There haven’t been any trip reports or hiking related stuff at the blog after I returned from India and started working. Let’s correct it right away.

There was one trip to Crater Lake (decent place, a few refreshing views of the water, avoid the boat ride but hike down to the water, overall nice place to relax, so you can imagine I didn’t find too extraordinary) and another 14er of the season Mt. Langley (this was harder than I imagined. A group of 7 friends attempted this class 2 14er, 5 of us made it to the top and it was anything but easy.) and the last 2 weekends were spent just resting (sitting at home and not planning anything was tougher than the aforementioned 14er, if you know me).

Now for the grand finale before I hand up my boots for this season (yeah, I wouldn’t trust this claim of mine) and what better than the tallest peak in contiguous United States, Mt. Whitney, which stands at 14,497 ft. and as is obvious, is a 14er.

The group is P, my regular hiking partner, R, a friend from Colorado whom I last met on my roadtrip in Denver, and a relative novice C, who has accompanied me on the White Mountain Peak and Mt. Langley 14ers. (Update : C is out, due to a leg injury)

We decided to try Mt. Whitney sometime last year and started our planning accordingly. Entry on the trail is strictly enforced via permits for which you apply in February. Permits for the whole year are issued through a lucky draw sometime around March. We were allotted Sep. 26.

Inspite of its height, Mt. Whitney is a class 1 hike (no dangerous patches, easy) but the roundtrip is 22 miles long (~35 kms) gaining over 6,000 ft. For some reason, we applied for an overnight permit, so we get a 24 hr window in the wilderness. That rules out backpacking and summiting over 2 days. We have to finish our peaks and get off before the window expires.

Strangely, Mt. Whitney isn’t the peak I am most worried about, it is another 14er on the trail about a mile before Whitney called Mt. Muir which we plan to bag on the way. I usually do not look up snaps, just general directions, but thanks to C, I got hold of this snap :

That little red dot is a hiker, and the blue and red lines are routes you can take to summit. I would have been better off not seeing the snap, as it is giving me butterflies in my stomach. Snaps are always misleading, and I expect this to be easier than it looks, but you never know. Still worse with class 3/4 rock climbing is the need to be perfect. You cannot afford a single mistake. But it’s not as bad as it sounds, just some concentration and a cool head takes you through.

As usual, no trek for me is complete without carrying an injury in, this time it is an ankle sprain from the Mt. Langley hike 3 weeks ago. It receded for a week but reared its beautiful head this week. I usually try my best to avoid visits to a doctor, but this one seems to have different plans. But such it goes.

If things go well, by this time tomorrow, we should have summited both peaks. Insha’allah.

If not, we’ll be running down escaping lightning and showers. Again, insha’allah.

Either way, fun is guaranteed.

P.S. : Expect the theme to be back to the older one on Monday. I heard you, and everyone hates this theme.

Advertisement