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High Sierra switchback route was a total grind, then I saw the map at 9,000 feet
I always picked the straightest line up a pass, but after hiking the Bishop Pass approach last month and watching three older hikers cruise past me on the longer switchback trail, I finally get why the zigzag saves your knees and your lungs, so are there other routes where the extra miles are actually the smart call?
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elizabethtaylor2mo ago
My buddy Tim swore by the long way up Whitney, saved his knees, beat me by an hour.
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wrenh652mo ago
Took me about two days to learn this exact lesson on the Kearsarge Pass trail, where I basically turned my knees into pudding climbing the fallback route straight up. Meanwhile my buddy took the longer, gentle spur and showed up grinning like he just had a picnic. Now I just picture myself as a stubborn goat who refuses to use stairs, and suddenly a few extra miles feels like a genius move. Your mileage may vary, but if you like hiking downhill on jelly legs, go straight up every time.
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