| elevation: |
14,505 feet (4,421 metres) |
| location: |
California, USA |
| range: |
Sierra Nevada |
| coordinates: |
36° 34' 42.9? N 118° 17' 31.2? W |
| first ascent: |
1873 |
 |
Mount Whitney is the highest point in the Continental United
States. It is located at the boundary between Inyo County, California and Tulare
County, California. The western slope of the mountain lies within Sequoia National
Park.
Mount Whitney was named after Josiah Whitney, the chief geologist of California.
It was first climbed in 1873 by Charles Begole, A. H. Johnson, and John Lucas
(fishermen who lived in Lone Pine, California.)
Mount Whitney is less than 90 miles from the lowest point of the United States,
in Death Valley, and immediately rises just over 2 miles (~3300 m) in elevation
above the floor of the Owens Valley. The Badwater Ultramarathon is a 135 mile
(215 km) running race from the bottom of Death Valley and ending at an elevation
of 8360 feet (2548 m) at Whitney Portal, the trailhead for Mount Whitney.
It is possible to hike up Mount Whitney from Whitney Portal. The hike is 21.4
miles (34.4 km) round trip and 6100 feet (1900 m) of elevation gain. There are
two places to camp on the trail. Outpost Camp is the lower of the two, while
Trail Camp lies just below a long series of switchbacks up a steep face.
The steep eastern side of the mountain offers a variety of climbing challenges.
The "Mountaineer's Route", a Class 3 gully to the north of the east
face, was first climbed by John Muir.The East Face route, first climbed in 1931,
is a classic easy climbing route of the Sierra; mostly Class 3, with the hardest
parts at only 5.4 (YDS). Other routes range up to 5.10 in difficulty.
New Articles: Keep Your Hands Warm for Winter Climbing<p><img src="http://z.about.com/d/climbing/1/0/J/9/-/-/DenaliClimber2_MikePowell_Getty_2.jpg"hspace="5"align="center"></p>
<p>If you're ice climbing or mountaineering in winter, it's easy to get cold hands and even frostbite on your fingers. It's important to keep your hands warm and fingers flexible on frigid outings. When you're in the high mountains like <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/mountainclimbing/a/MtWhitneyFacts.htm">Mount Whitney</a>, Denali, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/mountainclimbing/a/MontBlanc.htm">Mont Blanc</a>, and <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/mountainclimbing/a/EverestFacts.htm">Mount Everest</a>, it's a given fact that your hands are going to get cold. How you deal with that chill makes a difference. You can come home with finger <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://firstaid.about.com/od/heatcoldexposur1/ht/06_Frostbite.htm">frostbite</a> or finger freedom, depending on what kind of gloves and mittens you use.</p>
<p>To find out more about keeping your hands toasty and digits frostbite-free, I've posted a couple new articles--<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/climbinggear/a/WarmHands1.htm">Keep Your Hands Warm</a> and <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://climbing.about.com/od/climbinggear/a/GloveSystem1.htm">The Best Mountaineering Glove System</a> by winter mountaineer and contributing writer Susan Paul. A three-part glove system, with glove liners, good gloves or mittens, and taped mittens, is the best system. Susan gives you her thoughts on creating a glove system as well as suggestions on which products to buy.</p>
<p>Next week, I'll be adding a couple more articles that Susan is working on, including <i>Warm Hands with Proper Gear</i> and <i>What to Do if Your Hands Get Cold</i>. This winter, she's also going to be testing some of new battery-operated gloves and posting her thoughts and reviews of these products, while I'm working on an article about keeping your hands warm on winter rock climbs. See ya out there on the rock and snow!</p>
<p>Photograph above: <i>A climber near the summit of Denali needs good gloves for warm hands.</i> Photograph © Mike Powell/Getty Images.</p>
<p style="background:#f5f3ef;border: 1px solid #d5d0bf;padding:.5em;"><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/11/18/new-articles-keep-your-hands-warm-for-winter-climbing.htm">New Articles: Keep Your Hands Warm for Winter Climbing</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://climbing.about.com/">About.com Climbing</a> on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 12:14:46.</p><p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/11/18/new-articles-keep-your-hands-warm-for-winter-climbing.htm">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/11/18/new-articles-keep-your-hands-warm-for-winter-climbing.htm#gB3">Comment</a> | <a href="http://climbing.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://climbing.about.com/b/2009/11/18/new-articles-keep-your-hands-warm-for-winter-climbing.htm&zItl=New Articles: Keep Your Hands Warm for Winter Climbing">Email this</a></p>
Climbing Mount Whitney: Highest Mountain in the Lower 48Mount Whitney in California’s Sierra Nevada is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states. Because of that distinction, Whitney is also one of the most climbed mountains in the...
David Whiting: Climbing Mount Whitney's Mountaineers RouteOrange County Register Jul 31 2009 3:36AM GMT
Chadron resident part of Mount Whitney expeditionChadron Record Jun 24 2009 3:46AM GMT
Whitney HooseUrban Climber Magazine May 28 2009 11:32PM GMT
Books: Above All: Mount Whitney and California's Highest PeaksYubaNet Oct 18 2008 11:38PM GMT
Digression: Mount Whitney, Age and AMSInfectious Greed Oct 12 2008 4:53AM GMT
Digression: Mount Whitney and AMSInfectious Greed Oct 12 2008 4:23AM GMT
Locals climb Mt. WhitneyDaily Citizen Aug 1 2008 8:21AM GMT
Gettin' high on Mt. WhitneySqueezeOC.com Jul 31 2007 9:12AM GMT
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