Mount Whitney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mount Whitney
East Face close-up seen from the way up on Whitney Portal.
Elevation	14,505 feet (4,421 meters)
Location	California, USA
Range	Sierra Nevada
Prominence	10,081 ft (3,073 m) Ranked 81st
Coordinates	36°34′42.9″N, 118°17′31.2″W
Topo map	USGS Mount Whitney
Type	Granite
Age of rock	Cretaceous
First ascent	1873
Easiest route	hike

Mount Whitney is the highest point in the contiguous United States at elevation 14,505 feet (4,421 meters). It is located at the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties. The western slope of the mountain lies within Sequoia National Park.

Mount Whitney was named after Josiah Whitney, the chief geologist of California. It was first climbed in 1873 by Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, and John Lucas (fishermen who lived in Lone Pine, California.)

Mount Whitney is just 76 miles (123 km) west of the lowest point in North America, in Death Valley (282 feet (86 m) below sea level), and immediately rises just over 2 miles (~3300 m) in elevation above the floor of the Owens Valley.

1 Hiking
2 Climbing
3 Elevation
4 Trivia
5 Reference
6 External links

[edit] Hiking

The most popular route to hike to the summit of Mt. Whitney is the main Mount Whitney Trail (MMWT) whose trailhead originates in Whitney Portal at 8,360' (2548 m), 13 miles west of the town of Lone Pine, CA. (Access from Tulare County, on the west side of the Sierra Crest, involves a much longer, multi-day excursion.) The hike is about 22 miles (35.4 km) round trip with an elevation gain of 6,100 ft (1859 m). This trail is extremely popular and its access is restricted between May 1st and November 1st, permitting 60 backpackers and 100 day hikers daily for the MMWT.

Camping is allowed along most of the trail, more than 100 feet from water, but level ground that meets that description is extremely limited, so most backpackers congregate in two camps. Outpost Camp, the lower of the two camps, is 3.8 miles (6.1 km) west of the trailhead at 10,365' (3,159 m), near a waterfall in a forested area just above Bighorn Meadow. Trail Camp, where most will base camp prior to their summit ascent, is 6.3 miles (10.1 km) from the trailhead at 12,000' (3,658 m), in a rocky (and often windy) basin above treeline. This is also the last place where there is a reliable water source. Most will take between 2 and 4 days to complete this trip, although many people attempt to summit as part of a very long dayhike.

Backpackers are required to carry a bear-resistant canister; these can be rented at the Interagency Visitors Center south of Lone Pine or the Whitney Portal Store for a nominal fee. Although the grizzly bear has been hunted out of California, black bears are still very common on the MMWT slope from the portal up through the land overlooking Outpost Camp. Night sightings of these bears are not unusual. When traveling at night, it is wise to wield a bright headlight and a shrill whistle. Making many strange, loud noises will alert the bears of human presence and they will be more afraid of you than you of them. Never travel without a light in the thick of the night because packs will attract curious bears. If possible, travel in a larger group as bears are much less likely to approach a group than a single hiker/camper.

Human waste management is a major problem at Mt. Whitney and the Inyo National Forest has instituted a voluntary pack it out program because the solar latrine at Outpost Camp and Trail Camp are not sufficient to take care of demand. The forest service gives all backpackers WAG bags when they pick up their permits. This program become mandatory when the solar latrines breakdown or become full. [1]

A one day trip up the MMWT usually starts between 2 and 4 AM. Most successful hikers will complete the trip in between 10 and 18 hours. Faster hikers and runners can complete the trip in 6 hours, and some have climbed and descended the mountain twice (Phil Lowry of Hobble Creek Canyon, Utah did the double trip in 13:15 in 2002). http://www.users.qwest.net/~cirnielsen/wasalpstriders.html

The main Mount Whitney trail is very easy to follow and is generally well maintained, and usually requires no climbing or winter gear once the mountain clears of snow and ice, usually by mid-July. As of August 1, 2006 the upper portions of the switchbacks and the portion of the trail beyond Trail Crest to the Windows have suffered from the effects of the heavy snows of the past two winters. It is still imminently passable but caution is advised. It is wise to ask returning hikers for the current trail conditions prior to heading up the trail.

The Mount Whitney area is notorious for its unpredictable weather. Common advice is to be off of the peak by noon during the summer monsoon season. This weather pattern is usually seen between June and mid-September.

Mount Whitney from the Alabama Hills

[edit] Climbing

The steep eastern side of the mountain offers a variety of climbing challenges. The "Mountaineer's Route", a Class 3 gully to the north of the east face, was first climbed by John Muir. The East Face route, first climbed in 1931, is a classic easy climbing route of the Sierra; mostly Class 3, with the hardest parts at only 5.4 (YDS). Other routes range up to 5.10 in difficulty.

To the south of the main summit there are a series of minor summits that are completely inconspicuous from the west, but appear as a series of "needles" from the east. The routes on these include some of the finest big-wall climbing in the high Sierra. Two of the needles were named after participants in an 1880 scientific expedition to the mountain: the Keeler Needle and the Day Needle; the latter has now been renamed Crooks Peak after Hulda Crooks, who hiked up Mount Whitney every year until well into her nineties.

[edit] Elevation

The estimated elevation of the peak of Mount Whitney has changed over the years. This is not due to the peak growing (although it is): the elevation measurement has become more refined, and more importantly, the vertical coordinate system has changed. The peak is commonly thought to be 14,494 feet high. However, this is in the NVGD29 vertical datum from 1929. Since then, the exact shape of the Earth (the geoid) has become better estimated, with a new coordinate system NAVD88 established in 1988. In this new coordinate system, the benchmark GT1811 is estimated to be at 14,505 feet. [2]. See [3] for the elevation data of this benchmark, supplied by the United States National Geodetic Survey, the agency that estimates the horizontal and vertical position of landmarks.

The Needles and Whitney's East Face seen from the Mountaineer's Route

[edit] Trivia

The 1941 film High Sierra is set in part at Whitney Portal and features a car chase up the Whitney Portal Road.

The 1954 film, The Long, Long Trailer is also set in part along the Whitney Portal Road.

A High School in Visalia, the county seat of Tulare County, the county in which Mt. Whitney is located, is named after the mountain.

A plane crashed into the side of Mount Whitney in 1969, killing all 35 on board. See Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708.

The Badwater Ultramarathon is a 135-mile (215 km) running race from the bottom of Death Valley and ending at an elevation of 8360 feet (2548 m) at Whitney Portal, the trailhead for Mount Whitney.

[edit] Reference

Steve Roper, The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra (Sierra Club Books, 1976) ISBN 0-87156-147-6

[edit] External links

Computer generated summit panoramas: North South index. The 190-mile (306 km) view south from Mount Whitney to San Gorgonio Mountain has been photographed, see here.
Maps and aerial photos
- WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image from TerraServer-USA
- Surrounding area map from Google Maps
- Location in the United States from the Census Bureau