The Mountaineer's Route of Mt. Whitney: Part I

About six months ago my friend, Pat asked if I was interested in doing the hike up Whitney with him again -- this time by the Mountaineer's Route. I said "sure" and asked if there were enough permits for Sanny to join us, which there were; we ended up with a group of five consisting of: Sanny and myself, as well as Pat and two of my other old mountain biking buddies, Benny and Doug.

So it was that on Sunday night we all found ourselves in the small town of Lone Pine at the base of Mt. Whitney and the Eastern Sierra Nevadas.

We started the hike in the early morning before sunrise.  We expected to need 6 hours to make the 6.5 mile trek to the top -- roughly the same amount of time it took Pat and I to hike the longer but easier Whitney Trail which clocks in at just under 11 miles for the same 6,100' feet of elevation gain.  It turns out we should have started earlier -- something you realize when you have hours to go before you finish and yet the sun has already long since set.

Us: eating breakfast, driving to the Whitney Portal, and starting the hike

You really can't make any comparison between the Mountaineer's Route and the Whitney Trail.  They both take you to the same place but where one is an arduous hike at altitude the other is an adventure in no uncertain terms; you will be hiking steep grades, walking along vertical granite walls, climbing your way over rocks or scrambling up scree.  For much of the Mountaineer's Route, there is no "trail."  In the upper reaches where the terrain is barren, strewn rock, there are only cairns -- carefully piled rock mounds -- to help you along as waypoints.  These are not always so easy to spot, though, and so a lot of your progress is made by way of best guesses and careful inspection of the upcoming surrounding area.

In any case, here's Part I of the story of our trek to the summit.  There won't be any photos of the way down because I was too tired to deal with a camera for much of it not to mention that the last 4 hours were spent in the pitch of night.

Approaching the Shelf -- a vertical granite wall on which you zig-zag along

 

The Shelf itself, and arriving at Lower Boy Scout Lake (our first water refill)

 

Making our way from LBSL to Icerberg Lake (at the very foot of Whitney and the last source of water before coming back down).

 

Pinecrest Camping Trip

3 days after returning from our friends wedding in Hawaii, we headed east to meet up with friends for a 2 nite car camping trip at Pinecrest Lake. It was a great campsite, though it was a particularly cold 2 nights.

Snorkeling in Oahu (with a cheap disposable camera)

We should have planned a bit ahead and bought a water proof case for one of our cameras or phones before flying out to Oahu.  But since we didn't, and since we still hoped to capture some memories of our time in the water, we stopped by a store and bought a disposable camera.  Looking at the photos now, it's pretty obvious the film speed was too low for the lighting but some of them do have a cool retro feel to them -- I especially like the one of Sanny laying on the beach.

Of course, as luck would have it, we ran out of film before we saw any of the truly amazing things we ended our trip with (such as Electric Beach and the thousands and thousands of fish swimming in the warm water flowing from giant pipes; or our swimming with 30+ DOLPHINS just south of Electric Beach).  

1st series of snorkeling: Shark Cove
Boogie Boarding: Waimanalo Beach Reserve (waves were great here)
2nd series of snorkeling: our 2nd day at Hanauma Bay (cloudier than our first)
3rd series of snorkeling (the photos in clear water at the end): Electric Beach (where we swam with the dolphins!)

Hiking (the First) Olomana 3 Peaks

So this turned out to be way crazier than Sanny or I expected even after reading descriptions of it beforehand. But it was way cooler as a result.  We only went to the top of the first peak (which was the highest) but we have a strong desire to return and knock off the last two -- which are more technically challenging than the first -- on a subsequent effort.

The first 3/4 of a mile or so on the trail was your typical "single track through tropical paradise."  But then you connect with the ridge of the first peak and it kicks sharply upwards while becoming disconcertingly narrow (for us anyway, who have no background with such).  I'd guess the last half mile is spent on a trail no more than 2 or 3 feet wide with a thousand foot drop on either side (at least it's covered with vegetation -- I'd guess if you fell you could probably grab hold of a tree).  From that point on you were basically scrambling and climbing -- making liberal use of foot and hand holds provided by roots and rocks (or the ropes secured by previous hikers).  And just before the top was a 20 foot vertical wall.

The views were amazing! And we met a very cool local (the man with the purple hair) at the top who reminded us a bit of Cabalo Blanco (sp) of "Born to Run" fame.