Inyo SAR Urges Caution and Over-Preparation as Whitney Permit Season Approaches
This winter’s heavy snow in the Eastern Sierra has routinely interrupted backcountry access for many people due to avalanche concerns, road conditions, and other logistical challenges. Nevertheless, the opening day for the Mt. Whitney Permit Season on May 1st (as well as typical pre-season attempts by those unable to secure permits) continues to approach in spite of the uniquely challenging set of alpine conditions on the route. In preparation for the crowds who will arrive at the Mt. Whitney Zone with big dreams but often little familiarity with the area’s prevailing backcountry conditions, Inyo County Search and Rescue (Inyo SAR), the local Mountain Rescue Association team under the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office, is working to stress the overwhelming need for caution and over-preparation prior to making any attempts for the summit this spring. “We have concerns that the deadly incidents on Mt. Baldy earlier this year are an indicator of what may occur on Mt. Whitney this spring,” says the team’s preventative education committee. “Mt. Whitney is a tempting goal for many given its status and comparative ease in technical difficulty, but it nonetheless remains a serious endeavor with potentially serious consequences, especially with the snow and ice conditions that we anticipate on the route until at least late July this year.”
As an example of the right mentality to take, they point to the acclaimed American mountaineer, Ed Viesturs, who once said, “Getting to the summit is optional, getting down is mandatory. It has to be a round trip.” Viesturs is the only American to have climbed all 14 of the world's eight-thousand-meter peaks. In his pursuit, he once turned around only 300 meters from the summit of Everest and also turned around twice on Annapurna, even though it was the last peak he needed for multiple years, before finally succeeding in 2005. For years, he had serious doubts about if he could ever summit Annapurna because he refused to compromise on his safety limits just to reach the summit. Inyo SAR stresses that while Mt. Whitney is certainly not the Himalayas, the fundamentals are no different. An overwhelming amount of the spring missions that Inyo SAR receives in the Mt. Whitney Zone are caused by a lack of appreciation for the amount of preparation needed to successfully undertake the challenge. In many areas of life, the consequences of a lack of preparation are small and hardly noticed; in the mountains though, you are frequently just one bad step away from being in a life-threatening emergency. The margin for error is a lot smaller.
The SAR team has a few recommendations for hikers and mountaineers.
1) Bring crampons and an ice axe and know how to use both via prior experience. Do not compromise on your snow and ice traction. Many people have gotten away without needing them before, but the conditions this year make them absolute musts. There is no replacing their capability with micro-spikes and trekking poles. If in need of training or practice, take a snow skills class with professionals at a guiding company.
2) Budget your time and turn around before the summit if safety demands. Many people assume they will move more quickly than they do. Their math seems logical on paper, but fatigue is often forgotten in planning. For a safety buffer, allow for the descent to take as long as the ascent and arrange for travel across dangerous, exposed sections to occur in daylight. Your “bail” and “descent” plans are as important, if not more, than your “ascent” plan. One dicey summit push is never worth a lifetime of consequences. The mountain will still be there for another attempt later, you may not be though if your group or you make poor decisions.
3) Be brutally honest in assessing the readiness of you and your group. You should not be discovery learning while snow climbing at 12,000 feet. If you have even a single doubt, there is nothing silly about giving up a permit for the Mt. Whitney trail and postponing for another year or instead hiring a guide. Your life is worth the extra patience or money.
“As always”, says Inyo SAR, “we urge all to have fun and be safe. We want there never to be a need for you and us to meet due to an emergency.”
