Mt. Whitney

sexay

You go gurl! Climb that shit!

Miss Whitney looks like a bitch.

Mount Whitney? Not anymore.

Good luck, OP. It's an extremely strenuous climb. I hope you backpack it overnight and divide the hike into two days.

That's a beautiful part of California, btw, with the eastern Sierra Nevadas on one side and the desert out to the east. If you have time, check out Death Valley.

Nice knife edge.

There's a mountain named after Whitney Houston?

Fun fact: Mount Whitney is part of the Sierra Nevadas, which is the same mountain range where the Donner party got stranded and had to resort to cannibalism.

Not in April you won't. July maybe.

Why is it a "she"? Vagina dentata?

That's nothing! I climbed Mt. Whitney this morning before breakfast!

I want to go up there. Can you drive to the top?

Yes, R12! I drove my Prius there last January! It was a lovely way to spend the New Year holiday!

Don’t fall off, OP!

Watch out for bears, you don't a bear rifling through your innards as you sleep...in a thin...tent.

It'll only be climbable in April if this is a drought year and there's no snowpack on the Sierras.

Might as well go to the Owens Valley and admire it anyway if your trip falls through, it sure does look nice. Especially at sunrise.

Before you go can you answer this question: What's on your I-Pod?

Bury all your sex toys and porn collection before you go. Just in case ..

I've taken on Mt. Whitney several times.

Climb Mt. Mariah instead.

Stop into the Mt. Whitney diner in Lone Pine for breakfast. Mmmmm.

Mt. Whitnry is an insatiable bottom.

After ascending the mountain, OP, you can relax your aching body at the Keough Hot Springs.

And stop at Schat's Bakery in Bishop, for a roast beef sandwich, and get some sheepherder's bread and cookies to take home.

Mount Whitney? Mount Nasty!

I hate her.

Only one third of climbers actually make it to the top. Does OP have what it takes?

[quote] There are no official statistics, but common estimates land at a one-third success rate.

R16 has a good suggestion about visiting the Owens Valley. It's very scenic, although it has a rather unfortunate history regarding Los Angeles stealing its water. The movie 'Chinatown' is based on this.

To give you an idea of what the scenery out there is like.

Lots of inexplicably abandoned, decrepit cabins all over the area.

The ghost town of Bodie is 3 hours away from Mt. Whitney, but it's the best ghost town I've ever visited.

After they sucked all the water out of the Owens Valley and it dried up, the town of Lone Pine evolved into a movie set with hundreds of movies being filmed there in the Alabama Hills with Mt. Whitney in the background. They shot everything from Gunga Din to Django Unchained up there and kept the economy going. I have a friend who was raised there. Been there a couple of times.

There are native petroglyphs in the Owens Valley, if you're into that sort of thing.

I'm very fond of the towns of Bishop, Lone Pine, and Bridgeport for some reason. I mean they're small towns in the middle of nowhere, but all are surrounded by gorgeous mountains and I've always found them to have a pleasant vibe. I hope they haven't been taken over by meth and Walmart like so many small towns, but not the last time I visited. Bridgeport is a bit to the north of the Owens Valley, on the other side of Mono Lake, and everyone who appreciates natural wonders should see Mono Lake. So yeah, I think that if the OP can't climb Mt. Whitney at a time of year when there's a good chance of heavy snow, he should go anyway.

The geology of the valley is pretty cool.

I tried going to Devil's Postpile NM (near Mammoth) in June once, and the roads were still closed due to snow. So you never know ...

Bristlecone pine and Eastern Sierra night sky. If you're considering camping, consider that it gets cold and windy out there.

Somebody died climbing it recently.

OP you in danger girl!

LIghtning deaths are very common there.

A song for OP.

Here is the summit.

Looks steep.

But are there dead bodies left at the summit?

r42, That's only on dangerous mountains like Everest and green boots has been removed, poor guy.

Didn't the Manson family live near there?

That would be Barker Ranch, R44.

Punk.

I hope you are better prepared than some of the other hikers in this article, OP. Yikes!

[quote] As we inched closer to the bottom of the Chute, I looked up and watched in horror as three hikers toppled uncontrollably head over heels hundreds of feet down the 30-degree, ice-covered slope, none able to self-arrest. I later learned that one hiker, who wasn’t equipped with crampons or an ice ax, had slipped and taken out several others below her. That domino fall apparently spooked another woman, who fell separately moments afterward and tumbled down into rocks jutting out from the snow near the bottom of the Chute. She suffered the worst injuries—major head trauma and a possible pelvic injury. When we arrived at the scene minutes later, fellow hikers were shouting assessments: One person had a broken arm, another was unconscious and bleeding badly.

[quote] A guy nearby yelled, “Do they have a pulse? Check their pulse.”

[quote] “Yes, there’s a pulse,” a hiker shouted back.

Filmmakers used the Eastern Sierra near Lone Pine as a backdrop in the first “Iron Man."

There's a Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine.

Been there R50. They have the worms from Tremors there.

I still maintain that gays should overtake Inyo County, turn it blue, and make it the next gay destination. Eh, why not? They all live in Palm Springs, so it's not that much of a stretch...

Twat Mount Me

Tons of abandoned cabins like this all over the area. Makes you wonder who lived there in the first place and why they left?

Filmed in Lone Pine. "Dudes are Pretty People"

I'm in, R52! I thought about retiring there, but decided I'd need a bit more... civilization nearby.

Eldergays are the ultimate civilizing influence.

It's too far away from decent healthcare for eldergays.

Quit measuring from the taint!

R56, I see what you mean. The closest 'big' city is Reno, NV. Palm Springs and Las Vegas are each due about over 4 hours away.

Although if enough gays moved into the Lone Pine-Independence-Bishop area, it could become a destination in and of itself, the way Palm Springs now is.

Is Amboy nearby?

Or Barstow?

R60, Amboy is over 3.5 hours away, and closer to the Mojave Desert. Joshua Tree is due south from there.

Barstow is closer, but there is no there there. It's mostly just used as a pitstop for gas and snacks between LA and Las Vegas.

I have a few days off in mid-December, and considered going there. I haven't seen the newish Lone Pine film museum!

Temps will be around 50 during the day and 20 at night, but I think I'll wait a couple of months. I'll have to cross high passes to get there from the northerly route, and I don't like driving in snow and neither does my little car.

Sounds fun, R63