Class 1 on Mt. Whitney
This is the only trip report included on this website that was fully written years after the event. As I look back at my life outdoors, this trip feels pivotal and therefore worth including as it was perhaps the genesis of my life moving uphill.
In Fall 2015 while I was a senior in college, one of my friends secured a permit for 6 to summit Mt. Whitney via the class 1 hiking trail. I recall hopping onto the trip late to fill a spot and being quite excited as this was my first backpacking trip and my first time ever actually trying to get to the top of a peak. We drove from Los Angles to Lone Pine and shouldered our heavy backpacks at Whitney Portal. I had to borrow a sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and tent from friends but I did have steel toe construction boots, non-stretch jeans, and a massive Oakly puffy jacket so I was set clothing-wise! I remember the hike to Trail Camp at 10,000 ft being very challenging with a heavy pack but the views upon arrival blew me away. My friend Chris had a water filter and I helped him pump and filter water from a nearby stream into our bottles… This was my first time ever seeing such a device and I was further blown away. My friend Erica and I set up a tent that we borrowed from our other friend Chris, but as you can clearly see in the photo, we did not know how to properly set up the vestibule and simply draped it over the tent. Chris gave me some much deserved shit for this when I get back to civilization and showed him the photo.
We woke up the next morning to a couple inches of snow and very chilly temperatures. Nevertheless, we began our hike upward. I think we make it a few switchbacks up until a couple guys with full crampons and ice axes passed us coming down after bailing. Seeing their level of preparedness, and the storm getting worse, we opted to bail as well. We made it back to camp, packed up our tents, and hiked back to the Portal, running some of the lower parts of the trail. At the time, this felt like just another fun weekend adventure with friends but in hindsight, it was the start of something else.
