Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Switchbacks

Hi,
It's been awhile since I have posted here. Last year was our ninth year going up Mt. Whitney. My son and I took his kids and my wife's grandson up. We planned to only go to mirror lake since the children were 8yrs and 12year old. We all had a great time and ate fish from Mirror Lake.
This year my son can't make it,so it will be me and my wife's grandson(he is 9yrs old and I'm 61yrs old). He says he wants to summit this year. I'm very conerned about the snow on the switchbacks. We both have micro spikes and I have an iceax.
I don't want to take any risks and have thought about maybe roping ourselves together for the "cables" and any snow sections near the top of the switchbacks. Our hike is for 3 days(two nights @ trail camp) starting on July 19th. Any suggestions??
thanks,Bill

On the face of it, roping together seems like a great way for a larger person to secure a smaller person. The truth of it is, that by roping together without either a belay or a running belay... You both fall down. My advice is this. Do the hike. Get to the switchbacks/cables and use your best judgement. There will be a lot more run off/thawing in a solid week.

Good luck,have fun.

Tad

Achieved the summit yesterday at 12:15 having started out at 1:20 AM. Got to the switchbacks after trudging other fields of snow. One of our party of 5 slipped on a very small patch of ice and returned safely to the portal with another of our party. Having said that, the switchbacks are absolutely do
-able without micros or crampons. Use common sense and be careful.

Tadman,
Thank you for your advice, makes good sense.

We always have a great time at Mt. Whitney/portal camping/Doug's cooking at the store/fishing the pond and creek/chasing bears out of the campground/summitting Mt. Whitney!
What a great place to spend your vacation!!
Thanks,
Bill

Louise Sutherland,
Thanks for the report on the switchbacks. Conditions should be even better in 6 days!
Thank you,
Congrats on your summit

Thanks! It was a major item on my bucket list for age 60.

Wow Louise, thats awesome and inspiring! Congratulations.

Also summited yesterday, from Whitney Portal.

The melting has advanced considerably in just the past few days, and many are doing the switchbacks in just hiking shoes. And I don't consider that unsafe.

That said, we had microspikes, and they were helpful. There are stretches on the snow at a bit of an uphill / downhill angle, and some mild icing up depending of time of day. So the extra traction made for surer footing (as did having trekking poles, of course.)

Thanks Louise and Mike for the recent experiences.

Guesses as to whether that snow on the slopes that you mentioned will be there in another week? If there were inches left, maybe not. If feet, I would think there would be a good chance of it being there.

Brent

I also summitted on July 12th. This is my 7th time. Here's my take on the switchbacks. The trail is pretty much all clear of snow obstacles except just below Trail Crest. There, you will likely encounter 3 different patches of snow which cover the trail. The last stretch is a bit more complex to cross, simply because of the steep drop off beside you. I saw many people pass here without crampons or even boots. Just the same, if you're not sure of your footing, or in the dark, crampons would be nice here. There is another good sized field of solid snow on the approach to the summit.

Thank You, MikefromMD, BrentN, and Neil 182, for taking the time to respond to my questions on the switchbacks and congratulations Mike and Neil on your summit. I think we will bring and use the microspikes.
Two years ago I summitted alone and on the way back down, just past Trail Crest at the start of the swithcbacks was a large snow field, I slipped. Nothing major, but it sure got my heart going.
I'm so excited we're leaving a day early...tommorrow morning!!!
Thanks again,
Bill

Hi Bill. I had the amazing experience of reaching the summit on 7/13 with my 12-yr-old son. We also had two other young people, age 13 and 15, each with their fathers. We did put microspikes on the boys, and it gave them an added level of comfort crossing the last switchback over the chute. It's a long way down! The adults just wore boots, and we had no problems. Roping was suggested by one of our hikers, and I made the same decision as the advice you were given. In our situation, I thought the rope had a chance of causing a fall, and little chance of saving someone who had fallen. That said, if your grandson falls, and you feel a rope would have saved him, that would be a heavy load. Four years ago, my son and I hiked the trail when he was 8, and I felt the campsite above Trailside Meadow was a good destination. No snow. It worked out great. The summit hike we accomplished on Wednesday would not have been comfortable at that time. As you know, hiking with kids is rewarding and also complex. I wish you the best for your great adventure with your grandson. Mike

