Mt. Whitney (CA)

[Peter Bakwin]

Matt Dubberley set the ascent (1h47m40s) and car-to-car (2h38m15s) FKTs for Mt Whitney via the Mountaineer's Route on August 2, 2015.
Andy Anderson had the previous the ascent (1h49m10s) and car-to-car (3h03m05s) FKTs, also via the Mountaineer's Route on Aug. 28, 2014.
Sid Hayes seems to have the FKT ascent of the Mt Whitney Trail, 2h08m20s, 24 August 1992.
Vernon Morris has the car-to-car FKT for the Mt Whitney Trail at "just over" 3h20m, set in 1991.
Gina Lucrezi set the women's car-to-car FKT for the Mt Whitney Trail at 5h29m22 (ascent in 3h9m40s), August 10, 2016.
Charity Dubberley set the women's ascent (3h10m8s) FKT for the Mountaineer's Route, and women's car-to-car (5h10m51s) FKT, August 9, 2017.
Tina Lewis set a new women's ascent (2h57m9s) and round-trip (5h36m3s) FKT for the Mountaineer's Route, August 16, 2017.

Mount Whitney, in the southern Sierra of California, is the highest peak in the contiguous United States, at 14,496 feet. The peak lies within the John Muir Wilderness and the Sequoia National Park Wilderness. Mt. Whitney is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail. Mt. Whitney is an extremely popular wilderness destination, and so activities in the "Mt. Whitney Zone" are highly regulated, as discussed on the Inyo National Forest Mt. Whitney website. Permits are required for all ascents of Whitney, and quotas are in effect from May 1 to November 1.

Matt Dubberley set the overall fastest ascent (1h47m40s) and car-to-car (2h38m15s) times for Whitney on August 2, 2015, via the Mountaineer's Route. His detailed report his here, along with a link to his GPS track. The FKT run was his second attempt after a failed effort a few days earlier.

Before Dubberly, Andy Anderson set the overall fastest ascent (1h49m10s) and car-to-car (3h03m05s) times on Aug. 28, 2014, also via the Mountaineer's Route. Anderson's splits are below, along with a link to his full trip report. His gps track for the run is here. On August 6 he had run the ascent in 1h50m (then FKT) and the round-trip in 3h13m (not FKT).

Prior to Anderson, Brett Maune had the overall fastest ascent (1h56m54s) and car-to-car (3h6m39s) times for Whitney on Oct. 5, 2012, via the Mountaineer's Route, as reported below (trip report and splits). Maune also reports some historical FKTs below. Prior to Maune, Jason Lackey had done the Mountianeer's Route car-to-car in about 3h08m in 2002.

Sid Hayes has the ascent-only FKT on the main Mt Whitney Trail at 2h8m20s, set in 24 August 1992 (our information is that the report below of a faster time is incorrect - personal communication with Dan Howitt). Vernon Morris has the car-to-car FKT for the main trail at "just over" 3h20m set in 1991. Apparently, Morris did the route twice that day as training for the Pikes Peak Marathon and Pikes Peak Ascent combo. He did the PPA that year in 2h34m45s, and the PPM the next day in 4h02m19s.

We had no reports of female FKTs on Mt Whitney prior to Gina Lucrezi's car-to-car in 5h29m22s (ascent in 3h9m40s) via the Mt Whitney Trail on August 10, 2016 (reported below with link to GPS track). A year later (August 9, 2017) Charity Dubberley ascended the Mountaineer's Route in 3h10m8s, and descended the Mt Whitney Trail for a car-to-car women's FKT time of 5h10m51s, as reported below (with GPS track). Dubberley's FKT lasted only 1 week, and on August 16, 2017, Tina Lewis ascended the Mountaineer's Route in 2h57m9s, with a round-trip time (descending the MR as well) of 5h36m3s. Lewis' GPS track is here. She said, "I ended up in the wrong gully coming down and had to climb back up and the couloir was sketch and slow going... not super runnable right now with all the water - I twisted my ankle badly and wiped out a few times. I reached the summit at 2h55m but touched that metal sign at 2h57m. Started my watch at the bottom Mt Whitney sign at the road."

How was your hike today? - Doug Thompson Sr., owner of the Whitney Portal Store

Crazy people don't turn around -- they are too crazy. - Andy Anderson


Mt. Whitney route map






Matt Dubberley finishing his FKT run on Mt Whitney, August 2, 2015.

[Siegfried Verheijke]

Finally I found some fast running times for Mt. Whitney!

I want to try it out in early August 2010, after 2 weeks of biking in Bolivia, which should be good for acclimatization.

3h20 seems a bit too fast for me, but I do hope to get up there in 2h30, and 1h30 back.

Is the mountaineering route relatively safe for runners? I am not much of a steep cliff scrambler...

Cheers.

Siegfried (Belgium)

[Peter Bakwin]

Check out the route description on summitpost:
www.summitpost.org/route/155528/mountaineer-s.html
It seems that people get into trouble by going off-route.

[Jennifer]

I am sitting here with Vernon Morris...it was cool to read about the stories he was just telling me... ;D ;D

[Brett Maune]

I have had aspirations for breaking the Whitney record for a while and 1-2 years ago I did some internet research on the topic. My findings are below.

