Mt Whitney Attempt #1

This weekend was supposed to be our amazing 22 mile hike to the summit of Mt Whitney. However, mother nature had other plans. A storm came rolling in Wed/Thurs into central and Southern Cali. So we made it a bit over half way and ended up traveling 12 miles roundtrip. I still camped with my friends at Mt Whitney Portal on Thursday night. It was cold, but not as bad as it could have been. Several decent sized thunder storms came rolling through during the night. At 4am we woke up and put on lots of layers and started our ascent. We pretty much new today was not going to be the day to reach the summit of Whitney. Instead we decided to see how the conditions were and how far we could get. We ended up going 6 miles up to Trail Camp at 12,000 feet. It was ridiculous up there. On Setp 21st (1st day of FALL!) there must have been 6 inches of snow and nearing white out conditions due to the wind gusts. While taking a break up there, we decided we had gone far enough as the weather started to look like it was turning for the worst. I will make it up there, hopefully next summer. And I will not attempt this in Sept. again. Here are a few shots from the hike. From looking at them, you would think it was winter! (The temp at 12,000 feet was about 19 degrees!)I spent the remainder of the day and the next morning photographing the Lone Pine area. Here are a few more shots.