Whitney 5.0 Was My Fastest

We started at 2:04am and walked in the dark till we got to Trailside Meadow (5.3 mile / 11395 feet). We took it easy until we entered the Whitney Zone and then we picked up the pace a bit.

Our leader Debbie organized this trip and 8 of us started at 2:04am. David lead the way and here he is overlooking the Trailside Meadow.

This section of the hike from Mirror Lake (4.3/10640) is always hard for me going going up and especially descending. Trail Camp (6.3/12039) is only 2 miles away but it is a hard 2 miles. One climbs 1400 feet in 2 miles which is a 13% average grade. Plus the trail is not always clearly defined because it goes over so many rocks.

One of the few easy parts of this section is when you get to walk along side the creek.

Sometime, I would like to stop and enjoy this creek but usually I am in a hurry to get up or in a hurry to get back to my car.

The sun came up as we got to Trail Camp.

Plenty of campers at Trail Camp. In the past, there has been some snow on the way to this camp site and the lake is often frozen. This year it was very dry, in fact last year at this time the switchbacks had a lot of snow on them.

I caught up with David at Trail Camp before he headed up the Switchbacks.

Garrett at Trail Camp.

Shay at Trail Camp.

David heading up the Switchbacks.

The Cables (7.7/12820)

Snowball fight at 13,000 feet.

This trail block was not fun to climb over.

Just realized she was low on water, so it was Bear Gryles time.

Trails Crest

Just completed the JMT in 14 days!

Just completed the JMT in 14 days!

Trails Crest  (8.5/13777)

JMT (9/13480)

David summited in 7:11.

This snow field was not fun to cross.

My Hoka One Ones got the job done!

My third summit was also my fastest (8:22).

Summit (11/14496)

I only stayed about ten minutes at the summit.

Their first summit, 12 hours after they first meet.

Lupe

Debbie

Patty

Finished at 5:08pm (15:02)

Started at 2:04am