Climbing Mt Whitney |
 Finally, however, we got back to the trailhead at 3:45 pm. The climb and the descent had taken a total of 14 hours and 5 minutes. By way of comparison, climbing and descending Mt Hood (Oregon) took us less than 11 hours; Eric’s and my King’s Peak (Utah) summit day was exactly 13 hours long; and when we climbed Mt Ossa (in Tasmania), it took us 13 hours and 20 minutes. The only day longer than our one on Mt Whitney that Eric and I have had while “peak-bagging” was our summit day on Mt Rainier: it was 16 hours and 10 minutes long. We were very pleased with our time, though. Charlie and Diane Winger give the “average round trip hiking time” for a one-day Whitney climb as being from “14 to 18 hours”: we were delighted to be at the sharp end of the equation – not bad for two people in their late sixties! |