Hi SherpaDad,
Wow!!That is so incredible. Summitting with young adults and their fathers...it just does not get any better than that.
I have summitted with adult friends and seen them cry with joy upon reaching the top. After all the training and planning, summitting is such a great sense of accomplishment.
Congratulations to the Fathers and Young Adults!!!
Thanks for your encouraging thoughts.
Bill

Hi all,
MtnDreamer and "Alec"(9 yrs. old) got our permits July 18th. We hiked Tues the 19th and made camp at Trail Camp. It had been very windy and people coming down said we would be in for it. Conditions were great, very little wind, some smoke but not too bad. Wednesday we were on the trail by 7:00am after oatmeal breakfast. At 9:30 only several switchbacks from Trail Crest we turned back. Alec was done.

The cables were no issue at all and Alec only used his microspikes on his way down.

We met many people. Alec is very friendly! All were, as I am, very proud of what he had accomplished. One father and daughter said they also had turned back at the last switchback due to a long, steep snow crossing.
We had a permit for two nights, but Alec wanted to get back to our camp(and Grandma) at the portal campground.
We are now at the Dow Villa. Had a great trip, saw bears, ate two breakfasts at the Portal store, fished the pond and saw "Bob R" at the store all duded up in a ranger outfit!?
Thanks for your help.
Cables are clear, some areas of snow to cross...no problem.
Cannot report above Trail Crest, but many of the day hikers coming down had summitted.
Thanks,
Bill

Hey Bill...Nice to get to know you and young Alec on the trail. We carefully crossed the snowbank above the chute and had a great trip to the summit. No problems at all. weather was perfectly clear and mild. We were treated to a group of 14 hikers in wild costumes at the summit. A real hoot. Kudos to them for carrying up the extra weight! There was one cumulus cloud forming away over in the west, but this may have been coming from the fire. We saw similar massive clouds forming several years ago during the Zaca fire in the back-country behind Santa Barbara and they are the result of intense clouds of hot ash rising up and forming ice crystals if I remember correctly. On the way back down we were discussing how abundant the sky-pilots were this year. Maybe because of the big snow season? It was similar on my first summit in 2006 which also followed a big snow season. Then we came across a single WHITE sky-pilot which we had also seen in 2006, but not since. Anyone interested should be on the look-out about 16 switchbacks above the top of the cables.
We spent another night in Trailcamp. No wind but it did freeze a bit. Another group got caught out by that tempting sheltered camp spot below the little snowbank. It was a pool by evening and they cleared out. It was a mini ice-rink in the morning!
The boys went on ahead from Trailside meadow with a plan to re-group at Mirror lake for lunch. Liz and I somehow got off-trail on the big rock just above the lake. I think we discovered one of Bob R's shortcuts and we ended up BELOW Mirror lake and had to hike back up to meet the boys.
We also met Bob R on our way back down just below LP lake which was pretty special as I'm often speaking of him to Liz and she got to meet him. He's a great inspiration to us "mature" folks.
Cheeseburgers all around at the bottom completed a great trip for us. Fries are the best.
Special shout-out to Alec from us all for an awesome job this year. We'll see him on the top in 2012.Kyle asked if he may get a copy of the photo you took with him and Alec. Please PM me if that's okay. Liz says "See you later Alecator". Cheers...John

Our plans are for 7/31 this year---Thanks for the info previously noted. Last year all 8 of us summited with a 3:30am start mid August---long day but man what a hike---This year 6 are on the hike --2 first timers. Again---thanks to all who post we all have a safer trip and start out better prepared. As said before the goal is to get back----which is more important than getting there, but sometimes that's not thought of until you are back.

OldMan