Mt. Whitney in
Azusa (CA)

This was an extraordinary experience. Very grueling but not impossible. I did not go to summit. This video is right after I crossed over Trail Crest from Guitar Lake.

The Mount Whitney mountaineering route is beautiful and varied, beginning among big pine trees, passing challenging couloirs, and reaching alpine lakes—great for swimming, except Iceberg Lake, which stays frozen in winter. Lower Boy Scout Lake makes an ideal stop. The climb is demanding and requires some experience and proper gear, especially for the last 100 meters to the summit, where the incline can approach 60 degrees due to wind-blown snow over the summit edge. Along the way, we may meet interesting people if we go during the week rather than on weekends. The ascent is well worth it for the sweeping views of the Sierra Nevada and distant Death Valley.

Long... Hard... Walk... But I am not a super experienced hiker, early 30s with about 30 hikes under my belt (went to Mr Baldy once, a couple night hikes at Lake Tahoe). Took 2 days to summit and back, great feeling of reward. Beginner hikers, train extensively first. Intermediate hikers, make sure you're in good shape. Expert hikers, you can probably knock it out in a day.

One of the most epic hike and achievement ever. I did 3 days backpacking coming from below sea level. Eventhough I took Diamox, I still experienced the real altitude at the trailhead. Our group is experiencing backpacking and we are pretty much active, but the altitude was no joke. It took us 7 hours to get to Trail Camp and 7 hours from Trail Camp to summit. Bears are most active at the Whitney Portal trailhead, but the marmots activities in Trail Camp were crazy. They know how to steal people food when people left their stuff at the campground to summit in the morning. The sceneries are spectacular, but I didn’t enjoy much due to altitude sickness. If I have to do it again, I would spend more day to acclimate.

One of the best hikes in America. It is breathtaking from start to finish and offers so many varied views.

I wanted to avoid the whole system of getting a permit in the Summer months and opted to go in Winter. It’s not too bad of a trail but would take a lot more time than I had planned with the snow slowing me down and the trail disappearing after Travelers Camp. Didn’t get to make it to the top. If you want to try in Winter also, the road is “soft” closed as in if you decide to enter after the closed sign, you’re completely on your own. The road is not maintained and there’s only 1 person doing any recovery efforts for a hefty fee.

One of the best memories in my life. For those who planned on going there with kids. We started our trip at 11.56 pm with our 7 years old son. Scared to death but after 2 am we were passed by many people and became very excited) no more fear. Make sure you have flash lights on BATTERIES. We had 3! 2 of them were with USB chargers, both died. Thanks God, 3d one was with batteries and we have a few more sets of them. Some trails were flooded, be prepared to take off your shoes or carefully make it through the rocks. With a kid, you definitely need an overnight hike. We reached the Mirror Lake around 7-8 am. He is pretty active and strong boy. But it was impossible for him to walk higher without overnight sleep. One more thing, when you back down, there in no shade during the long run, so it is one more challenge. For the kid it was harder to get down at 1-2 pm than walking during the late night. No bears were seen, only a bunch of deer ?! First pair of eyes scared us to death but later it was even funny. We didn’t bring a bear spray. Light shoes, light backpacks and you would be fine. Many creeks from the very beginning, so don’t worry about water refilling. Enjoy ?

The hike took us about 16 hours and was brutal on the body. What an amazing experience and worth every ounce of pain and sweat.

Loved this hike. We hiked as a day-hike out of Whitney Portal in October, after acclimating to the altitude for one night in the Golden Trout Wilderness nearby. We had cool but pleasant conditions for the hike, and only encountered a small area of ice on the switchbacks. Beautiful views with clear skies at the top. Highly recommend this hike. Edit: Got to visit the Whitney summit at sunrise, as part of the High Sierra Trail. It was spectacular. Added a few pictures.

