I just posted 25 or so pictures from our recent Mt. Whitney climb.  They can be found on the Old Rivers Climbing homepage.  Brent also took a bunch of pictures, so when I get them, I will add them to the collection.  A trip report for this climb is in the works and will be posted hopefully sometime this week.

On a different note, we were sad to hear of two experienced climbers dying on Denali this week.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to their families.  For a full news report, click here.

Check back soon for more posts!

We just got home from the trip a few minutes ago.  I apologize for the lack of information since the last post in Lone Pine.  We had no service on the mountain and essentially drove through the night to get back today.  I will be posting pictures and a trip report very soon once I have time to sort though them and write one up.  Thank you all for your support and interest in our progress.  Check back soon for more info!

We found what seems to be the main restaurant in Lone Pine. We all ordered different variations of burgers and are waiting to get them right now.

The town is tiny and just has a main strip of stores and restaurants. We will head up to the Whitney portal tonight at 8000 ft. to start acclimatizing.

Thank you all for the comments and keep them coming!

We just arrived in Lone Pine and are looking for some dinner. Whitney looks impressive!

We just filled up in Beatty and are now heading West through Death Valley National Park. It is interesting that we will pass through the lowest point in the US to climb the tallest peak in the contiguous United States. We are 100 miles from Lone Pine.

We have passed through Vegas and are heading for California. Cell-phone coverage will be spotty but I will try to keep the updates coming.

We made our first stop at a Flyn’ J / Subway in St. George to eat lunch and get gas. It feels good to be in Nevada already and heading to Las Vegas.

We called the ranger station to get an update on current conditions and the weather forecast. It sounds like the snow has been hitting in the afternoon so an early summit attempt should be feasible.

Drew wants to thank everyone for the birthday wishes!

Stay tuned…

Well, we have put some miles behind us. We are cruising through the Utah badlands and making good time. Drew and I just finished Blades of Glory, Phil Junior is sleeping (no suprise there), and Brent and Phil are chatting.

The weather conditions for the climb are looking interesting with snow in the forecast. Rest assured that we will keep an eye on it and not jeopardize our safety.

Here is a pic of Drew and some Utah scenery. Stay tuned!

We are on our way to the Mt. Whitney portal. The drive is about 9 hours, and I will be adding updates regarding our progress along the way! Stay tuned!

The Whitney climb is just around the corner and we are continuing to step up the training to get ready for it.  On Memorial Day Phil and I headed up Mill Creek Canyon to climb Gobblers Knob.  It is a peak located in the Wasatch Front behind (east of) Mt. Olympus.  Its elevation at the summit is over 10,000ft., but pur sights were not set on the summit yesterday.  There is still a substantial amount of snow in the backcountry and starting after 5PM, our time was limited.  Our primary goal was to just get out on the trail with some heavy packs on and train in higher elevations.

I also just purchased the Asolo Expert Mountaineering boots as they are the perfect mountaineering/backpacking hybrids.  We will probably still need to use crampons on Whitney, but we do not want to bring the heavy plastic Koflachs.  The Asolo Expert boot provides the relative comfort of a hiking boot but on steroids and with a steel plate in the sole to support the pressure from wearing crampons.  Needless to say, I need to break them or my feet in before heading to California.  (I plan on wearing my La Sportiva Cirque Pros from the trail head to base camp, and the Experts from that point on.  I was considering the La Sportiva Trango mountaineering boots but found several negative reviews about them online saying that they are too narrow and fall apart after minimal use.)

Anyway, we brought the puppies with us so they could run around and get some exericse and headed down the trail.  We made it up to a meadow at 9,000ft. and hit the snowline, then turned around to head back to the car.  We each had a pack on, and Phil had 50 lbs. of weights in it to make things interesting.  We switched packs every so often to share the burden.

Here are some pictures from our hike:

Eddie (left) McKinley (right) ready to hit the trail.

Eddie looking down at us from a higher switchback.

Phil on the trail shouldering his 50 lb. pack.