Marshall Ulrich Plans a First Ever Winter Badwater to Whitney Crossing

The ultimate endurance athlete, Marshall Ulrich has run more than 130 ultramarathons averaging over 125 miles each, competed in 17 expedition-length adventure races, and climbed the Seven Summits all on his first attempts. https://marshallulrich.com/

​ #MarshallUlrich​ #Seven​ Summits #BadwaterToWhitney​From Marshall Ulrich   At approximately 8 AM on February 21, 2020 I will be starting – to my knowledge the first ever – winter crossing from the Badwater basin, Whitney Portals, then on to the summit of Mt. Whitney. I anticipate this undertaking will take more than four days as this is more of an expedition than a traditional July/Aug crossing.  My crossing of Death, Panamint, Owens Valleys will be straight forward, and will follow the typical route along the roads. Of course, it will be much cooler, and will end at approximately 131 miles/wherever the Portal Road is closed for the winter (the portal gate). This portion should take me about 48 hours. Dr. Bob Haugh and my wife, Heather Ulrich, will crew me across the desert.  On the morning of February 24, Dr. Bob and I will begin the ascent of Mount Whitney via the Mountaineer’s Route. We will start at the portal gate closure location, led by Trevor Anthes from Sierra Mountaineering International (SMI). This is a true mountaineering expedition, requiring snowshoes, crampons, ropes, and ice axes. My goal as is always not to establish a speed record, but to show that it can be done. As such, it will take much more time and effort than a summer ascent of Whitney, and should only be attempted by experienced climbers. The plan is to establish a base camp (BC) at Upper Boy Scout Lake on the 24th and summit sometime on February 25th. The distance from the portal gate to the summit is about 9 miles, so the total distance for the winter crossing will be approximately 140 miles. The summit will be the finish of the attempt/stop the clock on the crossing. If we are successful in our summit, say at 2 PM on the 25th, the total crossing time should be approximately 4 days and 6 hours. We will return to BC that afternoon, then hike out to the portal gate the morning of the 26th; of course, these miles/time of the decent are not counted as part of the winter (nor any) crossing.

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