"Bad-Whitney" October 19-20, 2019

One YouTube video summary for those who prefer images to words:

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/bad-idea-jeans/n9937

About 18 months ago Kirk asked me what I thought about racing Leadville with him. I told him about the experience Jeem and I had and said I wasn't sure I wanted to go through that rigmarole again. However, if he did want a challenge, I had read about some people who had done the L2H challenge (lowest to highest points in the lower 48). The route would start on the bike in Badwater (-282 feet) traversing 136 miles and 16,000' of climbing to Whitney Portal where we would transition to trail shoes and climb 11 miles to the summit of Mt Whitney (14,505 feet) in a day. I knew Scene had trained to do it a couple of years ago but aborted with a knee injury, so we reached out to him to brainstorm. After months of discussion and planning, several longer rides and too many hours spent riding with Scene, 5 of us departed Oakland for Death Valley on Saturday morning. Kirk, Diamond, Scene, me and Kirk's friend JC - who had offered last-minute to help crew for the bike and join us for the climb.

Our plan was to meet up with Max (friend of David and 6th rider/climber) and Jared (who would support for the bike and join for the climb) in Lone Pine at 3 and drive on to Badwater in Death Valley, arriving around 6. When all was said and done, we arrived at Badwater just after dark at 7 pm. We were all anxious to get riding after 9 hours of driving and months of anticipating how we would respond to the heat, the cold, the long hours of output and the lack of sleep.

Just after 7:30 p.m. we rolled out of Badwater, with temperatures in the high 70s. The first 40 miles to Stovepipe Wells is mostly flat (relative to the rest of the ride), and we pushed along at roughly 19 mph, trading pulls and generally basking in the energy of the beginning of our adventure. Everyone looked strong and the stoke level was high. We pulled into Stovepipe Wells for the first of our stops. This was meant to be a 5 minute stop at the base of the first climb which is 17 miles and 5,000 feet. After nearly 15 minutes we pushed on to start the first of 3 major climbs of the ride. As predicted the first climb took roughly 2 hours. We chatted and rode within our comfort level. We reached the top and met the crew for our second stop which ended up taking closer to 30 minutes. Temps were in the high 40s at this point.

We rolled out from the second stop around 12:30 am for the next 21 mile leg which would include a 10 mile, 3,000 foot descent followed by an 11 mile 2500 foot climb. Diamond and Scene went to the front and started ripping the descent. I pulled in behind Max and Kirk, but felt something wobbling on my rear wheel. I couldn't tell whether in my fatigue I was imagining this or something was afoul with the bike, so I slowed a bit allowing the guys to get a gap on me. The van then passed me cheering us on and heading on to the next stop. Just as everyone had rounded a corner out of sight, my tire exploded. Thankfully it was my rear and I was going no more than 20. Riding on the rim I grabbed the brakes and quickly came to a stop. FM. First thing I checked was my phone - no cell reception. Next I looked at the tire - sidewall blown. I removed the wheel and took out my boot. I placed the boot under the tire and took out my spare tube only to find the valve stem wasn't long enough for the carbon rim. I had a second tube, but had the same problem.

I started running scenarios, realizing that the worst case scenario would be I'd have to wait until the guys ascended the next climb and regrouped with the support van when they would presumably realize I wasn't there. Maybe 2-3 hours. Thankfully I had brought along a Garmin InReach satellite communication device I borrowed from a friend and tried texting Kirk to see if he could radio the van (we also had walkie talkies - one with Kirk, one with the van), knowing he likely didn't have cell service either. I then realized I wasn't sure I had the contact info of the guys in the van. Nor was it clear whether they would have cell service anyway. After searching through previously downloaded emails on my phone I found Jared's cell number and quickly sent him a text using the InReach. Miraculously he responded right away saying they were heading back my way - he had just picked up his phone to switch it to airplane mode to save battery life when my text came through... So lucky.

I lay down on the side of the road and waited. This was the first place I considered quitting. I was chilly, and my legs were getting stiff and realistically I might not be able to catch back on anyway to complete the course. After about 30 minutes they picked me up. I suggested I replace the tire and chase back on but they noted the rest of the crew were only 2-3 miles from the next stop, so I sagged up to the next stop 21 miles ahead just as the other guys were rolling in. I changed the tire there and we all added some layers and pressed on, just before 3 am. The next stop was Lone Pine, 40 miles away, sitting at the base of the final climb to Whitney Portal. At our rate I thought this would take about 3 hours. I was definitely tired at this point and my legs were stunned after having ridden for 4+ hours and then rested for 2 hours. We climbed a little more and then settled into a ripping, pedaling descent with Scene laying down a monster pull at the front. The miles ticked away and we ended up coming into the final stretch to Lone Pine in a strong headwind at 5am.

At this stop the group was definitely feeling the fatigue. They were 124 miles in with roughly 12,000 feet of climbing and no sleep for nearly 24 hours. The support crew here was amazing, mixing up coffee and cup 'o noodles. Max got in the driver seat of the van and promptly fell asleep. When he woke he muttered that he might be done. This was the second place I thought about quitting. It was cold outside and the van with the heater running was so warm. But mostly I wanted to sleep. Getting out would not be easy. With our planned 30 minutes of rest way in the rear view mirror, we finally rolled out of Lone Pine at 6:15 after an hour and 15 minutes of much needed warming and sustenance, heading to the final 11 mile 4500' climb to Whitney Portal. As tired as I was, when the sun came up, the scenery was inspiring, and I found my 2nd (3rd, 4th?) wind, Sensei's words echoing in my mind "remember to enjoy the experience." It was once again epic. We all slowly ground to the top, searching in vain for an extra granny gear on the 12-13% grades.

