Climbing Mt. Whitney, CA

Brandon and Josh Kaiser, John, I, and some friends from Manhattan took on the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States.  Mt. Whitney rises approximately 14,400 feet above the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains just south of Bishop, CA.  The climb took 3 days all said and done.

We began by learning about how to poop in a bag.  It came to our attention that Mt. Whitney is a 100% pack-it-in/pack-it-out location… including human waste.  So, we were each outfitted with a few bags with a wide opening and full of desiccant.

More importantly, our first stop was the trailhead at Whitney Portal campsite.  There we reviewed gear and finalized our packs.  We also weighed our packs.  What a surprise it was when packs weighed in around 40 pounds each!

Our trailhead began at around 8,500 ft and our camp was at 10,500 ft.  We set camp and made dinner, then sat around and talked until we felt it was past time to sleep.

The following day we were up early, around 5:30am and on the trail by 6:30.  By lunch, we were around the 12,000 foot camp and filling water bottles.  Then, up up up to the peak around 14,500.

We ran into some friendly chaps at the peak who packed in a flask of 15 year scotch.  That made for a good celebratory cheers at the top.

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