Telephoto view of Mt. Whitney from Lone Pine (15 miles away and 10,000 feet below)
I don't really know why I got interested in going to the top of Whitney. It's something that's been in the back of my mind for years and it just kind of came forward. Running the marathon last summer was such a great focal point for fitness training and really having discipline about keeping to a training regimen. Then, the idea of Whitney came up and it seemed to fit in the same general category. I'd have to train hard for it and it could feel like a significant accomplishment and maybe I'd get some interesting photos too.
I was coming off knee surgery in September and working on recovering from that and was committed to building up the strength in my legs to protect my knees from future injury. So, somewhere around December/January, I started thinking more seriously about what it would take to do Whitney. In my usual fashion, step one was to read everything I could find about the trip and learn all about it. (I bought four books on the subject and found zillions of useful web pages). As I read, I learned that if the weather and trail conditions cooperate (typical summer conditions), it's a hike that challenges your fitness level, but it's not a technical climb. Perfect, I'd need to prepare and get in great shape, but it should be doable.
I wasn't really sure who I'd go with. I kind of hoped that Kevin would want to do it with me, but I wasn't sure whether Kevin would be interested in the trip because it would involve a lot of training and preparation and the trip itself would be really physically demanding, but I explained what the whole thing involved and asked him if he wanted to do it with me. He said yes and seemed to get excited about both the challenge and the reward. I reiterated what would be involved to make sure he fully understood and really sounded committed. He did.
So, this was perfect, it would be a father-son trip. We'd prepare together and train together and hopefully make it to the top and back down together.
Next Page
