A Tale of Two Climbs

A Tale of Two Climbs

Packing the Ten Essentials to climb Mt. Whitney’s Mountaineer’s Route

Mt. Whitney is the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States.  Rising 14,508 feet out of the Californian desert near Death Valley, ironically the lowest point in North America.  There are two routes to the summit on its east face.  The Whitney Trail, which meanders 11 miles through switchbacks to climb the 6100 feet from the trailhead at the Whitney Portal to the summit.  And the Mountaineer’s Route which starts at the same trailhead but climbs that same 6100 feet in under 4 miles.  The Mountaineers route is rated Class 4, which basically means it is simple climbing with handholds necessary and significant exposure.

Lesson’s From Lieutenant Dan

“Two standing orders in this platoon. One, take good care of your feet. Two, try not to do anything stupid, like gettin' yourself killed.”  We can learn a lot from Lieutenant Dan’s two standing orders to Forest Gump and Bubba.   Having once been (literally), a Lieutenant Dan myself, I can tell you that these are fantastic “orders” and there is good reason that it applies to hikers and climbers just as well as an infantryman.  When your means of transportation are your feet and those feet take you away from other methods of transportation it is important to one take good care of your feet and two not do something stupid.