Sequoia National Park High Point Trip Report

Mount Whitney

Date: May 2001
Author: Dale Milsap

an attempt

We drove in from Utah, arriving at the trailhead in the early morning and starting immediately up the mountaineers' route.

We had to put on the crampons nearly 1000 feet below Lower Boy Scout Lake. A slight rain turned into a serious winter storm at the pass above Upper Boy Scout Lake. We pushed on until 200 - 300 feet below Iceberg Lake, and the storm forced us to make camp (and a miserable camp it was.) Other climbers stopped in for a quick chat on their way down (none of them had made summit.) We had a miserable three hours of rest and the storm just got worse. One of our party began to show symptoms of AMS, so we emerged from our tents to find 12 - 18 new inches of snow and still coming down. We picked up camp and headed down, finally heeding the advice from all the other climbers. It was dark before we arrived back at the trailhead. The jacuzzi at the Dow Villa Motel soothed our aching muscles that night.