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Maria, the Conquering Hero:
Well, I've had a goal since i was a little kid, and I
stuck to it, and i made it. Not only did I make it up
Mt Whitney, but I did it as a day hike! It was 17
hours of walking!
I went to a place called the White Mountains to get used
to the altitute. It's quiet there, plus California's
3rd highest peak is there. Che and I hiked that on
Tuesday. Had a great time there. Met some nice
people, and a good time was had by all. Wednsday my dad
joined me up there.
Thursday night I slept in my car
at the Whitney trailhead. Got up at 2am and was on the
trail by 3. Walking to the trailhead a sherrif asked
me if i'd seen any bears. Nope, but after that, alone
on the trail in the dark, all I could think of was
'lions & tigers & bears!'.
The sun came up when I was
at lone pine lake, so hopefully I have awesome
pictures. A little while later I started to believe
that I could really do this today! I'd heard about
the snow on the switchbacks (there is a section of 99
switchbacks where most of your elevation happens) so I
wasn't sure if I was going to go up that. When I got
there, it wasn't so bad. There was still a lot of snow
on the trail, but enough people had cut a path through
it that I could see the way.
A little ways up I met
Kim & John, triathletes from LA. Very nice, very fit
people, but they didn't know much about what they were
doing. They were in running shorts & shoes. They
hadn't spent any time at altitute & had pounding
headaches. But they because my hiking buddies. Good
thing, too. There was a part that the snow was just
too much. I was condsidering turning around when John
pretty much made me do it. You had to jam your arm
down into the snow for balance & scooch along. It was
really rough!
When we got to the top of the
switchbackes, there were some young (indestructable
aged) guys glissading a few thousand feet down a
snowfield rather than hike down the switchbacks again.
They all SEEMED sane when I talked to them!
Then I
got to trail crest. This is where you finally reach
the top of the ridge & can see went into Sequoia &
Kings Canyon National Parks. Amazing! The weather
was great. Several people were leaving their packs
for a faster final push to the summit. I did the
same. Took my camera & some water. Left the warm
clothes & raincoat because the weather was so nice. I
was wearing the shorts part of my hiking pants (the
kind where you can zip the legs off) & a tshirt, one
of those 'coolmax' ones that dries so fast you dont
appear to be sweating. If you ever hike, PLEASE spend
the extra money to get decent hiking clothes like
this! You'll see why.
So I push on for the top. I
see Elizabeth, a girl I'd met at the Lone Pine Ranger
Station the day before who was hiking to Canada on the
Pacific Crest Trail. We did the final push together,
joked about things, had a wonderful time. Then...I
was there! I couldn't believe it. After all the
dreaming & planning, I was really on top. I signed
the summit register, had John take a picture of me
doing the nation's highest handstand, and lots of us
were handing cameras around for pictures. Amazing we
all got down with our own! Then...the lightning rods
on the summit hut started buzzing. And the snow
started. Aside from the water & camera, I also had my
trekking poles (priceless!!), so I was pretty much
carrying 2 lightning rods! We started down.
I was
really happy that John & Kim were still with us because
they knew nothing of the danger & thought their hair
standing on end was amusing (this usually means that
you're about to be hit by lightning!). Lemmie tell
you, I was FREEZING. Very glad I had rapid drying
clothes because the snow would've made me wet & cold,
followed by hypothermia, but every flake that melted
on me was dry within minutes, so I was ok. I just KEPT
MOVING!!!
I finally got back to my pack (that seemed
like the longest part of the hike). I few guys who
had camped about 100 feet down a back route had told
me where their tent was & that I could warm up there
if I wanted, but I decided not to, just needed to
move. I put everything on & headed down. Got to the
snowfield & John appeared to be contemplating. It was
dangerous, but so was all the lightning & getting down
as fast as possible was the safest thing to do. We
passed. Walked down the switchbacks, which had become
a fast river of muddy, snowy sludge! At one point I
started slipping so I stuck my poles out & joked that
it was my 1st time skiing.
We were discussing/taking
inventory of everyone who was up there behind us and
have we seen then start down instead of getting
struck, when we realized we were missing the 4 older
guys who were on top with us. They had also been
saying earlier that never would they slide down that
snow. Well, the lightning must've scared them more,
because there they were glissading down the chute! We
saw them on the trail later & they said they'd chosen
their evils.
After the switchbacks, the trail was
just a river for a few miles. A few times on the way
down John rested but I found I couldn't...my legs
started shaking too much if I did! We got back down a
little after 8. How unfortunate, because I wanted to
get a Whitney in 1 day shirt from the trailhead store.
I took a last drive around the portal, & there was
Doug, the store owner (a very nice guy who knows that
mountain better than anyone) sweeping up. I told him
that I'd made it & he was very happy for me. He
remembered me from 2 years ago. He let my buy my 1
day shirt even tho he was closed, & I was on my way.
Still had to meet dad in the White Mountains. I was
in no condition to drive because I was seeing double.
Hadn't eaten anything but a few granola bars, a handful
of m&ms, & a peanut butter sandwich Kim gave me all
day, but decided I needed sleep more than food. Found
my dad, hobbled to bed...& couldn't sleep. The norm
for me, but I was just way too excited.
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should be viewed in this light.
This information was last updated
12 January 2001. Any comments can be sent to
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� 2000 Disa Ohlsson