Saturday, August 15, 2009

Climbing Mt. Whitney

Climbing group back at base camp
Plaque at top of Mt. Whitney
Climbing group at the top of Mt. Whitney


on the top

Getting close to the summit of Mt. Whitney.




A panorama of the back side vista looking off towards sequoia National Park.





Trail along the back side, this was the most precarious part of the climb. The snow really changed the dynamics of the hike.






Me and my climbing partner as we started the back side.







This is trail crest, a very rocky area right at the crest of the mountain. We still have several miles to traverse before we reach Mt. Whitney.








This is me working my way across a snow field just before we crested.









This is one of my climbing partners working his way across a steep snow field. If you slipped, you would slide for thousands of feet. Coming back one of my partners and I slid down this snow field using ice axes to control our decent. This saved about 2 or 3 hours of hiking.










This is me moving along the section that had cables, but the snow was 4 ft. above the cables, so they added no protection. Base camp is down below in the rocky area by the water.











This is me climbing above base camp. Mt Whitney is the furthermost peak that is in the clouds. The trail take us behind the row of jagged peaks.












The most beautiful sun rise I have ever seen from base camp


Base camp at 12000 ft. I am work on improvising some gaiters for the next days climb to the summit .










Traversing a snow field below base camp














1 comment:

  1. Those are great! Wish I could of been there. Hope you are up for doing it again.
    Mike

    ReplyDelete