I climbed Mt. Whitney in July '09. At 14,495 ft., it's the tallest peak in the contiguous USA. It's located in the Sierra Nevada of central California near the town of Lone Pine. Panoramic photos, detailed trip report and info about how you can climb it too on my site PlanetRambler.com

Sierra Nevada from the east side. Whitney sits back from the front range and so appears as one of the smallest peaks on the ridgeline, 2 peaks right of the big one.


Lone Pine Lake, 2 miles up from the trailhead


East to Mirror Lake below Thor Peak


Consultation Lake, near 12,000 ft. Trail Camp, first nights campsite. Mt. Mallory on the left.


The final jagged ridgeline that holds Whitney (out of frame on the right) climbed via the "97 Switchbacks", on the left slope.


Like Halfdome, Whitney also has its "cables" over a narrow icy ledge with a big dropoff.


Panorama east from the 97 switchbacks. Rock in the middle is Wutan's Throne; to it's right, the lake at Trail Camp and the valley ascended from Whitney Portal.


The other, western side of Whitney. Mt. Hitchcock above Hitchcock Lakes and stacked up behind it, the Kaweah Range and the Great Western Divide


East from the 14,495 ft. Whitney summit down the valley ascended, out the road to the town of Lone Pine in the Owens Valley and the distant White Mountains.

Thanks for sharing.

These are some of the best photos I've ever seen of the Whitney climb. Thank you.

Nice pics...We are hiking Whitney Sept 27.

The old snow was almost gone when I was up there six weeks ago. By now, some new snow is probably arriving. Take your fleece.

--B.G.--

Hey B.G....

Thanks for the heads up… I brought the fleece just in case, but shed it quite quickly.

The hike was amazing!

Surprisingly my 100oz Camelbak lasted till we got to the 97 Switchbacks.

I’ll post some pictures when I have a little more time.

Cheers

"Surprisingly my 100oz Camelbak lasted till we got to the 97 Switchbacks."

I do the entire round trip hike on about 64 oz of water.

One year, I reached the summit having consumed only 8 oz of water since the parking lot.

There is a trick to it.

--B.G.--