. at Outpost Camp at 10,000 feet. I had some visual disturbances that I usually get right before I get a migraine headache and I thought the hike was over for me. I think it was because of the lack of sleep. Or maybe the cold temperature. Or maybe the altitude. Maybe a combination of the three. Anyway, Helene, an M.D., asked me if I ever did biofeedback and I said I didn't, so she walked me through it -- a mix between hypnosis and yoga. I couldn't believe it, IT WORKED. I could see again. Thank goodness for Helene.

So we pushed on past Mirror Lake and up to Trail Camp where we filtered some water for our canteens. You need a college degree to handle the whole water management issue. You have to be well hydrated, yet water is so heavy you hate to carry it. Larry brought a water filter which weighs less than one liter of water, so we did some calculations and figured out the optimal amount of water to carry and when to filter and refill. I had one of those platypus drinking systems where the water is in the backpack and a tube extends over near your mouth and clips on to your clothes so you don't have to expend any energy to drink. I wouldn't have made it without that.

Larry said we should unload some of our gear for the final ascent. We bundled the extra food and clothes together and hung it off a rock face at Trail Camp to keep it from the marmots. The lighter load was a blessing. Thanks Larry.

We began the legendary 99 switchbacks. It was a real cosmopolitan place -- lots of Europeans and Asians making the ascent. We ran into a couple of guys who had turned back because one was experiencing tunnel vision. I thought to myself, "he should try biofeedback." We kept going and going and going. I was excited to reach the cables that help hikers walk over the sheet of ice. I asked Larry to take a picture of me and Helene holding on to the cables for dear life with icicles hanging behind us. Apparently the icicles were the result of Hurricane Nora. We kept going and going and going. We ran into another guy who was turning back and who was definitely a negative influence. He said he had been up to 13,000 feet and hadn't even reached the Trail Crest. He was feeling sick from the altitude and made it seem like we were crazy to even contemplate continuing. I felt great so I didn't listen. We kept going and going and going until we spied the Trail Crest (14,000 feet). At that point I knew I was going to summit. I had read that the last 1.9 miles from Trail Crest to Mt. Whitney was relatively flat. And though I felt the altitude (my heart rate increased at a faster rate than at sea level) and had to take frequent breaks, I felt that Mt. Whitney was "in the bag."

The rest stop at Trail Crest, the border of Inyo National Park and Sequoia National Park, was scenic. There were a couple of lakes and high peaks in Sequoia that just revealed themselves. A hiker had a bag of Reese's peanut butter cups. Larry offered to "lighten his load," and we indulged. A nice change from Power Bars.

We had decided earlier that whether or not we summited, we would turn around at 2:00 p.m. because there was still 11 miles to hike back. Since it was 12:30 p.m., we thought 1 1/2 hours would be enough time. As we were walking, Larry stopped someone returning from the summit to ask him to point it out to us. The blood drained from our faces as we realized we were still pretty far away. But we pushed on. There was a dazed woman coming down who asked us if this was the way back to Whitney Portal. We said "yes," and she replied "I don't remember this part at all," and "that was a lot of work." Most of the others coming down were very encouraging, telling us "great job!" and "you're almost there!" but one couple told us "the last part is the hardest." The woman was really sunburned and Helene (a dermatologist) offered to give her some sunscreen. She declined and we went on our way. The next person we met said that the part right underneath the ice patch was "hairy." It was past 2:00 p.m., but we were so close, we were not turning back.

The last part did turn out to be "hairy." The trail was very steep and rocky and not well marked. We ended up just climbing up rocks. Then I saw the lightning shelter at the summit. I called out "I see the building!" We scrambled up the rest of the way, examined the building, walked over to the plaque at the highest point and took off our packs. Then Larry whipped out a cellular phone. We each called home and left a message that it was 3:00 p.m. and we had summited. The view from the highest point was memorable. Mostly because everything was lower. We took photos, signed the registration book, and donned our packs for the long way home.

Our headaches subsided as we descended and now that I was one of the people coming down, I tried to encourage those going up. It was kind of hard to be encouraging because I knew what lay ahead for them. On the way down the 99 switchbacks I kept thinking, "I can't believe I came up this." Then we reached the ice and cables. Helene had been worried that we would hit that sheet of ice after dark, but we had plenty of light. Larry did slip and could have fallen off the cliff, but he had a good hold of the cable and was able to restore his footing.

We reached Trail Camp and found the gear that we left there seven hours earlier in good condition. Larry filtered and refilled the water. There are some really nice solar toilets there, and Helene and I had been squat pissing all day, so we went to check them out. I had never seen a solar toilet. It's inside a wooden structure with solar panels on the roof and there is a tub of sawdust with the instructions "use a scoop after you poop."

We headed down. We looked back up. We couldn't believe we had been up there. We couldn't believe we HIKED up there. It got dark. We put on our headlamps. We made two wrong turns and that cost us precious time. My knees started to hurt. My second toe on my right foot is longer than my big toe and it was getting jammed into the front of the boot because of the downhill pressure. But we pushed on. And on. And on. We met up with a guy who had lost his party and didn't have water, so Larry generously shared his. This guy said he runs marathons regularly, and he thought that the Mt. Whitney ascent was harder. Larry replied that someone else had told him that too.

We arrived at Whitney Portal at 9:15 p.m., nearly 17 hours from when we began.

We changed our clothes, loaded up the car and headed down to Lone Pine. We were able to use the cellular phone at around 10:00 p.m. and Larry called home to say we were on our way. Apparently our spouses took us for dead because they had called the Lone Pine Sheriff and were about to get in the car and drive up to rescue us. They thought we were "way in over our heads," and their whole life "flashed in front of their eyes." But all is well that ends well.

Except I have a really bad case of chapped lips.

Want to come with me next time?

[ Home ]

	Enter your search terms Submit search form
	Web www.kleinman.tv