Mount Whitney
From Freepedia
| Mount Whitney | |
|---|---|
| Image:Mount Whitney 2003-03-25.jpg East Face close-up seen from the way up on Whitney Portal. | |
| Elevation: | 14,505 feet (4,421 metres) |
| Location: | California, USA |
| Range: | Sierra Nevada |
Contents |
Hiking
It is possible to hike up Mount Whitney from Whitney Portal. The hike is 21.4 miles (34.4 km) round trip and 6100 feet (1900 m) of elevation gain. There are two places to camp on the trail. Outpost Camp is the lower of the two, while Trail Camp lies just below a long series of switchbacks up a steep face. Permits are required for either day hikes or camping. These permits are in great demand, so reservations in advance are required. The one-day hike up Mount Whitney is extremely strenuous: hikers are advised to be careful of altitude sickness. People also hike the trail in two, three, or four days, sleeping at the camps on the way to the summit. Hikers are required to store their food in approved bear canisters.
Climbing
The steep eastern side of the mountain offers a variety of climbing challenges. The "Mountaineer's Route", a Class 3 gully to the north of the east face, was first climbed by John Muir.The East Face route, first climbed in 1931, is a classic easy climbing route of the Sierra; mostly Class 3, with the hardest parts at only 5.4 (YDS). Other routes range up to 5.10 in difficulty.
To the south of the main summit there are a series of minor summits that are completely inconspicuous from the west, but appear as a series of "needles" from the east. The routes on these include some of the finest big-wall climbing in the high Sierra. Two of the needles were named after participants in an 1880 scientific expedition to the mountain: the Keeler Needle and the Day Needle; the latter has now been renamed Crooks Peak after Hilda Crooks, who hiked up Mount Whitney every year until well into her nineties.
Elevation
The estimated elevation of the peak of Mount Whitney has changed over the years. This is not due to the peak growing: the elevation measurement has become more refined, and more importantly, the vertical coordinate system has changed. The peak is commonly thought to be 14,494 feet high. However, this is in the NVGD29 vertical datum from 1929. Since then, the exact shape of the Earth (the geoid) has become better estimated, with a new coordinate system NAVD88 established in 1988. In this new coordinate system, the benchmark GT1811 is estimated to be at 14,505 feet. [1]. See [2] for the elevation data of this benchmark, supplied by the United States National Geodetic Survey, the agency that estimates the horizontal and vertical position of landmarks.
Reference
- Steve Roper, The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra (Sierra Club Books, 1976) ISBN 0871561476
External links
- US Forest Service Information on Hiking Mount Whitney
- Mount Whitney on Summitpost.org
- Mount Whitney Backpacking page
- Mount Whitney on Bivouac.com
- National Geodetic Survey Datasheet Page
- Maps and aerial photos
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image from TerraServer-USA
- Surrounding area map from Google Maps
- Location in the United States from the Census Bureau
