Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mountaineer's Route Conditions

I am sure someone closer to the mountain will respond with good info. But I'll just note that Mammoth, up the highway, has gotten 64 inches of snow so far this month, 10-14" of which arrived in the last 24 hours, with more to come. The base depth at Mammoth summit (11,000') is currently 201," equating to almost 17 feet of snow.

Now while Whitney is a bit south of Mammoth and missing out on some of this, if you look at the webcam, Whitney is nonetheless looking pretty snowy.

Hi Just got back from the Portals, very little snow at the lower elevations Upper lot behind the store is dry south facing slopes up to 10,000' dry and the last major storm dumped 1/132"in the Portal, so little hard to measure. Now Talking about Wind we had 38' feet at least and today was rare it was blowing North off the Ridges.

Tuesday night I watched lights coming down the main trail, not sure how far they made it.Kurt is with a group now on the Mountaineers Route so he may update soon.

I posted around Dec. about our weather pattern and we tend to get late storms so we could have a wet April/May .We keep checking on the upper lot as we plan to move in very shortly.And tonight I was able to drive in.

Thanks to Doug and Akichow,

I'll keep checking for trip reports. I'll probably end up bringing the snow shoes. I carried them a few times this winter but never put them on.

Woody Talked with 2 hikers Sunday Morning they made LBSL and due to drifts and high winds turned around, also Kurt summited Thor 12,000' due to same conditions. Bring all the tricks but we had very high winds today so most if not all tracks will be covered and more drifts.

Doug,

Thank you very much. At least my snow shoes will get some use this season when we get to California. It was a pretty poor snow year on the east coast this winter.

We'll bring our bag of tricks that we've learned in the gullys and frozen waterfalls in NH and Maine.

I hope I run into Kurt while I'm out there. He guided me up Rainier on my first glacier climb 11 years ago.

Woody

Thor Peak photos, March 11-13

Does anyone have recent MR conditions updates to send over? I'm heading up Friday and Saturday with a friend to do the route. Weather looks great so we are stoked. Any info is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Fresh off the Mountain Amy just came in says high winds , very cold and new snow so tracks may be covered and it is cold in town this AM,might put a jacket on ,plan to work outside again today.

Thanks for the reply Doug, much appreciated. Looks like it was going to be cold through Thursday morning then start to warm up so hopefully we get good conditions. Did there look like much new snow? Also, how is the road looking for driving all the way up to the Portal? Sounds like you can still drive up with the construction.

Hi Snowed again today and cold wind in the Valley this AM but reached about 60 so warmer than yesterday by 10-15 degrees. We drove to the Portal yesterday , delays are near town an only from Mon-Thur 6AM -6PM but rocks could be on the road anytime now , The construction force is scaling the slopes and the slopes are not stable for a few days after the work.

Thanks again Doug. My partner I'm doing the route with said he called the ranger station in Lone Pine and they said the actual gate at the bottom of the hill was going to be locked Saturday April 2nd, do you think this is true? It sounds like you have been able to drive up to the Portal every day so hopefully they are just trying to scare us. I've heard horror stories of people getting locked in!

Attempting Mountaineers route April 30th. I have both crampons and snowshoes.
With CURRENT snow/ice conditions are both required? Will watch the weather for the next two weeks to evaluate needed gear.

Like Mary, I am heading up soon and interested in conditions. Will be heading up the Portal early Friday April 21. Based on the web cam and my past experience it looks like snow is still quite a bit less than "normal" (or is this the new normal). Were does consistent snow coerage begin? Heading straight up the north fork seems unlikely. Up the left side with snow shoes? Leave snow shoes at the car? Coverage from LBSL to UBSL? And, what are the conditions on the last 400 feet?

Thanks for any current update.

Kevin

Hi Kevin, I hope you will post a trip report of the conditions. Good luck!!

I will also be heading out to iceberg early Friday Morning. If 146.470 is still active l be monitoring that frequency.

If anyone would like to link up just cue up mic , KE5MZX is call sign.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for comm frequencies?

Cheers

Any update on the conditions? Coming up on friday.

Mountaineer’s Route – Trip Report 5/13-5/14

Nearly perfect condition on the mountain Friday and Saturday.

No major snow until Lower Boyscout Lake. E Ledges clear and free of ice, easy going. Most people used crampons starting at LBL, but it is passable up to UBL without them when the snow is soft. Water available at UBL and on step above UBL in isolated pockets. We stayed first night on step above UBL and had some gusts of wind at night, but nothing serious. Thermometer inside tent read -5C at the lowest.

Started summit attempt at 630AM, snow nice and crusty for easy walk with crampons. Snow up shoot was in great condition with only bare spots near notch. Final 400 was well covered in snow except for one ledge which was the most difficult to move over. Once over this step, there are good steps to the final ledge. Made it to the top by 1100AM. Cold and windy on the peak, but great views and deep dark blue sky. Easy Walk Off had good steps cut in for an easy return.

There were people camped at Iceberg Lake and we could see footsteps to the lake from the shoot, but not sure if water was available, it looked like they were trying though.

Slid down most of shoot to Iceberg Lake. Snow softened up on our way down. From the bottom of the shoot and to the step down from Iceberg Lake the snow was so soft that we were postholing to our waist every fourth step. Once down this, the snow got marginally better, but still soft. We packed up our gear and headed to UBL where we slid down most of the way, we also slid down most of the way to LBL. The snow was soft enough that we never picked up too much speed sliding. We were back to the car by 500PM and headed to get some pizza.

Other Note: On our way up the E Ledges, there is a log that is lodged in one of the rocks that you have to climb over. On our way down, this had been removed.

Hi rkjunker,

Thanks for the timely conditions update.

That log on the E Ledges has been solidly anchored in the rock for the last several years. But we always tested it before climbing on board, so as to not end up surfing it down over the Ledges. Maybe someone felt it was deteriorating/becoming unstable (ie now more a risk than an asset) and booted it over the side. Hopefully, no hiker has joined it down below in the creek.

Jim

Any new reports on MR? Planning on a day trip up this Tuesday.
Thanks
Dave

I heard there are trail markers along the E ledges. Is this true?