Day 55 : Mt Whitney

13th June 2013
Mile 766 to mile 770 : Crabtree Meadows to Wallace creek via Mt Whitney
Mileage : 4 + 17


Today i summitted Mt Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states at 14,500 feet. The day leading up to Crabtree had been long and tough. Most people bring the mileage down in the Sierras as the terrain and elevation make hiking more difficult than usual. So the 23 miles i did made it a long day. Even so when i got to the meadows i resolved to try the sunrise hike up Mt whitney. It was an ordeal and a half to say the least. I set off from Crabtree Meadows at half past midnight having had only 3 hours sleep but in good spirits. The lid of my rucksack detaches to form a day sack, and with that filled water, food and all my warm kit, and with my sleeping bag strapped.to that in case of an emergency, i set off into the night. The sunrise hike is the classic climb for PRT hikers, as the views are spectacular. Mt Whitney is the eastern most mountain in the entire Sierra Nevada, with a phenomenal drop down to Owens Valley 10,000ft below to the east with no obstructions for tens of miles. It was too much to resist. It is 8.5 miles to the summit from Crabtree meadows climbing over 4400 feet along the way. The first few miles speed by as i made my way along the tail, occasionally glimpsing the head torches of other hikers ahead of me cutting back and forward along switchbacks. Above 12,000ft though everything went downhill, except me, who continued up the switchbacks towards the summit 2500ft farther up the trail.

 What started as a dull headache quickly developed into full blown altitude sickness, getting worse with very foot i gained in altitude. By the time I got 1 mile away from the summit, i was still 500 feet below the top and had to stop. I learned later that the air is only 60% of what it is at sea level, and i could well believe it. Every 50 metres or so i had to stop and try to catch my breath, 'try' though being the operative word as even stopped my lungs and heart were working in flat out. I also felt really nauseated, and could neither drink water nor eat food. Because of this, i started to get really cold really quickly. To add to all this the was a wind that just sucked all the heat out of me, i could not stay warm. I had all my warm gear on while going up hill as fast as I could and still could not stop shivering uncontrollably. The last 2 miles of the trail to the summit wasn't particularly steep, but there was a pretty much sheer drop of over a thousand feet on the left hand side and it was when dizziness was added to my symptoms that i decided to stop, i thought it would have been too dangerous to continuous on a trail 1 foot  wide with no protection whatsoever. I found a sheltered spot out of the wind and got into my sleeping bag, but even taking the sleeping bag out took a while as my fingers had gone numb in my gloves, but it was worth it. I knew that getting into my sleeping bag then meant i would miss the sunrise, but at that stage that was the least of my worries. An hour later I had warmed up considerably, i could feel my fingers again, but still couldn't eat or drink, nor were my other symptoms much improved, just as well really as my snickers were frozen to the point that i couldn't really bite them anyway, and my water bottle crunched every time i opened it with the freezing water cooling me down even more. Despite feeling so bad I decided to go for the summit, i hadn't come this far to quit from a little altitude sickness. I went up and down as quickly as possible in order to limit my exposure to further altitude and the elements, and can't have been on the summit for more than about 30 seconds, I had to get down and quickly. I didn't get out my camera, or my phone to text anyone, or update my facebook status, or drink my beer that i had brought all the way from Kennedy Meadows, didn't speak to anyone else up there, or see anyone else i knew, so have no proof that i was even there, but i did it. In hind sight perhaps i should have taken more time up there, as there were people i knew, and there was a hut in which i could have tried to warm up a bit further, but my main priority was getting down as i just felt so rubbish. 10 hours after i started i was back at Crabtree Meadows surrounded by marmots and deer recovering in the morning sun. It took me til the end of the day until i could eat anything again and before i had warmed up properly, even after having a nap in the full sun wearing all my warm kit and in my sleeping bag. 

All I could think about as i sat there in the sun that afternoon looking back up at the mountain was how on earth i was going to get over Forester pass, which at 13,200 feet is the highest point on the PCT itself. Forester Pass is 13 miles from Crabtree Meadows, so finally, at about 6pm, i put on my rucksack and decided to get some miles in before the sun got too low in the sky and it started to get cold again. I knew I needed to shorten the distance so that i would be as fresh as possible when it came to going above 12,000 ft again in the morning. I went to bed finally just before hiker midnight totally exhausted after my ordeal, and not looking forward at all to the day ahead.

A view west back down towards Crabtree Meadows from somewhere high up on Mt Whitney

One of the few pictures I took looking east from Mt Whitney, this one looking through one of the  'windows', not particularly impressive I know but it is the only proof I have that I was up there.