A mixture of Regular and TA Soldiers drawn from all of the Units that make up the 42^nd (NW) Brigade decided to approach Mt Whitney by trekking across the High Sierra Nevada mountain Range from Lodgepole, amongst the Giant Sequoia trees in the West, to a small cowboy town called Lone Pine in the East, a total of 9 days and nights spent on the trail in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon Wilderness. There are no roads or civilisations between these two points, only high mountains, tree filled valleys and an abundance of wildlife.

In total the North West soldiers marched over 100 mountain miles, much of it above 10,000 feet with backpack weights approaching 65lbs. Days were long, hot and very dusty. Nights in bivouac above 10,00 feet were very cold with a lowest pre-dawn temperature of 14F recorded at a place called Guitar Lake at 12,800 feet on the flank of Mt Whitney itself.

Mules were used to pack in a mid point re-supply on the 5^th day at a place where several trails meet, aptly named Junction Meadow. Two of the soldiers had the once in a lifetime experience of riding saddle horses, leading the mules, across the Cottonwood Pass at up to 11,500ft. Part of the 3 day re-supply trail, clinging to the sides of precipitous ravines and crossing freezing rivers took the riders through a driving snowstorm. At one point a mule slid from the path and tumbled down a 30ft bank, miraculously neither the mule or its load was damaged.

During the expedition the soldiers had two encounters with American black bears; one fell down a steep hillside and very nearly landed on top of the lead group and the second managed to sneak into Junction Meadow to come within 25 meters of the re-supply activity. Once spotted it ran away.

After a very cold night at altitude, morale and emotions were high when on Monday 12 September at around 2pm the expedition was able to stand on the summit of the highest mountain in the USA. The sights were breathtaking with 360 degree, 100 mile panoramic views across the High Sierra to the North, South and West and straight across the Alabama Hills to the Death Valley National Park in the East. An unforgettable experience.

By way of a gentle ‘warm down’ the expedition then travelled to the Grand Canyon National Park via Death Valley where 9 members of the expedition were able to spend a night in bivouac in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, the rest being able to descend to carry out a very strenuous trek below the rim on the south side of the Colorado River.

The expedition culminated in a day and a half of local leave and well earned relaxation in Las Vegas.

The financial help provided by the Ulysses Trust made up a key component of the expedition and directly contributed to the success of the expedition and the quality of its outcomes

LES Webb,  Lt Col