Mt Whitney

It was opening day for Iron Man, but i didn't know it at the time. I also didn't know that Iron Man was filmed partly in the Alabama Hills, at the base of Mt. Whitney. Thirdly, i didn't know that on opening day there was going to be some kind of publicity event with Robert Downey Jr. at a ranch across the street from my hotel. So i was kinda confused as to why i seemed to be eating breakfast with a big Hollywood crowd of people who were all complaining about the coffee, which was truly terrible. I advised this guy dressed like a director (whatever that means) to start a coffee assembly line on his table, with cups too hot to drink from waiting in line as a cooler cups became available for consumption. Days later in San Francisco i saw a picture of Robert Downey Jr. standing on a platform in front of a pile of rocks in the Alabama Hills. It was only then that i realized what had been going on. I should have looked to see if i could see my Jeep driving by in the background.


Mt. Whitney at dawn.

Lone Pine, as i mentioned before, happens to sit right below Mt. Whitney. I was staying in a hotel that looked right at it, and i couldn't help but go up and check out the area at the end of the road, at 8,000 feet. I was extremely relieved, after momentary panic, that the huge log jammed line of SUV's parading into the opening celebration, were in fact NOT clogging the road i needed to take up into the mountains. My road was right next to traffic jam, but empty.





Getting out of the car up there at the top, i was immediately overwhelmed by the great smells of the forest, consisting mostly of Pinyon and Ponderosa Pines. I couldn't believe how much i had forgotten about the area, as far as the great smells and all the types of flora and fauna. The facilities were not quite open for the season. In fact, i walked into the "campstore" next to the trail and found the place empty, with a bunch of boxes on the floor. People had just shown up for the season and were stocking the shelves. I wanted to help out, get a job and stay for the whole summer!


Mt. Whitney, later in the day. The main summit is on the right. The route to the top circles around the back of the spires, which make a long slope down to tablelands on the other side. If you're hardcore you can climb straight up the front side.

I had planned on just taking a look around at the trailhead and campground where i'd slept without a tent (my poor sister nearly froze to death). It was such a nice day, though, that before i knew it i was hiking up the trail towards the summit. It was weird that the trail still seemed vaguely familiar after having only been on it once 12 years ago. It starts off as a hot trail below a massive granite wall, with lizards basking in the sun on rocks sticking out of patches of snow.


Super nice day.

I knew i wasn't going to make it too far. I hadn't brought any food or water, i didn't have waterproof shoes, and it was clearly too early in the year to get very far without snow gear. After about two miles the trail permanently disappeared under the snow and the route splintered into pieces as previous hikers disagreed about which route would support their weight over all the underlying hidden holes that are common in rotten spring snow.



After post holing for a while i remembered that i had come to the California desert specifically to avoid being around snow, so i gave up my attempt to make it to the first lake (which was likely still frozen anyway). The altitude was killing me, i was ravenously hungry and i had made myself seriously behind schedule as far as the driving i had to do for the day.

All in all, I still seemed to be doing better than these two flatlanders from the valley (as they referred to themselves) who claimed they were going to climb the whole mountain. They had all brand new, never used gear (a good sign things weren't going to work), and were already having a very hard time making progress up the trail. Things didn't look good for them, and they admitted to having no mountain climbing experience. I had to wonder, then, why they would decide on Mt. Whitney in early spring. It's a 6,400 foot elevation gain over 11 miles and they were choosing to do it through rotten snow the whole way.


Two of the impressive summit spires. They look close but are actually 3 miles away.




The granite around Mt. Whitney is fantastic stuff, a lot of rock climbing walls around that probably get ignored as people are attracted closer to the summit.