In 1991 Marty Hornick ascended via the Mountaineer’s Route in ~2:08:30. No information on roundtrip time.
articles.latimes.com/1991-10-02/news/mn-3073_1_whitney-portal

In 2002 Jason Lakey also ascended the Mountaineer’s Route. He ascended in 2:09:30 with a roundtrip time of 3:10:07. There are references to other times in the following link as well.
www.clmrg.org/taluspile/TPDec02.html
Added by admin: Note that Greg Horvath reports below doing the ascent in 2h7m later in 2002.

In 2007 Dan Howitt did an ascent via the Whitney Portal trail in 2:02:54. This is the fastest ascent I have seen reported. The now broken link where I got this info is: www.bookrags.com/wiki/Mount_Whitney

This past Friday I did the ascent via the Mountaineer’s Route in 1:56:54 and had a roundtrip time of 3:06:39. A trip report follows.

[Brett Maune]

I drove from LA to Lone Pine and got to the Mount Whitney turnoff along highway 395 around first light. Soon, imposing Mount Whitney came into view and I was disheartened. You can see the summit towering 10k feet above the valley. Seeing the distant summit left me feeling that my sub-2-hour ascension goal was absurd. To comfort myself I repeatedly muttered to myself “Trust the math.” The math said I could do it—or at least I could do comparable climbs at lower altitude. The altitude penalty was going to be significant though. My guess before starting was that I would do it in 2:00 +- a few minutes. I thought my chances were 50/50.

I arrived at the trailhead and quickly got ready. In some sense the clock was already ticking. From experience I know I have a several hour window before I start getting altitude sickness symptoms. I have found the best strategy is to do either zero acclimation (and get up and down fast) or a lot of acclimation. Anything in between is worse. I started running around dawn at 6:55 AM. I elected to start with my jacket tied around my waist. I was cold but figured running would soon fix that.

I left the Whitney trail at ~8:00 and got to the base of the Ebersbacher ledges at ~23:00. Here is where I had the first of several minor route finding issues. Going into the run I thought I knew the route well, but not well enough to have flawless navigation during a taxing FKT attempt. On the first ledge I traversed too far and then later had some unnecessary elevation gain and loss. Soon though I was climbing towards LBSL and arrived there in ~36:00, a minute or two slower than I had hoped.

Navigating above LBSL was one of the parts that worried me. I didn’t really know the optimal route and the best place to cross the stream. In the end I crossed the stream with only a little bushwhacking. At the time I thought I had botched the crossing but in hindsight I now think that I may have taken the best route. The subsequent slabs provided a convenient opportunity to eat my first gel.

I found the route from the junction with UBSL to Iceberg Lake a bit confusing. I frequently wasn’t sure if I was on the proper trail and invariably lost a little time by not always taking the best route through this area. After slogging through a frustrating sandy traverse, I climbed a ledge system that brought me to the flat area around Iceberg Lake. I immediately started running as best I could and got to the base of the final 2000 ft climb right at 1:20. In terms of elevation gain, I was right on pace for a 2:00 ascent, which was not good since I was likely slowing due to the altitude and exhaustion. I wanted some time in the bank at this point but had none. My only hope was that the steep climb up the chute to the summit would produce a faster ascension rate and more than make up for the other effects.

I began climbing the chute. I tried picking the best lines I could see while climbing but mostly just went straight up. A couple times I was forced into doing class 4/5 boulder moves but didn’t lose much time on these. I trudged up the seemingly never ending loose chute and got to the top in 1:50. Now, just a several hundred foot mostly class 3 climb separated me from the summit. I dropped my handheld water bottle to free up a hand so I could climb a ~6 foot class 5 section and take the direct route to the top. Despite the gloves I was wearing my hands quickly became numb from touching the freezing rock. This part was downright frigid and the physical exertion barely kept me warm. I soon gained the summit plateau and was relieved to see the hut so close. I reached the plateau in ~1:56 and started jogging as best I could given the altitude. I soon was on the summit after 1:56:54.

Now the comedy started. The summit was naturally cold and windy and I rapidly became cold. I scrambled and struggled with my gloves to untie and put on my jacket. I eventually got it on but then jammed the zipper in some fabric. It was stuck halfway and wouldn’t budge. I soon gave up. I downed my second and last gel and left the summit at around 1:58:30. I quickly made it back down to the ~6 foot class 5 crux at the beginning of the final climb. After briefly mulling what to do, for expediency I decided to just jump. I soon regretted this decision—the jump was farther than I thought--but it was too late. I made the best of it though and tried to distribute the force of impact as much as I could to minimize the likelihood of getting an injury.

I was now at the top of the loose chute again where it was considerably warmer. I knew I would soon bake in my jacket and so stopped to take it off but I still couldn’t budge the stupid zipper. I soon decided to pull it off over my head. In so doing the snug jacket became stuck. I felt like I was in a straitjacket. I was about to try and rip the jacket apart when I was finally able to squirm free of it. Of course this has to happen during an FKT attempt!

