Road Ride Report Sierra Climbing - Horseshoe Meadows & Whitney Portal

My buddy Krisztian (Bergsteiger) and I have been driving 395 together for years; heading to Mammoth, climbing peaks, etc. In recent years we have been eyeing the road to Horseshoe Meadows and Whitney Portal for a bike ride. We have both driven these roads several times on trips to climb Mt Langley, Mt. Whitney, and just a month ago to climb Mt Russell. This time we wanted to bike the to hellaciously long and steep roads.

First the stats:
Horseshoe Meadows: 20 miles - 6,200 feet of gain
Mt Whitney Portal: 11 miles - 4,300 feet of gain

We planned to camp out the night before at Tuttle Creek BLM Campground. (This is a great little campground just outside Lone Pine off Horseshoe Meadows Rd with a creek 10 feet outside camp.) Nick (Good ol' Slappy) joined us for this adventure. On the drive up Krisztian got a PM from Sol (SDstumpy). We re-PMed him and invited him on the trip - time 10:30 PM. Sol packed up his stuff and took off to Lone Pine. He arrived at 3:30 AM.


The Marmot Hotel


The Mohican Villa


The cowboy

We started at the intersection of Whitney Portal Rd and Horseshoes Meadows Rd. at about 8:00 AM. The beginning of the ride is a mellow grade for about 4 miles then starts to tilt upward like an exponential growth curve. The first switchback is 3 miles long!




Let's git er done!:bang:
There is no getting around the fact that this is a long steep climb with only short sections of rest (read 6% grades); the rest of the time the grades are between 8%-12%.


Punishing. That is the road lower down in the background.


First switchback


Nick and Sol making their way up. I am still lagging behind.

We stashed a gallon of water at Morton's Rock the night before. When looking up at Horseshoe Meadows Rd from the 395 Morton's Rock is right were the road disappears. Unfortunately the road does not stop here. It is another 3 miles until the end of the road. Luckily there is a 1 mile downhill.




Krisztian posing at Morton's Rock with Owens Valley some 9,500 feet below!

Horseshoe Meadows is the end of the road at 9,900 feet. The weather was perfect with a nice little chill in the air. Remnants of snow could be seen on the peaks from last weeks early season storm. The parking lots were nearly empty. I think we saw less than 10 cars the whole climb.


A much deserved break


1 down 1 to go

The descent started out very cold but the one mile up hill warmed us up before the forever long downhill back to the vehicles. Speeds were fast. It was hard to keep things in the 30s. Nearly 50 minutes after we left Horseshoe Meadows we finally reached the vehicles. We stocked up on water and food before the climb up to Whitney Portal.

At this point I felt pretty good. The climb to Horseshoes Meadows was difficult but not deadly. I was in for a rude awakening on the Portal climb.

The climb started out with a moderate 5% grade, which was surprisingly difficult. After a bit of this the legs started to weaken as the road went on forever. Looming were the two big switchbacks up to the Portal.





Before we even reached the first switchback Nick, Sol, and I were paperboying it back and forth across the road. I got into a rhythm of 50 pedal strokes then 6 switchbacks. This got me to the base of the first switchback.

There were more vehicles on this road but still not that many. Everyone gave us plenty of room, passing in the other lane. Most waved.

The two switchbacks were terribly punishing for me. My knees were killing me. I zig zagged, I stood, I found shade when I could, all in an effort to keep moving. The grade eased up quite a bit after the end of the second switchback until just past Whitney Portal Campground. One more steep switchback and then it was the home stretch. As soon as I reached the overflow parking lot I knew I was there. I was the last one to roll into the Portal.


Victorious!

We got cheeseburgers, fries, and Sierra Nevada beer from the Portal Store! Really good burgers and fries.



We eat our food in the sun by the little fishing pond.





The descent was even faster than Horseshoe Meadows. After the last switchback the road is almost straight for miles with grades between 8% - 5%. I reached my highest speed to date of 52.5 MPH, Nick reached 55 something. At that speed I started to notice some serious speed wobbles starting so I backed off. It took a surprisingly long time to get back down to the low 40s. Supper fun fast descent!

