Our two-week family backpacking trip of the summer of 1971 ended with a climb to the top of Mount Whitney, the highest point in the continental U.S. (14,496 feet; see not below).
The peak is extraordinary. The top is somewhat flat, but the flatness ends in spectacular sheer cliffs such as the one above. As I recall, there are many places from which one could (if one were inclined to) throw a rock that would land thousands of feet below.
The peak is extraordinary. The top is somewhat flat, but the flatness ends in spectacular sheer cliffs such as the one above. As I recall, there are many places from which one could (if one were inclined to) throw a rock that would land thousands of feet below.
The trail to the peak starts at a very high pass (well, you've got to hike to that, too) and continues along a "sawtooth ridge." As I recall, the ridge is very narrow, and one encounters sheer cliffs on either side. It's a very unusual and unusually dangerous trail. (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)
Annie, sitting atop one of the "teeth," I guess, of the sawtooth ridge that leads to the peak.
Looking west, I think. The weather was mercurial, and sometimes bad, though it could have been worse. At one point, there was a thunder storm.
You don't want to be on a high peak during a thunder storm. We got the hell outa there pretty fast.
The highest point is (or was) marked by this metal plate.
Not sure about today, but forty years ago, there was a rock structure on the peak, constructed, I believe in 1909. I do believe that it was permitted to exist (most such structures were destroyed by law) as shelter from the typically bad weather on the peak.
Looking to the east (the Owens Valley)
Looking down to Guitar Lake, just to the west of the mountain.
My dad was still using his old Retina camera, which he bought while a teenager in Germany (c. 1948).
At a camp later on our trip. We look pretty dusty.
Shelter from the rain or hail.
Sun-bathing at some falls along the way.
Annie takes the plunge. (She met her future husband on this trip.)
At the beach, down in San Felipe, Mexico, I think
A contemporary photo of the "Smithsonian hut." Wikipedia explains that, in recent years, the estimated elevation of the mountain has been adjusted to over 14,500 ft.
My dad's Retina camera, purchased c. 1948. He used it exclusively until the mid-1970s. (It has a Schneider-Kreuznach 50 mm lens.)
2 comments:
God, what beautiful photos--especially the first and the last. Those cliffs on Whitney are terrifying. Your Dad (I'm guessing?) is a great photographer.
And no wonder Davey-Doo fell in love with the beautiful, passionate Annie!
Hunky!
Post a Comment