No PCT miles.

I awoke to my second alarm at 1:02 and pulled on my hiking clothes over my thermals. The stars hung low in the sky and the snow covered mountains reflected the half moon’s glow as I crawled from my tent. As I climbed the rock ledge to Vipr’s tent, I looked over and saw lights moving in Burnout’s tent.

The previous night, we had all agreed to an alpine start for our summit assault on Mt. Whitney. The plan was to wake up at 1:00 and be moving by 1:30 so we could watch the sunrise from the tallest mountain in the contiguous U.S.

I paused near Vipr’s tent. No movement. I gave it a minute and then heard whispers. They’re up. I asked if they have heard from Burnout? “Not yet,” she says.

Last night just before bed, Burnout realized he had lost his glasses somewhere. Without them, he only has his prescription sunglasses. Not ideal for a predawn assault on Mt. Whitney.

Many of us have been dreaming of watching the sunrise from Whitney for years, and for many PCT hikers it is one of the highlights of their entire journey. None of us were enthused about pushing back our start to daylight hours. Vipr, to her credit, suggested that we push it back so Burnout wouldn’t miss out. That was pretty big considering she had been dreaming of this summit for 3.5 years. Being a photographer, I wasn’t excited about missing Whitney and the surrounding mountains in the best light of the day and suggested we all wake up at 1:00. Burnout could test out his sunglasses and headlamp to see if he can see well enough to hike. Luckily, Burnout agreed.

I walked down to Burnout’s tent and asked if he can hike. He thinks he can. I give Vipr the good news and she let’s a yell of joy and excitement escape. The assault is on.

It takes us a while to pack up, and we aren’t out of camp until 2:00. Not a great start. For the the first half mile, we walk a trail that is lined with pine trees and covered with snow patches. Our headlamps illuminate narrow patches of trail. As we walk, the moon crests a mountain shining silver light on the frozen Timberline Lake as we pass it on the left.

Before long, the trail disappears and the snow cover is complete. Over night, the sun cups have frozen, and we are forced to walk on their edges to avoid stepping in their bowl like center and loose our footing. As some of the group stops to fill up on water, we see four headlamps moving far up ahead. I take a few long exposures as I wait for Fun Dip and Shades to finish filtering.

When we are moving again, I find a path of frozen footprints and use those to guide the group past Guitar Lake and up to the base of Whitney.

As we begin the switchbacks, we delayered and I was only wearing my thermal top and hiking pants. The wind was minimal and the temperature not too cold. As we began to make our way up the mountain and gain elevation, Burnout began to slow and was bent over his trekking poles during breaks. The altitude is starting to get to him and he has developed a headache. Not a good sign.

We continue on and I speed ahead of the group so I can stop and take pictures of the mountains and snow fields below.

During one of our breaks, I look up and gape. A comet has just hit the atmosphere and broken into three pieces. The others see the shooting star and yell out in awe. A good sign of things to come?

As we continue to climb, we come across a section of trail covered with snow. We pull out our ice axes and strap on our crampons and cross the slope just like we practiced the day before. We continue, but now Burnout is beginning to feel nauseous. Another bad sign that he is on his way to altitude sickness. Vipr, a nurse, monitors Burnout and continues to ask him about his condition. I worry that Burnout is downplaying his condition in his fervor to summit Whitney and speak with Vipr.

When we come to another snow slope, we decide to climb up the rock to the switchback above instead of crossing it. The climb has Burnout breathing hard and bending over to catch his breath. As the group takea a break, I go up trail to take some photos and Bedazzled joins me.

We are both worried about Burnout and beleive he should go down since we are only at 13,000 feet and have another 1,500 feet of elevation to gain. The both of us, however, are little affected by the altitude and eager to continue hiking before it is too late to see the sunrise.

We call back to the group and hear that Burnout and Voldy are going down. Just the two of them should be fine to return to the campsite since Burnout’s condition should improve as they descend, but Shades decides to accompany them to make sure.

Only Bedazzled, Vipr, Fun Dip, and I are left, and we take off up the trail trying to make up for lost time. As the sky begins to brighten and the Belt of Venus appears with its pink hues on the horizon opposite the rising sun, we accept the fact that we won’t be able to make the sunrise. We still have 2 miles to go to the summit.

We continue on the trail and the colors in the sky continue to intensify and the Sierra Nevada mountains begin to open up before us. “It just keeps getting better and better,” yells Fun Dip. She’s right. It doesn’t get better than this.

The snow capped mountains seem endless as they march to the horizon with jagged and serrated peaks poking at the sky. A line of pink slowly descends from above and bathes the tips of the mountains in color as we move laterally along a ridge to the dome of Whitney.

As we reach 14,000 feet on the ridge, fines of rock reach for the sky. Between them, we see down to Owens Valley in the distance and the Inyo Mountains, which parallel the Sierra. The early morning sun breathes fire on the fractured rock alighting it with an orange glow.







Everywhere we look is beautiful and we can’t tell if it is the altitude stealing our breath or the stunning views. As we draw closer, we near a large snow field on the summit crown. Again we pull out our ice axes and slip into our crampons to make our final push. Mt. Whitney’s summit before us and the whole Sierra Nevada behind.

We begin to crest and see the summit hut before our eyes. We gain the final 100 meters with ease. Adrenaline in our veins, hearts pounding, and eyes tearing at the beauty around us. We are atop of the U.S. and it is the most beautiful place in the world.

Reluctant to leave and wanting to linger, we stay on the summit wrapped in every layer we have and our sleeping bags. I make hot chocolate and ramen and stare out over the world.

We curl up next to each other as the wind picks up and Fun Dip hides in her sleeping bag wary from the climb. Bedazzled stares off silently and Vipr exclaims over the view. Others slowly come up the summit. Some stay for a few minutes, some take naked pictures on the summit (Bedazzled was shocked), and others run around trying to get cell signal to facetime their friends. We all enjoy the summit in our own ways.

Five hours after arriving, we reluctantly leave the summit. It has been our best day on the PCT. Even the two miles of slushy sun cups waiting for us on the descent cannot dampen our day.

We have summited Mt. Whitney!