Sandor Lau's video: Climbing Mt Whitney in Ski Boots with The Donald

Climbing Mt. Whitney, Tallest Mountain in the Lower 48 United States with The Donald. Live storytelling by Sándor Lau for Boldly Went podcast. I flew from Portland and my friend whom we will know as Joe Snow drove from San Diego so we could climb up and ski down the highest mountain in the US, Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada Mountains outside of Lone Pine, California. The Mount Whitney Trail is 22 miles up 6,715 feet in elevation to the summit at 14,494 feet/4,421 meters atop a peak that lightning sometimes enjoys striking. The week we went someone died and someone else was paralyzed in two separate avalanches on a different route (Mountaineer's Route). Joe Snow could not sleep the night before. Without sleep, it would be unsafe for him to climb. So I had to decide. Go home to Oregon? Or find other people to climb with? I started out in running shoes carrying 145lbs/66kg of me and 55lbs/25kg of skis, pack, and gear on the first mile of dirt trail before hitting the snow, where I could put on my skis to start skinning up. Skinning is how you go uphill on skis, attaching velvet climbing skins to the bottom of skis so they grip as you ascend wearing alpine touring ski boots with articulated ankles and releasable heels. Around 10,000 feet in elevation I met The Donald wearing a make America great again beanie, along with his nephew The Michael, and their friend The Betsy who was already packing it in. I was almost ready to pack it in myself when we reached the saddle at Trail Crest, where the Mount Whitney Trail joins the highest trail in the US, the John Muir trail then follows the jagged spine of the Sierra Nevada for a four-mile round trip to the summit. Where I realized despite the elevation, this is a rocky granite path without snow. And my running shoes were back at camp. I would need to walk those four miles in my ski boots, or pack it in. We got each other this far. We'd go all the way. Despite differences in our many beliefs, The Donald and I kept each other safe and got each other up and back down. This is what's great about mountaineering, you win by making others win. The opposite of sportsball where you have to make someone lose if you want to win. Thanks to Julie Kentosh for camera work! Mt. Whitney known as Tubatulabal by the Newe (Western Shoshone) whose traditional lands these are according to native-land.ca. Links you may find useful. Some of these are Amazon affiliate links I will receive a small commission if you buy something from them. and some are : Mt. Whitney Trail on AllTrails with GPS track: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/mount-whitney-via-mount-whitney-trail Boldly Went Podcast: www.BoldlyWentAdventures.com Panasonic GH5 camera I use to shoot stills and video: https://amzn.to/2l98vxp Outside Magazine another cautionary tale on Mt. Whitney: https://www.outsideonline.com/2330916/mount-whitney-climbing-accidents Dynafit TLT6 alpine touring (AT ski boots): https://amzn.to/2Qm4i6G Dynafit Manaslu skis, weighing in about 10 lbs: https://www.evo.com/outlet/skis/dynafit-manaslu My favorite JetBoil MiniMo stove that kept us fed and hydrated: https://amzn.to/2KlSCgw Mountain House freeze-dried food, my favorite chicken and rice: https://amzn.to/2rCX6IX Other Dynafit AT ski products like skis, bindings, leashes: https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=sandorlau-20&keywords=dynafit ski&index=aps&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=ur2&linkId=1a127e5838f9d46145aa55e72fd9a635