Trail Conditioning
Mt. Whitney in a Day
The Mt. Whitney area gets so much foot traffic that a special permit is required to control overuse. Some people get one or two day passes to start at Whitney portal, and attempt to climb Mt. Whitney from the south. We approached from the north after having hiked the JMT for almost three weeks and ran into many hikers coming up from the south. Most of those who made it that far were young and fit. Yet almost all looked noticeably fatigued. This is a grueling hike, and if you’re not already in shape and acclimated, it can be punishing.
A better approach is to start your JMT hike from the north, and be in fair trail shape when you begin. Make your first few days lighter ones as you get acclimated, and soon you'll be making lots of miles and enjoying your hike even more.
Some folks think they will train on the trail. This may even work for a few people…but the odds are against it! We met some young and otherwise fit hikers who did this and really struggled! Our experience around Mt. Whitney was instructive.
There are many good tutorials about trail training. Ray Jardine's book, Beyond Backpacking, has a great section on this. You might also check bodyresults.com, which has a good section for hikers. The best training is probably just hiking at high altitude. Weekend hikes, or one day outings are possible from many cities. If you live far from the mountains, hike wherever you can and as high as you can.
An acquaintance hiked in the Sierras every weekend for a month, and did several miles with a full pack during the week. She had little trouble later when she did her JMT hike.
If you can, go on some longer trips to really shake things out. Your shoes or other equipment may work OK on an overnight trip, but show serious problems after a few more days.
Conditioning Links:
There are plenty of links about exercise on the web, but here’s a few specific to hiking:
This Body Results site has an extensive collection of articles about trail conditioning.
The About: Exercise site is a little basic, but has some good tips.
This article on the GORP site focuses on the AT, which is a long and fairly extreme thru-hike. Still, you may get some good tips.
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