Day 18 of my JMT section hike. After the long day on Barnard and Trojan, we weren't sure we had enough energy for this one, but we went for it anyway. From Crabtree ranger station we wandered around the cliffs above Crabtree meadows before gaining the long W ridge up to the Hitchcock plateau. The walk up is quite sandy and took us a bit longer than anticipated. Having looked at this mountain from Trail Crest many times, it felt rewarding to finally stand atop the summit and look back at the broad west face of Whitney.