Ascent of Whitney

Many thanks to the many people who have supported Michael Jay’s personal fund raising appeal for the Arthritis Research Campaign.

This is his brief account of the operation.

Sunrise near the tree line 5.45 am

Going up, around 7 am

“I made the summit of Whitney on Thursday July 1st at 1.10 p.m. (some 8 hours and 50 minutes after leaving the Whitney Portal trailhead at 4.20 a.m.). This was 16 years almost to the week since my previous ascent. It was cold, lightly snowing in fact, with menacing thunder clouds building up over the mountains of Sequoia National Park to the west. After 10 minutes or so, two guys joined me on the summit and did me the favour of taking a couple of photographs. They had left the roadside at 3 a.m. and I had seen their torch lights above me before dawn.

Summit plateau

Summit plaque

“Leaving the summit at 1.45 p.m., I was anxious to be below the danger zone from the now threatening thunder clouds. A number of people were still coming up from the Whitney Portal to the east and from the John Muir trail which ascends from the west starting in the Yosemite Valley (some 150 miles or so to the north). When the electrical storms began I was well below the summit ridge and therefore relatively safe.

Heading back, storm brewing from the west

Spot the summit, right of centre

“I made it back to the car at 8.15 p.m. – about 20 minutes before sunset. I had been on my feet for 16 hours. My summit companions were nowhere to be seen and would probably have been going for 20 hours by the time they got down.

“My knees, with their miracle titanium implants were fine. No aches, no twinges. Just fine. The hips and lower lumber region felt the worse for wear and I was very tired.

“But I did it. Three years ago I could barely get out of a chair or the car without assistance. And now, I had turned the clock back by some 16 years in terms of this kind of capability.

“Thanks again to everyone for their support. We have raised over £4000 already and the figure is rising. Full details will be published soon. Thanks also to my corporate sponsors and to the Arthritis Research Campaign staff who have helped. Thanks especially to my wife Hayley for simply putting up with me, my hours in the gym and my absences on this and many other exploratory trips. Thanks to the memory of my late mother, Esme Jay, a martyr to the scourge of rheumatoid arthritis.”

Michael Jay
St Just-in-Penwith, July 5th 2004.

Whitney from the approach road