Darren's short recap of his trip to Mt. Whitney
Just got back on Monday (Aug 17). We flew out on last Thursday to Vegas and rented a car for the drive through Death Valley (which was neat) and then over to Lone Pine, CA (at the base of Mt Whitney).
We drove up and camped out Friday night at base camp (8000 ft) and then did a hike up to 10,000 ft on Saturday to help our bodies acclimate to the altitude. We then slept back at base camp for the early part of Saturday night, then got up Sunday morning and began our trek to the top at 2:00am local time (so early because you must be off the mountain by noon to apparently avoid dangerous lightning). It was a 22 mile round trip, we figured it would take approximately 7 hours to summit, then 5 hours to return to camp (12 hour round trip). Well, that would have worked out fine, except I picked up a case of altitude sickness that prevented me from eating enough as I got to the higher elevations. As you know from cycling, if you can't eat, your energy is gone.
Well, by the time the actual summit came into sight (probably about 1 mile left), I could barely walk. The 2 guys I went with were able to avoid altitude sickness and had already made it to the top.....on their way down, we talked and tried to decide whether I should try to continue on or turn back. I finally decided I'd give it a try, so they went on down and I kept going up. Dude, I made it about 10 steps and stopped.....it hurt like hell. I looked back down, back up at the summit, back and forth for about 5 minutes. I finally decided I'd come too far to give up, so I continued on toward the summit. It was agonizing because I could see the entire path all the way to the top and wasn't sure I could make it. Finally, after about 45 minutes of pure torture, I made it to the top. I only spent 5 minutes on the peak, then began the trek back down. Luckily, once I got down about 2000 feet from the top, my altitude sickness went away and I was finally able to eat. After that, I got my energy back and was able to enjoy the rest of the trip back to base camp. I was out there 15 hours.
It was an awesome trip and I think I learned alot. If I ever do it again, I'll try to take advantage of the higher elevation camps to make the actual summit day shorter and to allow my body to acclimate better. I'd also make different choices about the food I carry.
It was one of the more beautiful places I've ever seen.