My goal of a sub-hour descent was in jeopardy with each passing squandered minute. I knew I needed a rapid descent of the chute to make it and so I charged ahead. Let me just say that the top of that chute is total crap. I soon fell, and fell, and fell again. I seriously think I fell like 5 times in the span of a minute. Soon after recovering from one of the many falls my feet slid out from under me and I landed hard on my posterior, which almost knocked the wind out of me. This figuratively and literally knocked some sense into me. I was at 14k feet in freezing conditions and wearing shorts. These falls were serious business. I was already bloodied and in much pain, but at least I could continue. I still needed to get safely off the mountain. Prudence dictated risk reduction and I slowed down. At that point I abandoned the goal of the sub-hour descent. I had to slow even further when I approached a group climbing up the chute so as to not knock loose rocks on them. I got to the base of the chute at ~2:20.

I then began running but didn’t really push the pace. On the slabs on the way down to LBSL I couldn’t tell where to cross the stream. After wandering around a bit between two cairns I decided to just pick a route. I chose incorrectly and had to do some considerable bushwhacking before regaining the trail. Fortunately this happened on the descent and so gravity assisted me in plowing through the vegetation. Had this occurred on the ascent I would have lost a lot of time and energy.

Once I got close the Whitney Portal Trail the trail became runnable and I pushed the pace all the way back to the trailhead, dodging hikers along the way. I finished in 3:06:39—barely a minute ahead of the fastest roundtrip time. At the time I didn’t even realize I was at risk of not beating the roundtrip time and could have easily fallen just short had I not pushed the pace at the end. I hope to try again after I am more familiar with the route.

Splits
Left Portal Trail ~8:00
Beginning of ledges ~23:00
LBSL ~36:00
Iceberg Lake/base of climb ~1:20
Saddle at top of chute ~1:50
Summit 1:56:54
Left summit ~1:58:30
Base of chute ~2:20
Trailhead 3:06:39

[D]

Does anyone have an FKT with GPS recording? For a 2012 attempt it seems everyone and there mom owns a GPS watch. It would be great to see the routes taken for each attempt to determine the cleanest least damaging route to me and the trail vs. the fastest route.

[Nickademus Hollon]

Myself and a friend are going to attempt a Mt. Whitney Trail FKT (AKA not the Mountaineer's route)this coming Wednesday, I'll be wearing a Garmin 910xt and will post it to Strava after.

[Nickademus Hollon]

Failed! (More than a year ago) But posted my run to Strava Dan Howitt is an animal! As is Brett Maune...I'll continue toying around with mountain ranges in Europe this summer and then hopefully get a chance late this season or next year to get out and make another couple serious attempts at these records. www.strava.com/activities/68149654

[andyanderso]

I ran up and down the Mountaineer's route on Thurs. Aug. 28, 2014 in 3:03:05. I wrote post about it here: www.logicoflongdistance.com/2014/08/andy-anderson-snags-mt-whitney-fkt.html.

Splits:
Trailhead: 0:00:00
Lower Boy Scout: 31:00
Iceberg Lake: 1:13:20
Summit: 1:49:10
Iceberg Lake: 2:10:43
Lower Boy Scout Lake: 2:40:14
Trailhead 3:03:05

[mat44322]

I set a new FKT up the Mountaineer's route on Aug 2, 2015 in 1hr 47min 40s. I did the round trip record from Whitney Portal as well in 2hr 38min 15s. I wrote about it here: lighterbro.com/2015/08/02/matt-gets-a-little-lighterbro-claims-the-speed-record-on-the-tallest-peak-in-the-us/

[Gina Lucrezi]

I'm going for a female round trip time tomorrow (August 10th), via the Portal/Standard trail. Hoping to run something speedy and worthy of other women to chase! Thanks for maintaining this great site Peter!

[Gina Lucrezi]

Woot woot! Today was a good day! I was able to run the Mt. Whitney Portal Trail Route (standard route....not mountaineers route) in a total of 5:29:22 elapsed. My ascent time was 3:09:40. The 99 switchbacks are HELL! haha

The only other serious ascent and round trip time I could find from a female, was Kelly Cronin's previous 3:53:50 ascent, and her 7:06:16 round trip (Strava).

I lucked out with a permit two weeks before my trip to the Sierras, so I figured, what the heck! Here is my Strava link: www.strava.com/activities/671664419
It says the moving time was 5:14:24...but being an FKT attempt, the total time which includes photos, refilling water, gear swapping, etc. is included. Thus the FKT time is 5:29:22

I believe I can run this out and back route faster, especially on the return. I had some stomach troubles which I chalk up to altitude. Also, this was my true first time on the route. I had walked the first mile and half a year ago on a whim while I was in town. Knowing the route and figuring out how to beat the belly...I think I could crack 5 on a good day.

Attached are some photos as well. If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out.

Thanks,
Gina

[Dani M]

Hi!

I am new to this FKT, and I was wondering if anyone could specify what the car-to-car record entails?

Thanks!

[Peter Bakwin]

Car-to-car means TH-to-TH. You time yourself from where the trail starts to the top and back. You need cardio to run up fast, and you need leg speed & agility to run down fast.