Mt.Whitney ✅ after challenging hike for 2days. A place must to visit with proper training. Carrying essential but keep it light. Start early to avoid late night back to trailhead. Wild changing weather and conditions from cold, landslides and major thunderstorms ?️

So I have to say as an experienced hiker the altitude really got me here ! We drove up the eve before and started in the night, means we did 3000m/10000 ft in less then 12 hours. I had little headache and been quite dizzy sometimes. Anyway let’s get to the hike. So the first part till the lone pine lake is literally a walk in the park compared to the rest. After it start to get tiring way up and from the trail camp it starts to gets brutal. Absolut fighting mode is activated because of the altitude once you walk behind the mountains at the info point. So we did summit from the parking in 5:45 mins and I took little longer down cos I had a nap. My Time was 10:45 but suffering ! I honestly recommend People a to take their time or acclimate which either one we haven’t done …

We hiked the whole trail on 7/8/2024. The weather is awesome, not hot, not cold. The weather is warmer than the historical temperature. Below is my review for summer summiting Mount Whitney. Start at 2am, summit at 11am, finish at 8pm. Take rests multiple times. No ibuprofen taken. If you take ibuprofen, it may help you when your joint and muscles are too tired. The return part are soooo long and really tired. The day hike is really tough, the hardiest trail ever, but the view and Mt Whitney peak is really worth it. For day hike, you need to sleep from the afternoon the day before, maybe get used to it for several days. I have very slight altitude sickness and can walk fast above 14000, but my wife really suffers from it. So, it really varies a lot among people. Almost no snow, only a few near the peak. No microspike needed. Cable section is snow free and very safe. The trail itself has moderate difficulities if you hike Storm King trail before. However, the long distance and possible altitude sickness are really a monster!

Extremely challenging as a day hike and a rewarding experience all-around. You'll have phenomenal views everywhere you look. It can be overwhelming if you're accustomed to fields of corn or urban sprawl. We started our day hike at 11pm in mid July 2023 after their record snowfalls and summited at 10am the next day. The total round-trip time was 18 hours. Large portions of the trail (if you can call it that) were covered in snow, with many dangerous traverse sections, switchbacks, and water crossings. The altitude is no joke - our home is around 600ft MSL and at around 10,000ft we started to feel the HACE. By 14,000 we were barely moving. We are both in extremely good shape by any measure (triathletes, mountain bikers, endurance runners, etc), and this trek was still a challenge. Conditions vary wildly. Some days it's a long class 3 walk to the top, and other times you need your ice axe and crampons to safety summit. Do you research on the most current mountain conditions and be prepared for a physical and mental challenge. And don't forget to stop and enjoy the scenery.

Summit date: Monday April 21, 2024 Path: mountaineer route Can’t recommend this enough, the route is full of epic views and technical climbing (E ledges). I have two 10k mountains completed but this was something special. Please train for this, it’s not for the feint of heart and it took me and my buddy completely by surprise at the difficulty level BUT still achievable with a confident headspace, gummies, bars, and the power of friendship. Amazing break in weather for two days. Sun severely melted the snow by 10am so those looking to attempt a summit. LEAVE EARLY or wait for a cold snap; it turns into a mushy mess and most people we talked to on the descent either turned back or had to make camp way sooner than they wanted because it was over exhausting If you can- push for iceberg lake if you plan on camping a night, the route from upper boyscout to iceberg is taxing. It’s hard enough to nail the chute/ notch on a summit day with the warmer weather so save your strength for that. Left iceberg at 6:10am and submitted around 9, by 8:30 the sun was cooking the notch and quite a few people had trouble climbing

This was an incredible challenge but one I’m glad I did. We came up through the east side, from Guitar lake off the High Sierra Trail, which helped to acclimate us to the high altitude. Starting at 3:30 am, we made it to the summit just after sunrise. The long trail down the west side to Whitney Portal was tough!

Just hiked mt Whitney yesterday (8/1) with a day permit. Great hike. It definitely a long day of hiking. We started early (1:30am) and we finished around 7pm. We are in pretty good shape but the altitude is no joke. Took us almost 12 hours to get up there, but we pretty much cut our return trip in half. We decided to glissade down the chute. It was a blast and scary. We saved easily an hour of time. About 1500 feet in less than 5 mins. Go at your own pace. Enjoy the hike.

