Climbing Whitney in a Day - Gather your gear (the bare bones)

(small excerpt from upcoming "Climbing Whitney in a Day" book)

Climbing Mt Whitney in one day is a lot to ask of your body.  It is 22 miles long (11 up, 11 down); you summit at an altitude of 14,505 feet, and your vertical climb is over 7000 feet! That morning, you’ll wake up before humanly appropriate (approximately 3am).  You barely consume the calories you are burning.  You may get uncomfortably cold, you may get severe altitude sickness, and several other unfortunate situations may arise.   The goal of your training program is to get your body properly prepared, get your gear lined up, and give you confidence to be successful and safe. 

Your gear includes must haves, should have, and nice to have.  Here is a list of Bare Bones items you must have to be safe and successful.

Bare Bones – Must Have

1. A pack to carry your stuff – 18-22 liters in size is good – that’s about the size of a pillowcase.  If you go bigger than you will be tempted to fill it up.  Your goal is to bring all the stuff you need while being as light as possible. Your pack with water and gear should weigh about 20-22 lbs (25 lbs tops). 

Cost: $75-100 for a day pack. 

2. Bladder for water – have a 3 liter bladder. This is enough water for 6 hour hike or 3 hours.  One liter of water = 32 oz = 2.2 lbs = 4-8 miles or 2-4 hours depending on person’s body size, heat, effort, altitude and pace.  On Whitney, there is water every hour.  Your last water before summiting is at Trail Camp so fill up!!!  All of it.  There is also water around switchback 25 but best to fill up at trail camp.

Cost: Usually the bladder comes with the pack if you are getting a new pack.  Otherwise it will cost $25-40. 

3. Water purifier - I prefer the charcoal pump action model. Some purifiers require batteries, and this scares me a bit because if something goes wrong with the purifier, and you need water, you’re screwed!  MSR is a good trusted brand.  One water purifier works for a group – not everyone in the group needs a purifier.  It takes about 5-10 minutes to purify your water – this includes taking it out, setting up, breaking down, and putting it away.  It is best to sync up purifying in the group.  
Cost: Water purifiers can be pricey: expect to pay $100 or more.  

4. Iodine tablets – to purify water when there is nothing else.  They work by disrupting the chemical balance that bacteria need to survive.  They are the size of a small pill, cheap, light and can save your life.  If your purifier stops working or you lose your group and don’t have a purifier, this is a sure way to purify your water.    Always have a few on hand and follow the instructions. 

5. Food – Your water and food, will take up the bulk of the space and weight in your pack.  Here’s the skinny on food – bring different kinds..different flavors and textures.  Your taste buds change at altitude and your favorite bar tastes like cardboard.  Fresh is always more enjoyable, but also weighs more.  This is personal preference and needs to be considered.  Bring your macro nutrients and don’t skimp on your nutrition.  What you bring will get fine-tuned on training hikes.  This is NOT the time to get on your weight-loss plan while on your hikes.  Eat to perform, or else you will eat your friend’s food and they won’t like it and won’t like you. Word.  
MACRO NUTRIENTS: 
Protein – beef jerky, nuts, salami, tuna pouch
Fats – nuts,  peanut butter, chips, trail mix  
Carbohydrates – fruit cups, dried fruit, okay you can bring your favorite bar, apple sauce
When packing your food, bring a large zip lock bag to keep your food in so it doesn’t get messy in your pack.  Also bring an extra bag to store your trash.

6. Head light – when you climb Mt. Whitney, you start in the dark and you may even end in the dark.  You will want to have a headlight that you can put on your head and have your hands free.  The price on headlights range drastically --  you can get these dirt cheap, or you can go nuts!  I have a spare one in my gear box that I bought for $10 at Sports Authority.  And I also have the coveted one that I purchased for $60 from REI.  What’s the big deal…?  The more expensive one offers more functions - different levels of brightness including the red light.  The red light function is important when you want to be seen but don’t really need to see, such as when you are talking to someone.  The regular light will blind people when you are looking at them.  Sometimes you have to take a pee but don’t need the big bright light and sometimes you are working your water purifier and need to be sure you have it set up correctly.  Be sure to carry spare batteries.   
Cost of a headlight: $10 - $120. 

7.  Water – Bring water and don’t EVER skimp on it!  Not sure if you should bring 1 or 2 liters…bring 2 liters.  Over the course of your training hikes, you will learn how much you drink for a given time period, temperature, pace, and level of intensity.  You also need to consider if there is water on your training hikes.  For Whitney there is plenty of water along the trail. But on your training hikes you may not be so lucky.  You may have to pack your own water for the whole 12 – 15 miles.  Do the math and make sure you carry enough even if it means buying another bladder.  Once you are out of water things get ugly fast. Cost of water – priceless.  

8. First aid kit: You need ibuprofen, duct tape, tums, blister kit (more duct tape), antiseptic wipes, something to close a wound, bug repellent and antihistamines.  If something unfortunate happens, such as your friend tripping on a rock and gauging on his/her knee, you want to be able to keep them comfortable. If something terrible happens, your friend has the symptoms of severe altitude sickness, you need to get the person down and off the mountain.  The national service rangers will not carry you off the mountain.  The only way you are getting down is your own two feet (or if your friends carry you).  They do have a helicopter pad near Trail Camp; I can’t imagine how much that costs…I’m guessing $10,000?   
Cost for first aid kit – approximately $20  
9.    Toilet paper / WAG bag – for when nature calls.   I fold toilet paper into “uses” and I like baby wipes too.  I get the individual “feminine” packets.   I also carry some Aguaphor - healing ointment.   Ladies – if it’s ‘that time of the month’ my apologies in advance.  Not fun at all and quite a logistical nuisance too.  Make sure you are prepared and take time to take care of yourself and your needs.  This may mean making the group stop more often than normal.

10. Pen/paper – Carry this in a zip lock bag in a convenient place on your pack along with your permit. 

11. Map – make sure it’s water proof or put it in a zip lock bag.  You can keep this puppy on the bottom of your pack or in your first aid kit. 99% of the time you will never need it since most of the trails are so well marked.  But when you do need it, you will thank the map gods.

12. Electrolytes – Your body is under a lot of stress with the distance and elevation on this hike.  You should be drinking lots of water to replace the fluids that you are losing.  But that also means you are losing valuable electrolytes such as salt, potassium, and magnesium.   But for now, have either electrolyte pills you swallow, electrolyte that you mix with water, or coconut water.  

Happy Trails!
Chi