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I did Whitney September 2010 after a week long backpacking trip, so we didn't start from the portal. We came in from the John Muir trail and broke camp at Consultation Lake. The next day my entire group bitched out so I went on to the summit from there alone and hooked up with a couple of women doing the ascent from the Portal and back that you're looking at doing in October. Here's some tips from my personal experience and what I gleaned from them along the way about theirs: 1. Acclimating at the portal will help. I was at 10,000 ft for a week prior so I didn't notice it, personally. 2. Bring lots of calorie dense snacks, eat pretty much the entire time. You may not be hungry but you still need to eat. 3. Drink lots of water. Same as the food, even when you're not thirsty you need to drink. 4. Have capacity to carry plenty of water because your ability to refill is limited during certain stretches, like above the Trail Camp. I tend to carry 4-5L. Two 1L nalgenes and a 2-3L camel back as kinda my standard. You could maybe lighten the load and take a little less, but then you're stopping to pump/filter water more frequently. Bring a way to purify water. 5. Electrolyte powder of some kind, Gatorade makes some nice individual pouches you can dump in one of the 1L nalgenes. 6. poo poo bags, a little bit of TP, and a larger freezer ziplock to put the used ones in. Whitney is pack in/pack out and if a ranger stops you and you don't have poo poo bags you're going to get cited. The trail is too heavily trafficked for everyone to bury it and above a certain altitude you won't have anywhere to dig anyway. 7. A good headlamp with extra batteries. Maybe an extra flashlight just in case. 8. Good boots that are well broken in. If you decide to do more of a trail shoe, make sure it has good ankle support. 9. Dress in layers. Hats and gloves. Waterproof/windproof shell over a lightweight fleece jacket and long sleeve base layer worked well for me. You're going later in the year, so you might need something heavier than that fleece I'm wearing. I could even see packing a t-shirt for lower elevations. Don't get sweaty and soak your clothes. 10. Stripped down first aid kit: moleskin for blisters, a roll of athletic tape, couple of small bandages and sterile gauze pads, pocket knife, and some NSAIDs. High SPF Sunscreen and chapstick. Echoing what Levitate said, you're going to have to start super early in the morning and you won't be back until after dark. The ladies I met up with started at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning to do a moderate pace, iirc. You don't have to rush, but you can't really gently caress around too much either. Make sure your cardio is strong and I hope you have good knees/ankles because the downhill back to the portal will do a number on them. That's primarily what the NSAIDS are for. My experience may be worse than normal for that bit though, as I did the descent to the portal from Consultation with a full pack plus 1/2 of an old dude's gear that couldn't hack it--I think it was 80ish pounds on my back. Trekking poles were nice but not necessary. The trail is well maintained, only a few areas toward the summit that could be dicey if there's a lot of ice/snow hanging around. It ended up being pretty socked in when I did it, wasn't bad if you were prepared, but it did limit the awesome view. I've done Mt. Langley in a similar fashion under clear skies though and I imagine it looked similar...just about 500ft higher up.   
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Apr 27, 2017 17:03
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| # ¿ May 3, 2024 23:25 |
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