Day 60-61 (Mt. Whitney)

Early rise to hike the 10 miles to Crabtree Meadows (off of 767.5) to stage for Whitney. It was a pretty section of forested Sierra to get there.

I rolled in around 11 am to find meadow and woods full of tents; some with sleeping hikers, some with no poles, just flat on the ground while their occupants slack packed the peak. (Slack packing is when you hike without all your gear because someone will shuttle it ahead or you are doing an out and back)

Had some dinner around one then went to sleep by 2. Slept on and off all “night”

Alarms went off at 10 pm, and we were on trail by 11. We opted not to fully slack pack so that we could avoid the extra river crossings to get back. We did however stash our bear cans and most of our food near the exit trail head.

We hiked without the light of the moon, so had a great view of the stars and had to use our headlamps the whole time.

The climb started getting hard around 13,000 feet for me. But after slowing down I caught my breath and pushed a bit slower. The trail was largely dry with some significant patches of snow for which I put my spikes on.

The summit was very cool. The shelter was only mostly full of snow, and the wind blocks did their job.

We got there about 40 min before sunrise and bundled up with everyone at the top in our quilts while we waited.

It was absolutely beautiful.

The climb down went quick, and with each step I felt stronger as the air got thicker.

We rested for several hours the hiked a few more miles to make tomorrows approach more manageable.

Camped at 773.9Read more