PCT Day 47 Climbing Mt Whitney (14505 feet)

Updated:
Climbing Mt Whitney Pacific Crest Trail

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.


Download the Ultralight Hiking Gear List

Add your name and email to download the Ultralight Hiking Gear List

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Sharing is caring!

2nd June 2015

Mileage 17

Whitney Creek to Mt Whitney return (766.3)

Climbing Mt Whitney Pacific Crest Trail

My tent was shaking violently. My first though was a bear attacking the tent. It was Bearly shaking my tent to wake me up. We were off the climb Mt Whitney from the Pacific Crest Trail. One of those rare days I sleep past the sunrise. It was cold. I unzipped myself from my sleeping bag to have a drink of water, the bottle was frozen. Every layer of clothing I owned was on when I exited the tent to cook breakfast. We were all freezing cold.

It was 6.30am when the Bearly, Teflon, Hummingbird, Mr & Mrs Smith and myself hit the trail. I walked as fast as I dared in an effort to warm up, most others did the same. It took about 15 minutes to reach a comfortable temperature, I could now feel my fingers and toes. Teflon is our pacesetter, she sets a great steady pace that never seems to make us over tired.

Layers were progressively shed as we ascended past Crabtree Meadow and Timberline Lake. By the time we reached Guitar Lake at 11472 feet we stopped to load up on calories and admire the reflections in the lake. The sun made an appearance and started to warm the cold still air.

Whitney Portal Side Trail

We commenced climbing a series of switchbacks that took us into the snow for the first time. The snow had frozen solid overnight and made rather easy going all the way up to the junction with the Whitney Portal Trail. From this point there was consistent snow on the trail.

I put on my YakTrax, which  is a rubber and steel device that slips over my hiking shoes and gives me grip in snow and ice. I’ve never used them before so it took a couple of minutes to trust how much grip they really had. They feel less secure than crampons.

The section after the Whitney Portal Trail was rather exposed and most people without any form of spiky footwear turned around. Anybody without mountain experience or a healthy fear of heights struggled or turned around and headed for safety. Only those with a lot of snow and ice experience went without the spiky footwear.

On one particularly exposed section Mrs Smith slipped, the result was 2 water bottles fell from her pack and tumbled hundreds of feet down the steep, exposed mountain. It occurred at Vodka Gully, so named because a Vodka bottle that was being used to haul water. She was very disappointed as the vodka taste permeated the water.

Towards the final summit ridge we took 3 different routes. I kicked steps in a 30 degree slab of snow and just went straight up. Others followed the trail which appeared to have little use and others followed a fresh trail of tracks up to the summit ridge. It was about 11am when we made the summit.

There were maybe 6 other people there, none of them PCT hikers. We had very bad cell phone service and prioritised the use. We looked at the weather forecast but we didn’t like the looks of the storms that we might see in coming days. I was also able to send off some blog posts.

It seems both AT&T and Verizon worked on the summit. In this modern world we live in we all had our phones out and stayed there for several hours. The weather was clear with no wind. The sun was strong and warm. Perfect weather. We stayed for several hours

The descent was fairly easy and uneventful except one of my YakTrax broke. The now soft and slushy snow was easy to descend on. I tried glissading (slide in a controlled manner down the snow) on some sections but the snow was just too soft.

We returned to camp at around 5pm and commenced to gorge ourselves on food. We had all eaten very little during the day. Today has been the best day of the hike so far.

The Pacific Crest trail near Mt Whitney
guitar lake reflections
Looking down the valley from Mt Whitney
guitar lake
Frozen lake from Mt WHitney
Selfie of the frozen lake at Mt Whitney
Climbing Mt Whitney from the PCT
10am
Climbing Mt Whitney from the Pacific Crest Trail
Exposed sections of trail climbing Mt Whitney
exposed with hard ice and snow
Exposed sections of trail climbing Mt Whitney from the PCT
its a long way to fall
Climbing exposed sections of trail Mt Whitney from the PCT
Climbing in the snow Mt Whitney from the PCT
hummingbird with Mr & Mrs Smith
steep sections Climbing Mt Whitney from the PCT
long way down
near the top of Mt Whitney from the PCT
last section of trail to the summit of Mt Whitney from the Pacific Crest Trail
the final push to the summit ridge
Mt Whitney side trail from the PCT
Summit of Mt Whitney
Team ‘Merica / Straya’  

Next : Day 48 Forester Pass (13098ft)

The Best information about the Pacific Crest Trail:
Complete Guide to the Pacific Crest Trail
Resupply Guide for the PCT
PCT Gear List

PCT Gear Review

Sharing is caring!

Photo of author
About the Author:
Brad is an Australian who has completed the hiking Triple Crown after he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail and Appalachian Trail. He has hiked on every continent (except Antarctica) and has cycled from Alaska to Ecuador. He is an expert on outdoor gear currently living in Chile.

Download the Ultralight Hiking Gear List

Add your name and email to download the Ultralight Hiking Gear List

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

18 thoughts on “PCT Day 47 Climbing Mt Whitney (14505 feet)”

    • Thanks Jayne, it’s a special area. I first saw My Whitney last year while cycling highway 395. It looks better from up close

      Reply

Leave a Comment