Mt. Whitney
Atticus Seale
11/6/19
Writers Workshop
Mt. Whitney
At exactly midnight, I put on my day pack and turned on my headlamp. The air was cold and brisk. Every time the wind blew my face stung with the cold. I had only snacks, water, and a few extra layers of clothes in my pack, when I put on my pack felt like a feather compared to the last 5 days and was a relief that I didn’t have as much weight on my back.
The last five days I had spent hiking to the base of Mt. Whitney. Our plan was for me and my family to take an approximately 80-mile trek to the top of Mt. Whitney and then continue past and hike out. So far, I had gone 38 miles, but I still had around 42 miles to go. Mt. Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous US at 14,491 feet. Over the past 5 days, we had gone over 2 passes, the first one at 11,800 feet, and the second one at 13,200 feet. We started our summit push from our camp that was by a glacial tarn at 12,200 feet.
As we left camp, the glacial tarn reflected the moon, spilling light in unique patterns all over the ground around our camp. Before we started hiking, we all checked our packs, making sure we didn’t forget anything. We had three pairs of Microspikes, two pairs of Yaktraxs, and two ice axes. Once we finished, we walked to the trail, put on our packs, and started hiking.
The 4.76-mile push to the summit consisted of three general stages. First was a one-mile track to the bottom of the switchbacks. This path wove around landslides and up through snow patches. Because it was still very cold, the ‘snow patches’ were completely iced over, but since they were not steep we had no reason to go up on Microspikes. As we wove around the boulder and ice patches, we began to get closer to the switchbacks.
The first switchback was right after an ice field. We could see the trail; went up, and eventually made it to the first switchback. I don't know the time that we got to the switchbacks, but I do know that it took us around 50 minutes to get there. Before we started the switchbacks, we paused and drank some water. We knew that the switchbacks were going to be the hardest because of a 1,050 all the elevation gain. The switchbacks started at 12,600 feet and ended at 13,650 feet. As we resumed, I quickly noticed how out of breath I was, I had only gone a few hundred feet. After about 30 minutes, my brother said, “My headlamp keeps flicking on and off.” After looking at it, we couldn't find out why it wasn’t working. we decided that he would walk in front of me and I would use my headlamp to lighten his path. After another four switchbacks, we paused again to take high elevation pills because my brother was having a hard time catching his breath. After hearing this I was a little concerned because we were only at 13,000 feet. But after resting for a bit he was able to continue.
As he hiked I would periodically look down. The side of the trail was only a foot away from me and was a ten or sometimes 20-foot drop to either an ice field or a landslide. When I looked up I saw an extremely clear sky. I could make out each star and constellation. The light of the stars illuminated the mountain range across a very large valley. As we got closer to the top of the switchbacks, I could slightly make out the top of the ridge. Once we got to the top we paused before starting to the third section.
The third section was a one-mile path to the summit. The path went along the top of the ridge and sometimes went below large pillars of rock. The drop off the other side of the ridge was around 30 feet. At certain places, there was a large opening on the ridge and I could see the slightest bit of light spilling over the horizon. As we got further the path twisted away from the ridge and started weaving through tall pillars of rock and boulders. At this point, there was just enough light to see down without shining our headlamps. After around half a mile of the path weaving, it turned back to the ridge. With about 2,000 feet to go there was only one thing left in our way.
The last section was a large ice field on the side of the summit at 14,300 feet. When we got to the ice field it was around 5:00 a.m. We stopped before the ice field and took off our headlamps and put on Microspikes. It took us around ten minutes to cross. The ice field wrapped around the side of the peak. Looking back, there was just enough light to be able to see bits of our path winding up the mountain. After crossing, we paused to take off Microspikes and then quickly resumed. After the ice field, it was mostly a straight shot to the summit.
We reached the summit at exactly the right time. The clouds below were lit up with a vibrant orange glow. The summit had no snow on it but it was very cold. After putting on some layers I took a few pictures and then sat down to catch my breath and watch the sunrise. There were four other people on the summit that morning. After about 5 minutes on the summit, I couldn’t resist and went over to the very edge and looked down. Looking down I saw a lake about 2,000 feet down covered in ice. We spent most of the time on the summit chatting and taking pictures but after around 30 minutes we needed to get back down.
Staying on the summit for this amount of time is fine but if you stay too long it can become dangerous because at 14,490 feet the air is 11.8 percent oxygen when at around 75 feet it is 21 percent oxygen. Our bodies are not accustomed to breathing ten percent less oxygen but thankfully we had been able to acclimatize before we were at the summit.
When it was time to start down I took some more pictures, gathered my stuff, shed a layer and started. Once we reached the ice field we put back on the Microspikes, crossed and then had to wait till my parents were across to continue going. Since I was going at a faster pace than my parents I decided to keep going ahead. It took me around three hours to make it back, much quicker than going up because I could see much better. Going back I realized how dangerous parts of the trail were. At many points, one work step would mean falling 30 feet to a rockslide below. The rest of the way down is kinda a blur in my memory. I was very focused on getting to the bottom. Once I made it back to camp it was 10:30 a.m. My legs felt like Jello and I was extremely tired. After I set down my stuff I went into my tent and fell asleep. When I woke up my parents had just arrived. I got out of my tent and walked over to the center of our camp. Each step hurt. My legs still felt like Jello. I sat down on a large rock next to my parents’ tent and just watched the wildlife.
As I sat there, I thought about the last ten hours. It was still a little overwhelming and I was still tired. I came to the conclusion that the next time I do something like this I would rather it be more technical, such as ice climbing up to a peak in Alaska or rock climbing to a high summit, but also that for all the hard thing I do, there's usually an equal or better outcome. After ten minutes of reflecting, I came to another conclusion that I was too tired to think anymore so I went back to my tent and laid down.
