*This blog is dedicated to Cara, who reminded me today that I need to write part 2 of my adventure.
After we heard about a group breaking the trail, we were encouraged, but I was still concerned. We went to sleep and I must admit, sleeping at over 12,000 ft had quite the effect on me. I could hardly fall asleep and had an aching headache all night. By the time the sun came up, I was still so tired but knew that even sleeping in wouldn't help at this point. We got up and made hot chocolate. The sun was shining and we could see a group of guys who we had passed on the trail the day before hiking up the crazy slope, which I have deemed "the gnar." The 99 switchback portion of the trail was covered in snow, so people were hiking straight up the snow chute alongside the mountain to get to the top. It was insane. Imagine yourself walking vertically straight up a black diamond ski hill. That's what this was like. 1,600 vertical feet and a 50 degree angled slope. I was nervous about using crampons, but one I stepped foot in the snow I was so glad I had those suckers on my feet. The way we walked up the hill was very rhythmic - plant your ice axe in the snow and step one-two up the hill.
I was taking big steps at first in an attempt to cover more ground, but that left me with more room to slip so I took smaller steps. The ice axe was a real life saver because it made me feel stable while moving forward up the hill. We took it slow and stopped for water breaks when needed. This was clearly going to be the toughest part of the trip but after getting a rhythm going, I felt much more comfortable in the snow and using my gear. I knew this was something I was going to be able to handle. Just to get an idea of how crazy this hill was, here is a picture of the portion of the trip from Trail Camp to Trail Crest:
After three and a half hours ascending the gnar, we finally made it to trail crest. Mark and Michelle were hanging out on the rocks overlooking the chute, and James, Brian, and Justin all had already eaten lunch and took off for the summit. At this point I wasn't sure if I was going to summit. Mark told us that the hardest part of the trip was behind us so I wanted to go for it. We ate a quick lunch of tuna and ritz crackers (digging the ritz into the tuna packet and spilling cracker crumbs everywhere) and then geared up for our trip along the backside of the mountain to the summit. This part of the trail was still covered in snow and required crampons the entire way, but we only needed to use the ice axe in critical areas. And these critical areas were pretty steep. You'd walk across a thin patch of snow and look to the right and see a cliff. Then you'd look to your left, and there'd be another cliff. So you had to pay attention and focus intensely on what you were doing.
Along the backside as we approached closer, we could see the cabin on the top of Whitney. It looked so tiny but got bigger with each step. When we started to get super close, Brandon and I ended up hiking alongside these two guys from Orange County. They were about 600 ft in front of us and kept looking up ahead and telling me how far I had to go. Once we got within one football field range of the summit I knew I had to charge it. I got up to the top and couldn't believe how awesome the view was. It really did feel like you were on top of the world, with everything else below you. I put down my pack and we took pictures with the group. i also needed to give my legs a rest so I sat down and James gave me a clif bar. Then the guys from Orange County offered us Skittles, which tasted so good! Mark was hilarious at the summit and was talking to his parents on the phone for like 10 minutes. He got cell phone service up there and so did Michelle. I tried to use their phone to call my parents and let them know I made it to the top, but then the cell phones stopped working. But I decided that was probably better anyway because in reality, the journey was only half over. In words of Tom Petty, "what goes up, must come down." On our way out, we signed the guest book at the top. I wrote my name and MySpace url, of course. And next to the guest book was a Staples "Easy" button that says "that was easy" when you pressed it. How appropriate!
