[pct-l] Mt. Whitney question

[msaenz at mve-architects.com (Mike Saenz)]

Jon,

The popular route up Whitney is the "hundred switchback" trail a.k.a. the portal route(seems like a thousand?).
But there are other routes....

http://www.peakware.com/encyclopedia/peaks/routes/whitney.htm

class 1 is a simple walkup
class 2 is a walk up without a trail
class 3 is a hand-over-hand scramble
class 4, you're packing ropes, helmet and other gear.

I'm not a climber, and I'm sure there are folks on this list that can clarify the class descriptions above,
But I did Mt Sneffels last August and, though it was a (hard) walk-up, with a short class 3 section just under the peak, I would have been more comfortable with a rope while climbing through "the keyhole".

The "north face" and "mountaineer" approaches to Whitney look scary just from the topo...

In my humble opinion, I would do the portal approach to see if the altitude is an issue before I tried anything that would require difficult descent.

If altitude isn't a problem, in terms of altitude sickness, then there's always the thin air to deal with.

At 11k I'm working to catch my breath.
At 12k I'm running it down to catch it.
At 13k I'm sucking wind every 50 yards
At 14k the adrenaline kicks in and I'm breathing in gasps through a clenched grin on my face...

THEN, I'd learn to use the climbing gear before I considered attempting anything close to a 3-4 class where the base is already a hike away (I think both the north face and mountaineering routes are quite a ways from the trailhead...

Good Luck!



M i c h a e l   S a e n z
McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners, Inc.
A r c h i t e c t u r e    P l a n n i n g    I n t e r i o r s
w  w  w  .  m  v  e  -  a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s  .  c  o  m

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Jon [mailto:jonnylv@earthlink.net] 
Sent:	Monday, March 22, 2004 1:34 PM
To:	pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject:	[pct-l] Mt. Whitney question

Hi,

I was wondering when is the easiest time of the year to get up to the top of Mount Whitney.  I've been mulling over taking up mountain climbing and it seems like Mt. Whitney would be a good place to start because I want to get some experience at high altitude with the ability to get back to a safer altitude if I started having problems with altitude sickness.  If I seem OK after that I want to move on to Mt. Shasta and hopefully eventually Mt. Rainier.  

My Lonely Planet Hiking Guide to the Sierra Nevada indicated that getting up Mt. Whitney was more like a rigorous hike than something I'd find getting up to the top of one of the big Cascade peaks.  (Some of the pictures I've seen of climbing Mount Rainier looked pretty challenging - I can see why people use it to practice climbing Mt. Everest.)  They emphasized very heavily the altitude sickness issue, so I want to see if that's going to be a major issue for me before I start the more challenging peaks.  I want to keep it simple and focus on one issue at a time.  

Does anybody have a take on this?

thanks,
Jon
(who lives at a much lower altitude in Wisconsin)
_______________________________________________
pct-l mailing list
pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
unsubscribe or change options:
http://mailman.hack.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l