Trip Report
Badwater to the Bone: Death Valley to Mount Whitney Summit in a Day

by zoom loco
Wednesday October 5, 2011 1:13am
In school we learn that Death Valley is the lowest place in the Americas. Less than 100 miles away, as the crow flies, is Mt Whitney, the highest point in the 48. Distance, elevation, extreme temps, and two mountain ranges is what lies between them. To visit both in a day on your own power, you need to think like Honey Badger.

The video is a YouTube classic. Honey Badger wants some bee larva, so he goes and gets it. He doesn’t care that he gets stung 100 times in the process. He’s hungry, he doesn’t care about anything, he just goes for it.

Starting at 282' below Sea Level at Badwater, we had ~22,000' vertical feet of climbing and more than 140 miles to go to Whitney summit at 14,500'. But you can’t think about the difficulty of going from the low point to the high point. Honey Badger decides that he wants to do something, and will endure anything necessary in the process. If you start thinking how tired you are, how much you hurt, etc, you gotta change your mindset quick. If we started caring about little things, there is no way we would make it.

Well, Andre and I indeed did channel Honey Badger, and did make it in 19:30 on September 25. Click here for the full trip report and photos.
http://pullharder.org/2011/10/04/badwater/

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Sunset on our descent from Whitney
Sunset on our descent from Whitney
Credit: zoom loco
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zoom loco 		About the Author
zoom loco is a mountain climber from san diego ca.

Comments
Doug Robinson

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
  Oct 5, 2011 - 01:40am PT
pretty impressed here!

kinda speechless...

Honey Badger is badass!
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
  Oct 5, 2011 - 01:41am PT
I hope yous guys get the help you clearly need to get that hard core
removed before it causes real issues! Man, I'm gonna go lie down after
reading that. Nice! :-)
PAUL SOUZA

Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
  Oct 5, 2011 - 03:11am PT
WOW!!
climbski2

Mountain climber
The Ocean
  Oct 5, 2011 - 03:24am PT
I almost puked reading this.

Nice work badgers!
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
  Oct 5, 2011 - 04:13am PT
Hella Badger! Yeah man, that's it.......
lele honu

Trad climber
SD
  Oct 5, 2011 - 10:48am PT
Nice work!
"...In school we learn that Death Valley is the lowest place in the Americas. Less than 100 miles away, as the crow flies, is Mt Whitney, the highest point in the 48. Distance, elevation, extreme temps, and two mountain ranges is what lies between them. To visit both in a day on your own power, you need to think like Honey Badger."

 Challenge accepted. Way to get after it.
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
  Oct 5, 2011 - 11:25am PT
Well done. Honey badger don't give a sh#t about that elevation gain, even DR said so!!
Hoots

climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
  Oct 5, 2011 - 11:26am PT
WTF! Burly dude. Honey Badger don't give a f--k!
Reeotch

climber
4 Corners Area
  Oct 5, 2011 - 11:45am PT
You guys are burley, Honey Badger Beasts!

I think I'd like to try it from highest to lowest, probably the only way I'd have a chance to match your time.

Is there a record for this enduro fest?
zoom loco

Mountain climber
san diego ca
Author's Reply  Oct 5, 2011 - 12:18pm PT
Thanks for the positive feedback. As for the question, not sure about a record. Almost certainly it's faster than our time or at least should be. Our conditions on the Mountaineers Route (ice) added at least 30 minutes; the wind on the bike was also not optimal. I could have used a climbing (granny) gear on Whitney Portal road, that would have helped tremendously. Plus we took breaks totaling more than 2 hours which you could cut way down if you had carefully planned drops or a pacer car. You could use a pack of others to draft off of, that would help a lot too. And the biggest thing, if somebody had their main strength as a biker (instead of as a climber) then you could go way faster. Plus, we didn't race at all, we waited for and supported each other. I would say it could very reasonably be done under 15 hours, or even much faster. 12 hours even, if you had everything perfect and an entourage of a support crew. As for the course in reverse, yes, it would be much easier--you'd get at least 50 free miles where you'd not need to pedal at all...still would be hot though--have fun!
Spider Savage

Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
  Oct 5, 2011 - 12:45pm PT
Ive always wanted to do this by starting at midnight and hiking from Badwater to the top of Dante's View where the team would jump in a van and speed to the same elevation at Whitney Portal (near the campground at the bottom of the grade). Then hike up Mt Whitney via the Mountaineer's route.

As far as fast times go, I once met a young man on the mountain who claimed he did the East Face route solo, parking lot to summit in 4 hrs. I believe him based on observing his speed at the time.
nutjob

Sport climber
Almost to Hollywood, Baby!
  Oct 5, 2011 - 12:58pm PT
Looks like Honey Badger needs to hire you guys as tutors for learning for learning to be a better badass.
Rhodo-Router

Gym climber
sawatch choss
  Oct 5, 2011 - 03:36pm PT
That is so bad ass.

As for pacer cars, drafting, etc.- that's cheating. You guys were 100% legit. You did want to do it all under your own power, right?
zoom loco

Mountain climber
san diego ca
Author's Reply  Oct 5, 2011 - 04:42pm PT
Thanks, and I'm with you Rhodo, completely... and am not saying I have any interest in going back with a pacer car etc, just that if somebody wanted to get the best time possible, that's something they would use. It would be a different challenge in that case, though I think a cool route any way you choose to do it.
Willoughby

Social climber
Truckee, CA
  Oct 5, 2011 - 05:19pm PT
"...But Honey Badger don’t care, he solos everything."
Doug Robinson

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
  Oct 5, 2011 - 06:58pm PT
Hey Spider, check this out:

Ten months before he died, Galen Rowell, then 61, signed in at the summit of Whitney, "via East Buttress from Whitney Portal 2 hrs. 53 min."

That Honey Badger got cousins...
Klimmer

Mountain climber
  Oct 5, 2011 - 09:27pm PT
DDdddddddaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnggggggggg.


Hard@@# & Bad@@#


Way cool guys.


Is this your warm-up for Badwater to Whitney Summit via East Face or East Buttress? It's a logical follow-up. You know you can do it.


Very cool.
Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
  Oct 6, 2011 - 10:35am PT
Honey badger don't give a Fu#K!!!!
dee ee

Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
  Oct 6, 2011 - 03:43pm PT
Give that Badger some extra honey!
Splater

climber
Grey Matter
  Oct 6, 2011 - 04:24pm PT
Fun Read! ...from my armchair.

A friend of mine has done this several times over the last 20 years,
hiking up to the top after doing the Whitney classic bike ride fundraiser. http://summitadventure.com/whitney-classic/
It's not a big event, but it looks like a good bike time is 13 hours, and a very fast bike time is 11 hours. And then add another 4-5 hrs for the hike (not part of the official event). So he thought the record was about 15 hours.
Nate Ricklin

climber
San Diego
  Oct 7, 2011 - 11:05am PT
Fitness!
Josh Nash

Social climber
riverbank ca
  Oct 7, 2011 - 12:32pm PT
that's amazing
zoom loco

Mountain climber
san diego ca
Author's Reply  Oct 7, 2011 - 07:29pm PT
Splater,
Thanks for the weigh-in. I checked out the event's site. I am sure that fast riders in that event would have faster times than us to Whitney Portal. Even without counting the advantage of pacer cars and aid stations. But it seems that the race ends at Whitney Portal and really very few people continue to the summit (much like the Badwater ultra--it's done to the summit, but rarely). For instance, this year apparently zero people summited who finished the bike. It's primarily seen as a bike event, not a lowest to highest. But I agree, someone who indeed went the whole way must have had a faster time in past years.
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