We rolled into Whitney Portal around 8:15 am in ones and twos to see Jared and JC getting chairs out and whipping up the best egg tacos I have ever tasted. As elated as I was to be off the bike, I was concerned with how late it was getting and predicted we had little chance of achieving the summit at this point.

After changing and eating we set off on the trail just before 10. The week prior I had recommended switching our route from the Mt Whitney Trail to the Mountaineers Route as it is much more direct (5 miles versus 11 miles) and from everything I had read and heard, it was not very technical. The weather was perfect and though oxygen was increasingly in short supply the higher we climbed, we took it at a manageable pace. My mood veered into the bipolar, oscillating between hypo[Hin]mania - feeling strong and appreciative of the gorgeous weather, my friends around me and the incredible scenery, and darker moments during which I was all but sure I would have to stop, my head throbbing, my breath requiring more effort and my mental acuity fading.

At about 10,500' Max decided to call it and head down. It was clear that we would have to push ahead at a steady pace to achieve the summit safely. While I typically like to be off the summit when climbing before noon, this clearly wasn't achievable, so we set a hard stop: If we couldn't reach Iceberg Lake at 12,300' by 2:45, we would abort. The final 2200' is basically straight up and in good conditions we should be able to climb close to 1,000'/hour (when rested). If we could reach the summit by 4:45, we'd have about an hour and 45 minutes before last light to get much of our descent out of the way.

JC decided at this point he would only be holding us up and gave up his bid for the summit. Jared - an experienced climber who has climbed Whitney before - offered to stay with JC and eventually go down with him, leaving 5 of us (DD, Kirk, Scene, me and Kirk's friend Boris). Boris had just climbed the Mountaineer's route 2 weeks earlier, which was incredibly helpful and a time-saver as it helped us avoid lost time to route-finding. As we pushed on to Iceberg Lake, I tried to continue eating and drinking, but my appetite was waning after 18 hours of sugar-based nutrition. I was amazed at the strength of the others who barely seemed fazed by the altitude and hours of effort.

We arrived at Iceberg Lake at 2:45, filtered some water and ate a bit and entered the couloir of the Moutaineers Route just after 3. We were not turning back. I got my umpteenth wind and was starting to feel that the summit was within reach. We scrambled over some third class rock and climbed some loose scree and larger rocks, steadily pushing up, with DD driving the pace at the front. We got to the final 200' pitch of class 3 climbing and moved from the shade into the sun. We achieved the summit around 5:15 in perfect weather, gassed, but with stoke level around 11. We had the summit to ourselves. After a couple of quick selfies we started heading down the Mt Whitney Trail, which, at 11 miles, we assumed would take about 3 hours....

The beginning of the trail is incredible, cut into the side of the rocky terrain with a precipitous drop off to the right and incredible vistas. With darkness rapidly approaching though, we wanted to put as much distance between ourselves and this jagged edge as possible. Around 6:30 it was full on dark and we were still high up on the trail. We all had head lamps and they were lighting the way, but our collective fatigue was oppressive. Our summit-induced euphoria had completely faded and we were each fighting our own demons, summoning any remaining ounce of motivation to keep moving down the mountain. Conversation became scarce. Our estimated three hours came and went while we were just finishing the 97 switchbacks still above 12,000 feet and the grim reality that this was going to be a much longer descent set in. We were now 25 hours in and torn between stopping to rest, possibly napping or pressing on to the finish. On wavering legs we stumbled and caught ourselves, defying the odds that one of us would end up with a broken ankle or worse. Slowly the group spread out as we each waged our own internal struggle. My legs weren't terribly tired. I wasn't at all hungry. I was just suffering from incredible fatigue. All I wanted was to get off the mountain and get some sleep. Ultimately after 6 1/2 hours and countless expletives we arrived at the parking lot at midnight, where Jared and JC had waited for us with pizza and beer. I forced a small slice of pizza and a 1/4 of a beer down though I wasn't hungry at all.

Jared and JC once again proved to be incredibly selfless as our support crew, having waited for us at the trail head, now ran to get chairs, food, beer, water, whatever we needed. After catching them up on the details of the evening we packed up, got in the van and they drove us to the hotel in Lone Pine where we arrived around 1 am.

I expected this to be hard, but wasn't prepared for how profound my exhaustion would be. While there were times when my legs were sore and I was searching for oxygen at higher altitudes, the greatest challenge was the sleeplessness. We prepared well for what we knew about the challenge and we were very lucky at many points for how we traversed the unexpected. My final thought in the last miles of the trail were how idiotic this event was and that I would never do anything similar again. But with the passage of a couple of days and some much needed sleep, those missing 21 miles have begun to gnaw at me and thoughts of 2020 are percolating.

Video synopsis of the ride/climb here: https://youtu.be/w0kCSmylqaQ