I hiked Mt. Whitney on Sunday July 2nd, 2023. I left home at 9pm and arrived at the portal at 2am and started hiking immediately at 2:05 am. There was a lot of snow covering big portions of the trail. I had to cross several creeks (it was a little scary). On this day and probably for the next couple of weeks having snow spikes (yaktrax or tranpons) was absolutely necessary. I didn't use trekking poles because I like having free hands, but everybody else around me had them. Everyone around me was wearing good hiking gear, and I had running gear (cuz I'm a runner??‍♂️?). I was totally fine - but don't think you'll be fine just cuz I was. I recommend having a good map (Garmin gpx file) specifically now cuz the snow is covering the trails. The switchbacks are completely covered with snow, so everyone is hiking up through the mountaineer section which means a straight hike to the top of the ridge in hard snow (in the morning). From here is two miles to the peak with no snow except the last quarter mile before the peak. The return, back on the mountaineer area, was pretty tough sliding down on my butt on snow (on purpose) felt pretty scary. I think it's pretty easy to get hurt here - be super careful! I highly recommend training for this hike (even when there is no snow) specially if you are planning to do it in one day, like me (but this way was kind of crazy, I admit it. No sleep and no acclimation to altitude). This hike is no joke. It took me 13 hours to go to the peak and down back to the portal, and I consider myself being in excellent shape doing CrossFit, mountain biking and ultra running in a regular basis plus walking my big athletic dog over 30 miles per week. Needless to say, the hike was awesome and beautiful. I'm planning to do it many more times when the snow melts (hopefully faster each time ?). Be safe out there, and don't go alone specially if it's your first time.

A climb I highly recommend. This mountain requires some serious training, understanding of the trail and use of proper gear before attempting a summit. It’s not a normal day hike in the woods and could lead to serious injury or death if not properly prepared. With that being said, the entire experience is very worth it. You will be rewarded with some spectacular views.

Very fun hike, but not recommended without some training. That being said, the scenery on My Whitney changes quite a bit, it's very beautiful. I have done this hike three times now. Each time with full pack, doing a three day hike. In my opinion, it's the best way to enjoy the mountain. You can daypack it, but that seems brutal to me. Of course some daypackers probably think it's crazy doing it with full packs. We hike 6 miles up and stay overnight at Trail Camp. Then we daypack the following day to the peak and back down to camp. Bear cannisters are highly recommended so the critters do t get into your food at night, or anytime you turn your back for that matter. Of course, it's always important to carry up a Mountain Dew to have at the top of peak, it's tradition for us!

I managed to get the passes after the initial lottery. The process was easy to use. Actually getting there was beautiful, and my compatriots and I hiked 23 miles of beautiful trail in 17 hours. The non-mountaineer’s route was fun, and breathtaking in a very literal sense. It’s not a technically difficult mountain, but the altitude balances that out. I loved it, it was a beautiful peak, and now I’ve climbed the two tallest mountains in the lower 48.

The trail to the highest mountain in the mainland US 48 states starts at El portal campground. It is strenuous and requires permits. One way distance is approximately 14 miles with the last 1-2 miles basically loose rock and coincides with John Muir trail. Will see panoramic views of Sequoia NP. Can be done in a day or split over 2 days. Will really recommend doing it over 2 days.

Have been up to the peak twice. First time was a day hike. It was obtainable and a great hike. We had snow the last 2 miles of the hike. The second time, we backpacked in and the snow started 2 miles into our hike and it was much more difficult. Both times were in June. The second time was much more intensive with the extra weight and heaps of snow. Very beautiful hike and worth every step taken!

Other than the permit grabbing situation, consider yourself very lucky if your permit lands on a day with good weather! We had clear skies up til 3pm when we got down, very fortunate. Started at 3am, summited in 6 hours, came down in 4.5 hours- the hike is long and the last couple miles feel like ages (I'd recommend listening to a podcast the last 4 miles)

The best & highest mountain ever I hike in California. This is the best & hard to hike. Don’t go without lots of water & foods also backpacks, hat, extra dresses if you need. I went in summer time without knowing any information of the mountain. It was really hard for me. So sunny after 12 pm & it’s makes me headache without hat but still cold air. My last point is only half way of the lake & it took 3 hours from bottom. You might need permit to go hiking on the way to the top & other places.

Highest peak in the contiguous United States. Gets pretty difficult from Trail Camp but all in all worth it I guess if you really want to reach the summit. Take lots of water and take it slow. Awesome views.

You need a permit to get further but if not you can do a route of 2.6 miles each way which is awesome !!! Super pretty !!! check the pics :) there is a parking up there and it's free, there is a small shop with some food, HUGE pancakes, restrooms.. and then ready to hike! Also there is a beautiful waterfall :)

The tallest mountain in the contiguous US, Mount Whitney reaches just under 15,000-ft elevation. It's a 13 mile hike to the summit (26 round trip) which can be accomplished in 1 day, and the mountaineers route is 7 miles (14 round trip). The standard route is full of switchbacks while the mountaineers route is more of a vertical climb which makes gear and equipment more necessary. If you do tackle the mountaineers route make sure to have a map and to read up on forums to make sure you don't get lost. Otherwise, both routes offer beautiful scenery. It is truly an remarkable place.