Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Trail Conditions - Mt. Whitney Trail (Day Hikers)

Hello!

I am curious how the trail conditions are right now. Is there any ice or snow still on the main trail? If so, are crampons needed? If just snow, is it packed down enough that you won't get your feet wet? I've hiked in mid-July before and everything was fine, but have read that the mountains received more snow than usual this past winter.

Thanks in advance for the info!

Trey - Day Hiking on July 20th

Many are making the summit on the trail now ,couple of snow patches,that will be less or gone for your trip.

Awesome, thanks for the update!

Summited (No.7) on July 27th at 11:00 AM, no AMS, beautiful weather probably the best I've ever seen! Creek crossings were very high, there were people turning back from Lone Pine North Fork crossing, a lot of the rocks were covered in water, crossing before Mirror Lake was tough (thank goodness for waterproof La Sportiva Spires!).. Minor snow patches after Trailside Meadow, 99th switchback, and .5 from summit, but no prob without traction devices. The back 1.9 was a lot easier than other years because of trail maintenance, they really smoothed out a lot of the dangerous rough boulder-hopping spots! Summit weather was probably in the 50's, (I have never experienced it so warm up there) and practically no wind, no clouds, clear and visibility for hundreds of miles (I could see San Gorgonio). Took the old trail down from Lone Pine Creek crossing because the water was so high. The old trail is in great condition, someone cleared it up very nicely. The next few days are going to be very good for summiting.

Cheers!
-Dan

Summited (No8) on Friday the 13th. Set up camp at Cottonwood Lakes TH on Thursday. Tore down camp at dusk and left because the other campers were so loud I couldn't sleep. Drove to Portal and slept in car around 8:30PM. Started hike at 3:00AM. Trail was in excellent condition, the ice was there at the cables but there was room using the rock steps next to the cables. Small uphill snow patch still there near the summit, but no prob. Mountain Forecast said low 30's wind chill so I lugged my warm winter jacket and gloves and beanie up there for nothing.. summit temps were so warm I didn't need gloves or fleece. Beautiful, clear cloudless day; watched a surprise B-day party with hats and a cake, we all sang.. then right after that a woman put on an inflatable T-Rex costume that was about 7 feet tall and we all took pictures with it. A very surreal day on the summit for Friday the 13th! On the way down the cables were oozing with ice flow, it had even reached the rock steps next to the cables, had to pick steps very carefully to get past it. Otherwise a perfect day, I set a personal record going up (7hrs 50min) and going down (4hrs 30 min) with almost 2 hrs on the summit. Zero AMS once again. All of those San Gorgonio trips really made a difference!

Cheers,
Dan