Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mt Whitney Summit (June 12)

3 of us from our group of 4 summited Mt Whitney on June 12, around 1 PM. The fourth member had to turn back to Trail Camp, after reaching about a mile from the summit, due to AMS.

As of 2 PM, I think only 10 people summited, I saw 2-3 people who had come up the MR to the summit and another group of 6 who summited after 3 PM (probably less than 20 people summited on June 12 - seems quite low).

Weather forecasts indicated a temperature of 32 F at the summit, however, it was blazing hot at 60+ F.

Like many had commented on my "the chute" thread, there are sections in the chute that are actually 60-70 degrees in slope.

Couple of observations:
- Best time to climb up the chute is early in the morning, when the snow is still hard and frozen.
- The main trail is hard to locate in some sections after Mirror Lake.
- There is a snow slope that leads from Trail Camp, all the way to Lone Pine Lake, and this is the quickest and perhaps the easiest way to descend. (We got to LP lake from Trail camp in an hour, with our backpacks).
- There is a lot of snow from Lone Pine Lake, this is one looooong winter.


Will follow up with some photos.

Given the warm temps, do you see the possibility of the switch backs clearing up enough to ascend them by the end of June?

60-70 degrees? (slope chute angle). Anyone have photos of that?

Here are some pics of the Chute, from my ascent.

The slope leading to the Chute.


Alpenglow on Mt Whitney


Trail Camp, as seen from the summit



The stone hut on the summit.



First couple of steps descending down the Chute, from Trail Crest.


Snow slope leading to Lone Pine lake from Trail Camp.

Hi Great job oin reaching the summit.

On the slope angle could you traverse across and make the angle 2% say like a switchback . I never go straight down the face, It allows you to set the slope angle and YOU control the speed of travel. Also I see a lot of rock I would head for in the first picture. Thanks Doug

Yep, it was surprisingly warm on Sunday. I had to put a snowball under my hat to stay cool while heading up the lower part of the MR gully.
Had a great time hiking up there with RichardP, Ryan and Team ABC
Warm enough for part of Team UC Davis to choose a t-shirt (hope your buddy is OK)

Team UC Davis descending the Final-400

Rest of the photos at;
http://grahamcracker.smugmug.com/2011/Whitney-MR-June-12-2011/17542690_TgSnvX#1335419987_6bSpNLk

@Graham
Are you the one with the moustache ? I remember seeing you up there (and I think it was you who told me the temperature was 60F).
(We summited around 1 PM on Sunday).

Nope, no 'stache on this grahamcracker Those guys were from UC Davis.

Also, not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but currently the final-400 requires crampons & axe & necessary skills to get up and down the thing safely. The final-400 rock routes on either side of the center chute are choked with snow/ice. There’s still an amazing amount of Sierra snow for mid June.

ha ha okie.

@Dougsr
Thanks ! The aren't many rocks beyond the first hundred feet or so on the chute so we had to find purchase on the footprints left by those who had descended the chute and that was very helpful. Also, we stayed in the whitney portal hostel, it was very comfortable !

No.

I was up there in May on the MR and from our numerous photos and my clinometer I would say the final 400 ft is more like 45-55 degrees max.

skicoach, juggernaut is referring to the Main Trail, not the MR. 60-70 degrees seems steeper than I thought though. Juggernaut, you mean angle, not grade?

What is the slope angle of the northface or Gorgonio (from the winter route)?

@RAC
I am referring to the angle (not grade), although I could be overestimating it. Anyway, I've uploaded the pics and you can make your own decision on what could be the max angle of the chute.

And yes, this is the Chute on the main trail not the MR.