whitney in a day

stu has been on my ass for the last month about a whitney trip, which is an annual thing for him. given i’m unemployed until december i had run out of reasons not to go, plus it’s a beautiful challenging hike. the trail itself is typically easy, but it does get spicy this time of year. plus we were doing it as a day hike, which means 22 miles and 6,000’+ elevation change. not unpossible, but the days are short and the nights are cold and the trail has a lot of snow this year. my buddy greg decided to join us as well, never having been before. after picking up our permit we headed up the whitney portal to see what was up and talk to some exiting hikers about conditions. they all said traction devices were needed, advice that greg and i heeded.
lone pine creek at whitney portal

then we headed back down to the alabama hills, just off movie road to set up camp. the alabama hills, named after the css (confederate states ship) alabama, were the movie location for many movies including westerns such as ‘how the west was won’, as well as current flicks like ‘iron man’ and ‘transformers – revenge of the fallen’.

plus, they had a great view of our objective

that’s when things got subjective

what a sunset over whitney and the alabama hills

‘thumbs’ up!

night fell, as it tends to do

fast forward 6 hours to just below lone pine lake. the sky was getting lighter so i i took this handheld shot of mt irvine. stoked it came out at all

first morning’s light on whitney

stu and greg approach trail camp with mt. mcadie in the background

consultation lake with mt. mcadie in the background

mt. muir looking demure

it was wicked cold. this was our first hint of sun

there was a lot of snow. stu had to turn around at this point since he was w/o crampons. greg getting ready to tackle the cables section and the switchbacks