We got a late start on our way back to trail crest and getting back to the gnar before the sun went down was a huge priority. Once the sun goes down, the mountain ices over which would make glissading down (sliding down the mountain on your butt) very painful and dangerous. I found the hike down to not be as bad. I was just so happy to have made it to the top. I felt proud and accomplished. When we got to trail crest there was a woman sitting on a rock waiting for her group. James was concerned because the group had not even summitted yet when we were coming down. He wanted to wait for them and make sure they were okay. In the meantime, the woman told Brandon and I how all of our friends came down about 45 minutes prior and slid on their butts and got down the hill in 5 minutes and had the best time. I wanted to do that, too, but I was very nervous. It seemed pretty scary to slid like that on your buttocks. What if I got out of control? But the thought of walking down the entire hill didn't seem appealing either so I put on my awesome waterproof neon green ski pants and got ready for our descent:
By the time Brandon and I were ready to glissade, the guys from Orange County caught up with us. It turned out they work for REI in Santa Ana and were pretty badass mountaineers. We asked their advice on glissading vs. walking down the hill and they said they'd help us through it. We walked down the hill ready to slide on our butts and noticed the snow was firming up. So we made the decision to walk down the hill with our crampons on. We had to sit on the hill and put our crampons back on and then do a mountaineering skill called a plunge step down the mountain where you step forward and dig your heel into the snow first so you make footsteps to follow. Looking down at the hill was pretty scary, especially from the top. But I kept thinking of it as being at the top of Mammoth on my snowboard. That thought kept me in check and made me realize that this was not really that much different than anything else I'd done before. The only downside to this whole process was it took fricking forever. And by that, I mean by the time we got down to the bottom it was already dark. And keep in mind that half our group slid down on their butts and made it in 5 minutes. So they ended up waiting for us for about 3 hours. They were scared something happened to us but felt okay because they saw headlamps on the hill. When we finally got to camp, I was completely exhausted and dehydrated. We ran out of water at the top of trail crest and hadn't drank anything in 3 hours. So that was not good and gave me a mega headache. And then when we got to camp it was freezing out and windy. I was pretty miserable and so cold that I was shaking. I knew the best thing for me to do would be to go to bed, sleep well, and get up in the morning. Even though I was quite uncomfortable. I still was so excited for having gone to the top of Whitney in winter mountaineering conditions. It was tough and intense, but I did it!
Sunday night I slept much, much better than the night before. I'm sure it was because I was so tired from hiking over 12 hours straight. But when I got to camp I was so dehydrated that I drank over one and a half nalgenes full of water. This resulted in me having to go to the bathroom not once, not twice, but THREE times during the night. And it was not the most convenient thing to do because each time I had to put on my hiking boots and jacket to withstand the cold. And then I had to pop a squat in the snow. Yup.
Monday morning we woke up and the sun was shining. I took some advil, drank water, and packed up my gear. I was pumped to get back down to portal and have a celebratory beer at Pizza Factory. I did not drink alcohol for 2 weeks prior to our Whitney trip because I wanted the beer to taste that much better at the end of our trip.
As we headed down, the snow was starting to melt which made for a slushy and slippery trail. There were a couple parts were I even tripped and fell in the snow. I also should add that while we were on the trip, we had to poop in a bag. They call it a wag bag. You know how when you walk your dog and you pick up their poop with a small plastic bag? Yeah, it was pretty much like that. But for humans. And once your were done, there was nowhere to dispose of your wag bags until you got to the portal. So everyone in our group had to descend down the hill with a wag bag tied to the back of their packs and attracting flies. Lovely.
The trip down was very beautiful. I started to relax more and really enjoy my surroundings. I was almost getting bummed that our time in the sierras was coming to a close and soon enough I'd be back to work and the real world. We strolled along and stopped at Outpost camp for a break. Once we got to Lone Pine Lake, we knew we were close. We charged it from there all the way to the parking lot and made it back to the Portal at around 12:30pm. When we got down, Mark, Michelle, Brian, and Justin were already three beers deep at the portal!
We dropped our packs off at the car and I changed into normal clothes. We hung out at the picnic tables outside of the portal hanging out and talking. There was a lake there and they dumped 1,000 fish from this truck into the lake so people could fish there this summer. The lady working at the portal store said by the end of the summer all those fish will be gone. Weird.
After hanging out for a bit we climbed in the cars and drove down to the Pizza Factory in Lone Pine. Let me just tell you, pizza never tasted so good. It felt like a "prepaid meal," one that was well deserved after a tough and strenuous weekend of working out. We were all sunburned, tired, sore, but happy. And I felt very accomplished. On the way down, Mark asked me the one million dollar question. Would I do this again? The answer is Heck Yes. But not with snow! This trip was truly intense and a test of will and determination. I am happy to have conquered this trail in such challenging conditions as a first-timer. Now I'd like to see what the trail looks like in the summer :)
