November 2, 2025 at 3:20 am

Hiker Got Mad Her Friends Reached The Mountain Summit Before Their Group Trip, So She Backed Out Of The Plans Out Of Spite

by Benjamin Cottrell

hiker summiting mountain

Pexels/Reddit

Sometimes people turn shared adventures into personal dramas.

When one hiker got upset that her friends reached the summit before their upcoming hiking trip, it said way more about her own ego than about the climb itself.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA – cancelled trip after friend’s summit ahead of schedule

A group of three friends (we are actually friends — one person is my neighbor, not a group of strangers) and I had been planning a trip to summit Mt. Whitney for about a year.

We have done multiple hiking trips together, but this was the “big” one — a first for all of us.

The permitting process is competitive, but we were lucky enough to score a permit.

But soon the hiker’s best laid plans fell into ruin.

Well — two and a half weeks before our trip, two of the group members found additional permits to go to Whitney ahead of time with other friends.

They said they were just going to go up to “practice” (which we actually did at Whitney prior, just going through the lower trails but not summiting).

But — they ended up summiting.

This hiker didn’t approve of this at all.

Honestly, I was pretty upset about this. For me, the summit was about doing this together — having the first together, the celebratory cheers after, and the group bonding.

The fact that they went ahead and did this with another group changed the dynamic for me, and I felt like it was pretty off-putting.

So she decided to do something drastic.

So, I decided I was going to back out of the trip.

When I told the group that their early summit changed the dynamic of the hike for the rest of the group (the other woman was not happy about it either), they dismissed it — and basically “thanked me” for giving them a springboard to summit.

Then they said that when I do decide to summit Whitney, they will have a lot of tips for me.

She balks at their complete lack of care for her feelings, so she bids them farewell.

Zero acknowledgment of how their choice to summit may not have been the best move for our group trip, plus totally flexing their own accomplishment at a moment when I was trying to be vulnerable and honest.

Anyway, I wished them the best and told them that their group hiking style differs from mine.

I symbolically left the group (in our WhatsApp chat — ironically called Whitney Women), and I will not be planning another trip with them.

But now she begins to question whether she did the right thing.

AITA here? Or is it bad form to summit before and then respond the way they did?

Now that’s how you turn a harmless hike into an unnecessary fallout.

Redditors were quite divided on where the blame should lie.

With activities like mountain climbing, it’s best to stick with people you align with.

Screenshot 2025 10 01 at 1.30.33 PM Hiker Got Mad Her Friends Reached The Mountain Summit Before Their Group Trip, So She Backed Out Of The Plans Out Of Spite

This commenter isn’t convinced this situation is really that big of a deal.

Screenshot 2025 10 01 at 1.31.12 PM Hiker Got Mad Her Friends Reached The Mountain Summit Before Their Group Trip, So She Backed Out Of The Plans Out Of Spite

Maybe everyone was just doing what they thought was best.

Screenshot 2025 10 01 at 1.31.47 PM Hiker Got Mad Her Friends Reached The Mountain Summit Before Their Group Trip, So She Backed Out Of The Plans Out Of Spite

This commenter seems to think this hiker acted pretty immaturely.

Screenshot 2025 10 01 at 1.32.21 PM Hiker Got Mad Her Friends Reached The Mountain Summit Before Their Group Trip, So She Backed Out Of The Plans Out Of Spite

The hiker was convinced her friends had somehow betrayed her, but as redditors pointed out, her friends were free to do whatever they pleased.

It’s a shame when your own ego gets in the way of a good time.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.