All posts tagged as Humphreys Peak AZ

I’m back at the trailhead now, in my rental car with the AC blasting chanting “There’s no place like Camry, There’s no place like Camry, There’s no place like Camry.

I must have found my inner pathfinder because I never lost the trail coming down. But I lost it 4 times on the way up.

I got lucky with the storm and stayed out of its reach as I quickly moved down the mountain.

This climb only took me 7.5 hours, but with the rough boot shredding terrain, wrong turns and heat, it felt like a much longer climb.

I’ll write a full trip report later.

Rain and lightning in adjacent valley moving this way. Both shoe soles have come off and have been taped back on. In the treeline now.

Thunderclouds directly overhead, ominous rolling thunder but no rain or lighting. Will be in the relative safety of the treeline soon.

Made the summit, headed back down, multiple thunderstorms converging on mountain now. Don’t hear the sizzle of static charge building, so I’m safe for now

10 minutes from summit, thunder starting, and I just tore the sole off my hiking boot. I carry duct tape for quick repairs, boot taped moving again.

After steep rocky climb over multiple spirit crushing false summits I see the summit. Incredibly thick gnat swarms here. Storm cloud holding, gonna make it!

Not far from summit now but that storm is getting closer. A climber was struck by lightning and died up her last week, so I’m keeping a close eye on it.

Switchbacks are for pansies, climbed straight up through a rock slide and made the summit ridge. Other climbers are turning back due to storm cloud. Not me!

Emerging from treeline soon. Trail not matching GPS, have lost trail 3 times and had to break trail through rugged steep terrain. Off trail at the moment.

Required the trail, not too bad, only lost 20 minutes or so.

Just realized I took the wrong path a while back, have to double back. Hate it when that happens!

Leaving the trailhead now & satellite tracking is active.

Today I make my second attempt on the 12,633′ Mt Whitney.

I did move the climb day up due to potential thunderstorms tomorrow, but when I checked the weather this morning it looks fine either day. Since I was geared up, I decided to go ahead and get it done today.

The drive up the mountain road was not as exciting as last time in the absence of fresh deep snow.

I’ve got less than 25 pounds of gear all in, and it’s cool in the 50s at the moment, so it should be an easy day. Although I do expect extreme heat later on. It was 115 degrees yesterday during the drive from Phoenix.

I’m at the trailhead now getting geared up and will be leaving soon.

A tall dangerous man steps off a plane, the other passengers give him a wide berth, as he purposefully makes his way up the ramp…

Yea, that would be me. Today I find myself in Arizona in full adventure mode. I’m here to take a second swing at Humphreys Peak, the highest mountain in Arizona and this time, I will not be denied. When I tried this mountain in April, I got caught in a proper blizzard, and had to turn around around 1,400′ from the summit.

Severe weather forced me to abort the first Humphrey attempt in April.

The chance of blizzards is pretty low this time around, but the heat could be problematic, its 113 degrees in Phoenix today but it will be cooler on the mountain, hopefully a lot cooler. Then there are thunderstorms forecasted this week. My original plan was to take a rest day on Thursday and climb Friday, but the weather looks more favorable on Thursday. So well see what the mountain has to throw at me this time, and hopefully I’ll be up to the challenge.

Highpoint Statistics:
State: Arizona
Elevation: 12,633′
US Rank by Height: 12th
Round Trip Hiking Time: 7 Hours

If you have some time to kill, you can read that first trip report here.

In the meantime, stay tuned to the Danger Network…

Made it back to the trailhead with weather chasing me all the way down. Now the whole mountain is socked in. Now to wrestle this Camry back down the mountain

Below the worst of it now & looking back in glad I turned around. Much more of the mountaintop is socked in now. I’d be blind now if I stayed where I was

Getting worse, whiteout coming down mountain. I have to descend and hope it doesn’t overtake me. Wind is insane!

There’s been snow from the start & no trail save my own. Even with SnowShoes I’m sinking 6-10" each step. Im holed up in trees hoping whiteout will lift soon

Approaching ridge, deep soft snow, crazy wind. Ridge above in total whiteout. If conditions don’t improve, I’ll have to turn back