Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Conditions in Early October

I'm planning on doing a summit day hike October 4th. Does anybody have an idea of what the conditions will be like then? I'm wondering if crampons or any other ice/snow equipment is necessary? Thanks.

One can only guess. I did it on October 12, 2001, and conditions were quite nice. Ice at the cables, but no new snow about. Windy on top, and a bit chilly at my start, 5;30 a.m.

It changes from year to year. A matter of luck. There was 2-3' of new snow in the High Sierra, in late September, one year. Follow the reports on this website; they are extremely informative. Get the Lone Pine forecast right before you leave. There's a live cam on sometimes.

Good luck!

I heard that this is going to be an el nino year for the west. Which means way more snow for the sierra, but I wouldn't worry about the snow in October. I would just watch the weather reports before your trip. Have fun.
Matt

a guy named pete sells a video of his hike up the main trail on ebay. the weather in that video is absolutely gorgeous. i mailed pete and asked the date of the hike and he replied it was the third week of october 2003.

i'm sure it's colder in early morning and evening, as well as darker, when compared to a summer trek, but it looked like a great time to hike. good luck this year.

Here are some pictures from last October 25th:

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/80512