On some climbs when you don't know the top, you can talk yourself into thinking the top is just around the next corner to keep you going. The climb up to Horseshoe Meadows (30.57km @6.2%) is not one of those climbs. The huge switchbacks can be seen clearly from miles around. It is the type of climb that slaps you in the face a couple of times and questions you from the start if you have what it takes.
So I was awake before my alarm set for 6am and got ready and rolling by 6:30 just as the morning sun started to light up the mountains I was to be riding up.
I rode Tuttle Creek road which I'd read was a nice road to approach the climb as it wanders through the Alabama Hills to join Horseshoe Meadow road as it traverses to the climb from Whitney Portal road.
Once at the end of Tuttle creek road, the morning sun highlighted the switchbacks I was about to ride.
Distances are hard to judge with the lack of trees and huge vistas, already 30 minutes into the ride I thought to myself that the end of the first switchback must less than 5km away. It ended up being over 9km till I reached it and gave up guessing.
Fortunately the length of each section of road as it slashed across the mountains face were getting progressively shorter, although there were more twists and turns than what appears from the valley floor meaning even more climbing was required.
Other than for sections of road broken by the ever present expansion cracks of which some were huge, the descent was a fun ride down the mountain. The straight section below the first switchback in particular was a very fast section of road. I ticked just over 100km/hr before deciding I should sit up and cruise to the next climb.
After refilling my bidon with my hidden bottle, I started the second climb for the day up to the Whitney Portal which is the main starting point for hikers climbing up Mt Whitney.
The heat in the valley was now unbearable at over 35 degrees! There was a strong wind that helped a little, but I just really wanted to get higher. Unfortunately the Whitney Portal climb (18.8km @7.7%) is the little brother to Horseshoe Meadows and also shows much of the climb from the distance. It is also steeper than the first climb with the final 8km averaging over 9%. Painfully it was straight up the slope and steep before even onto the climb proper.
It was here I promised myself one of the huge pancakes I'd read about from the Whitney Portal Store at the top if I didn't stop. This spurred me on to keep grinding ever so slowly metre by metre up the hill and was also around this time that I gave up taking photos as I ascended. Each section I just told myself to just get the next corner and then we would think about a rest.
This continued up the whole climb till I finally rolled up to the Whitney Portal store.
Here I was devastated to find that the pancakes were only available till 10:45am; an hour prior to my arrival! I settled on a vegie burger with fries which was okay, but just wasn't what I had been drooling over the last hour or more!
The descent was another great run, especially the lower section where it went straight downhill into the furnace. A quick detour to pick up the water bottle and then arrived back in town very soon after.
Ride details:
Distance 102.73km
3252m elevation
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