it's been a month since jg and i hiked up mt whitney. now that i've had some time to process the experience, i'd like to try and share some of it. i'll do it in short installations over the next few days.
let's start with how we decided to hike mt whitney.
originally, jg and i were supposed to go backpacking with our friend chris diersen, the guy who led us to cottonwood lakes before hiking up to mt langley last year.
this year, chris planned a similar backpacking-peakbagging trip for the weekend of september 24-26. on september 13, i got an email with the following picture attached:
his email read:
This trip is now pretty questionable. I am in the hospital with a broken
collarbone, broken ankle (that requires surgery) multiple bruises and
abrasions, and a couple of stapled-together lacerations.
Even made the news! [article now inaccessible]
More later when it hurts less to type. :)
C
he failed to add that, before the helicopter lifted him to the hospital, he spent a night in the wilderness covered in blood and drinking muddy water from a hole he dug with his one good arm.
post facto
jg and i were set on taking the week off for our anniversary so i scrambled to make last minute plans. the trip chris planned for us had nothing to do with mt whitney. i got the idea while doing research on a different fourteener called mt russell. when i learned that hiking mt russell would require the same permit as it would for going up to the highest point in the contiguous united states, i decided to go for the latter.
