What are the current conditions? Just thinking about a day hike to UBSL, possibly Iceberg Lake. Snow in the gully to bypass E Ledges? This is a training hike, no need to summit. How far can I drive on the Portal Road? Will there be hamburgers at the store?? Kidding!
Whitney Portal Rd. – CLOSED- Closure is just above Hogback Rd., snow/rock removal operation is in process, anticipated opening May 1st to the USFS parking lot.
The road is officially closed, but passable with car to whitney portal, no problem. Today it was possible to skip the e-ledges, but the snow started to melt, so avalanches are likely. The store is closed.
We started at 3:00am and the snow conditions were great to superb. We turned around in the last 400 section.. We made it back to the car at 5:30pm, but on our way back we saw an avalanche at 9400ft. Just above the one that happened on Saturday and injured a guy on his feet. I think skipping the ledges will be extremely dangerous from this point. Also the snow had huge holes where you can see the creek going under the surface.
It was an amazing hike and we learnt a lot. I found the last 400 ft very hard without proper mental preparation. You need to be patient and prepare to turn around and try different pathes based on snow and wind conditions. Given the recent fatality on the section we decided to turn around after a short path finding.
Hi - I'm May and new to this message board! I'm interested in making an attempt to Mt Whitney summit next week over 2 or 3 days time. I am solo but would love to go with someone. Would anyone be interested? I'm flexible on dates but will only be in the area between 5/1 and 6th. Please feel free to email me at mhayashida94@gmail.com !
