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I am going to be doing a 4 or 5 day trip near Mt. Whitney. My days are already tight with my schedule so I'm not looking to climb and camp something extra to acclimate. However, I will be hiking Half Dome one day and Mt. Whitney the next. I am doing a day hike on Whitney and I'm not sure about how well I will adjust to the increased altitude. So here's the solution I have in mind.

Does anyone know of any roads that get above 10,000 feet in the area?

I'm looking to get there at least 8 hours in advance and bag about 6 hours sleep in the SUV around 10,000 feet before heading to the trail and gearing up. I'm hoping 6 hours of exposure to that altitude and a safe rate of ascent will ease the symptoms.

My trip isn't until July.

Yeah, I'm from the east, I have to acclimate. I tried doing Kings Peak in Utah last year having never been above 5,000 feet within 2 hours prior to hitting the trail. I summitted and returned back to the car in 14.5 hours, not bad for a long day hike. However, around 12,500 feet my stomach began to hurt, I wanted to dump on everything I saw, I had the worst headache ever, was dizzy, faint, couldn't eat. I held it together long enough to summit and get the hell back down, but Kings Peak isn't Mt. Whitney and the extra 1000 feet may have been enough to leave me face down in a pile of rocks.

It's Mosquito Flats is 2 hrs. 10 minutes from Whitney Portal. I am going to try to get a good 7 hours there at 10,200 feet and then make the drive. I can still hydrate driving down the road to Mosquito Flats and to Whitney Portal.

I really don't want to screw up my one shot and have to wait til the next year to try again.

Thanks for the info on Mosquito Flat and Rock Creek Road everybody!

if I may be so bold . . . you're 26 years old . . . I've come down whitney the main trail more times than I've gone up it (after ascending from the west––end of JMT) and I'm always encountering two things . . . old guys, plodding up, slowly,but making the summit and young guys, haulin' ass, and getting slammed before they make it to the junction.

Maybe you've got problems with altitude, but probably you're just moving a little too fast. Slow down, drink up . . . no need to drive all over looking for that spot over 10,000 feet.

Personally, I would think a great place to "acclimate" would be the hot tub at the Dow Villa. At least it'll ease you into a good nights sleep.

Acclimatization takes weeks, you aren't going to accomplish anything by sleeping high the night before.

Sleep low, get a good night's rest, and be vigilant for signs of HAPE or HACE.

last summer "sleeping" at 11,000 feet in the sierra was so miserable, felt nauseous, throbbing headache, splitting migraine, couldn't sleep at all, but the next day headache was gone, made it to 13,100 (the subsummit of mt. humphreys) and was fine, for me spending a night at 9,000 to 10,000 makes all the difference, when I climb rainier I spend a full day around 10K, and I do fine. go slow, build another day into your schedule if you can.

The plan is to fly in to Vegas Day 1, hit Boundary in NV on Day 2, Half Dome Day 3, Whitney Day 4, then fly back out on Day 5

Tight schedule, but I have done much much much worse.

Hell last summer I did, Kings Peak Utah day 1, Attempted Granite Days 2 and 3, Was planning to get to Borah Peak Day 4 and camp then attempt it Day 5, but pulled up at TH just before 4 pm and decided what the hell. Made it back to the car at midnight, drove for 2 hours, slept 4 hours at a rest stop, woke up day 5 and hauled ass to Texas (really long drive), Day 6 hit Guadaloupe, Day 7 was in LA for Driskill. And I slept in the trunk of a Honda Civic every night of the trip. Saves time and money if you can do it.

Year before that was just as bad.

Point being I don't mind pushing myself for time, I don't mind a headache, or even a little dizziness, I just don't like feeling like I'm about to crap myself and not being able to swallow food.

Maybe I'll look for something in the 8500 range. And yes, hydration, hydration, hydration!

I think last year I just let the fact that I needed to cover 28 miles in 15 hours or less really mess with my head, and I definitely pushed harder than I probably should have.

Four Jeffrey outside Bishop is a useful campground for acclimatizing, around 8000' & considerably closer to Whitney than Mosquito Flat. We've driven there straight from the coast (we live at sea level), grabbed a night's rest, & popped right into Dusy Basin the next morning. Before climbing White Mt Peak, which is nearly as high as Whitney, we've used Grandview campground at 8800' similarly. I've driven from our home at sea level & marched straight over 11,000'+ passes seemingly without huge problems, only to develop the crashing headache, nausea, etc. that can ruin a trip. Hydration can only do so much.

People vary hugely in response to altitude.

I think a decent night's sleep is more important than "sleeping high." At least 4 times, I slept at 4000' in Lone Pine, then went up a 14k' peak the next day.

If you go up Boundary, chances are you will spend at least one night above 9k'.

I don't think of 10k' (say Horseshoe Meadows) as very high. If you want a compromise, after Boundary, stop at Grandview campground S of White Mountain, and sleep at ~8500'.

MoapaPk wrote:I think a decent night's sleep is more important than "sleeping high."

+1

I agree with what others wrote about sleep being more important. Sleep low, and you'll get more sleep. It's probably not worth the hour (and gas) you will kill driving up to 10000 feet. For example, from Lone Pine to Horseshoe Meadows (9950 ft), it's about 22.5 miles and 35 minutes each way. It's worth the drive if you're going there for the sake of its own beauty during the day, but it's probably not worth it just to go get some sleep before Whitney.

gwave47 wrote:The plan is to fly in to Vegas Day 1, hit Boundary in NV on Day 2, Half Dome Day 3, Whitney Day 4, then fly back out on Day 5.

If you're going to 13100 feet two days prior, that should be reasonable acclimatization for 14500. Since everyone is affected by altitude differently, I can't know for sure what is going to work for you; I can only describe what works for me. The last time I did Whitney, I did a moderate hike to an 11000-foot peak three days prior, and I felt great on Whitney -- no problems whatsoever. I felt good enough to do both Keeler Needle (~14320 ft) and Mount Muir (~14012 ft) afterward. And I'm actually out of shape this year.

Since Lone Pine is less than 3.5 hours (226 miles) from my house, Whitney is something I can do on a normal weekend (or only one day off, if necessary). So in the times when I do have a week or more, I am going to want to use that time and go a lot farther than just the Sierra, like Yellowstone or Colorado or Hawaii -- some place I cannot go to on a weekend. So, since moving to Nevada, when I do Whitney, it's always just a day or two away from home, and I have absolutely no option of hiking above 11900 feet in the days prior to Whitney. But fortunately, it has never been necessary.

Don't waste your time spending the night around 10K. It takes much more time than one night for your body to initiate the physiological responses that allow you to adapt at altitude. Like someone said earlier, it can take weeks to gain the effects of acclimatization.

I almost forgot one more thing:

gwave47 wrote:. . . I will be hiking Half Dome one day and Mt. Whitney the next. I am doing a day hike on Whitney. . . .

You say that with such confidence, considering the (dumbass) Mount Whitney Lottery has not yet even began!

This is probably not news, but thanks to the Forest Service's claim that a trail with 20,000 annual visitors is a "wilderness area," you can't yet make any definite plans for Mount Whitney (unless you're willing to risk it without a permit).

The lottery drawing does not start until the middle of February. http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/wild/whitneylottery.shtml