This was a really difficult ride for me. The mileage is not super long at 60ish but with over 10,000 feet of gain it is potent. This has been a dream of mine for about 4 years. I'm glad I finally did it!

 

Let me be the first to say Freakin Awesome.

I've long lusted for Horseshoe Meadows Road (that and Westguard Pass/ Bristlecone Pine Forest). Extra nice though there were so few cars. Stout that you guys did 'em both in a day.

Edit- hey Mav--- what route did you do on Mt Russell? The classic East Ridge- - or-- ? (East Ridge is nicely "airy").

 

It's nice to see people doing both of those rides. Years ago I used to hang glide from waltz point. Now that my flying days are over I will make it my goal to ride up to Horseshoe meadows and the portal. Right on guys and thanks for the inspiration

 

I'm just now starting to get my climbing legs back so no way could I have chased you guys up there. You'd still be waiting for me. I'm still wanting to do this. Do you think it would be rideable by June? I will be doing the Markleeville Death ride in June, so I should be in shape for it.

 

It is very hard for me to give roadies a big congrats...but congrats! gents for the Herculean effort.


Dean

 

Excellent ride boys! I heard you guys were doing this one and this was the one time I was glad I had to work

 

bullsheet!!!

 

Nice ride gents! :beer:

Though I was hesitant to bring out the new bike, having just built it days before, it felt great all day.

The grade up Whitney Portal after the 2nd switchback is just silly. A big personal accomplishment.

Thanks again Brian, Krisztian for getting it going.

 

I know....im full of it

 

Wow! Congratulations guys. Having driven that road recently I know how steep it is excellent job.

Almost didn't recognize Slappy in his lycra.

 

Some solace...no shaved legs (yet).

 

Standing Ovation! :clap::clap::clap:

just promise me next time you'll PM me.. haha..

cheers guys, thats on my bucket list..

 

EPIC!:clap:

When are you guys going to do it again at a slower pace?

 

I have driven that road enough times to not have it on my bucket list, way too hard core for me, nice job guys.

I have a Marmot Hotel too! :lol:

 

Thanks for the nice write up DR.
What a great day, for me it does not get better on a road bike. Riding these epic climbs in the Eastern Sierras is superb. The scenery, the lack of traffic, and monster numbers that rival big climbs in the Alps has me hooked.
I must drive up north on 395 about 10 times a year and I have been staring at the beastly switchbacks of Horseshoe ever since I bought my road bike 3 years ago.
Now that I have done it, I'll stare and obsess even harder. I can't wait to do it again.
Everest Challenge next year is looking more and more possible.
Sol, SDStumpy gets a hats off from me for joining us super last minute and taking care of business. He found out about this at 1030PM Friday night and by 3AM I heard his Audi Avant rolling in to camp with his bike on the roof. That is awesome.
Great crew to ride with, look forward to the next one.
Onion Valley? Bristlecone? Glacier Lodge? Rock Creek? Ohh boy....


Do you think it would be rideable by June? I will be doing the Markleeville Death ride in June, so I should be in shape for it.

June should not be a problem, granted its not a huge snow year. This would be good training for Death Ride.

 

DAYUM! That's some riding!

I did Whitney in '79. Even being in top shape then, I can't imagine riding those places.

Incredible trip.

Thanks !

 

Great RR you guys! That looks so awesome! Thanks for the invite back in September. Truth is, I forgot! No really!
I spent the weekend with my mom so that took priority over everything else!
Keep me in the loop for the next one. Then shoot me a reminder a couple weeks before!!

 

Wow! I'm inspired, and stoked for you. Especially since I got one of them bikes with the skinny wheel things.

 

It would be hard to go at a slower pace. I was regularly climbing below 4 MPH on the Portal climb.

 

now just think if there was a land slide...(if you had something with mountain tires) you could have ridden down it!... im just sayin


looks like a hell of a day!:beer: