A few days after the September 11th attacks, I headed down to Lone Pine to do a solo scramble up the Whitney Trail.

I was familiar with the route. I had failed on a winter ascent the year before with Jamie. We had lugged our heavy packs up the trail. Camped out at Trail Camp, and absolutely froze our tails off--despite having -40 degree sleeping bags. The next morning we waited for the sun to hit and warm our tents before we got up, and ended up getting a late start. We ended up turning back at the Keeler Needle so that we wouldn't have to descend the lower part of the trail in the dark.

This time around I was determined to do it differently. Because I knew the route, and drawing on some of the alpine skills I learned through my Matterhorn program, I decided to climb Whitney light and fast in one day.

When I first arrived in Lone Pine, I bought a large pizza and headed to the trail head. I ate lunch at the picnic tables and then headed up up the trail for an acclimatization hike. This also offered me another chance to see the trail I would be hiking up in the dark early the next morning. I hiked up a couple of hours before turning back and returning to the Best Western in Lone Pine for a rest. At 3:00 a.m. I got up, carbo-loaded 2 plates of pancakes at the all-night cafe in Lone Pine and headed for the trail head.

Being fit, and having a light load made all the difference. In two hours, I had made it to the lower camp, by 7:00 a.m. I caught the sunrise and alpenglow on the east face of Whitney at Trail Camp, and by 10:30 a.m. I was eating my pizza leftovers all alone at the summit. With a leisurely decent I was back down at the trailhead by 3:00 p.m. and ready for some dinner in Lone Pine.

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  See recommended reading for this trip

  See a gear list for this trip: Whitney Trail | Mountaineers Route