Mid Summer White Mountain Trip

Background of Trip

Here we go... I'm in process of climbing all the California 14'ers. It was an idea I've had for a while and we started it off by climbing Whitney's Mountaineers Route See Trip Report Here.





White Mountain is the 2nd CA 14'er that I've done and the trip went well.

Friday, July 18, 2008

My good buddy Jeff and I decided to leave Friday morning early to head to Alabama Hills to get some climbing in before we headed up towards Barcroft gate in the White Mountain hills. It was a good day of climbing, even though it was very hot! After a good full day of climbing, we headed up to the gate at 12,000ft. We had two other friends that were heading up to climb with us, so we got camp set up and just relaxed. YOU MUST GET A FIREPERMIT TO HAVE A FIRE UP THERE.


Our friends joined us shortly after 7:30pm. We grilled and enjoyed some Coors Lights for the evening next to the fire. We were the only ones with a fire up there and it was well worth packing in the wood. There are plenty of places to camp up there so it could get crowded.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Alarms were set for 5am, but we really didn't get up till after 5:30am. For those of you who have seen sierra sunrises before, you'll know they're well worth waking up for. After scrambled eggs and bacon, we set off at 6:30am down the trail. We headed to Barcroft Station, which is about two miles in. I was slightly worried for one of my good buddies who'd never been at this elevation before. He was already feeling semi sick and had a bad headache. Once we arrived to the station, sure enough he decided to turn around and head back to camp. Three of us proceeded forward. We kept on the trail. It turns relatitvely flat for a long ways and then proceeds up and up and up. There is a major drop on a hill before you hit the final switchbacks going up White Mountain. The switchbacks going up are not too bad. The trail/4x4 road is well maintained. Upon reaching the summit the winds died down and it was absolutely breath-taking!!! From the top, looking west you can see the entire Eastern Sierra Ridgeline including the Palasade Glacier, Ritter and Banner up towards Mammoth, and several other great features. Looking east you can see into Nevada. Looking down you can see Bishop and all over Owens Valley. We spent about 30 minutes on top looking around and just enjoying the views. After the much needed rest on top, we started heading back down. We basically went straight down the mountain side to shave off about 2 miles of switchbacks. It's a rather easy decent back down. There is some ups and downs on the way back, and by the time we got back to basecamp, our legs and feet were soar! Overall White Mountain is a beautiful hike. We were amazed on how green it all was up there. We were the first ones to summit but there were many people going up on our way back. Highly recommended for all to do at least once!

Images

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