Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Newbie seeks advice

I've been "lurking" on this board for a little while and really appreciate everyone sharing their information. I'm interested in a winter ascent on the main trail with a friend of mine and would like the opinions of the vastly more experienced folks I have seen on the website!

I just moved to LA from Seattle and have a decent amount of mountaineering experience - am confident on crampons and in ice-axe arrest, can travel safely roped up with my friends. I've been up to 21,500 in Tibet where I failed to get up to our goal summit of 23,000 for unstable snow conditions. So I'm a modified newbie, but entirely new to Whitney. A long windup for a short throw - just interested in what advice the pros would have for a trip Feb 23 with some friends with equal experience (they failed on the same summit with me).

Looks like for the main trail we'll need crampons/ice axe/rope? Where can I get a good topo in LA? Any book that anyone would recommend? Will there be a bootpath or will we need to navigate? If so, are there GPS data points out there for backup? Is the camping on exposed rock therefore a three season tent will be ok? What rating sleeping bag would you guys recommend? Saw the trip report from last weekend and it looked COLD!

I'm sure these are pretty basic and if the info is somewhere else, just steer me there. Thanks to all.
Tracy

Hi With your skill level check the Mountaineers route as well, much shorter and limited class 3 at your level.Thanks Doug

Try offroute.com for your maps. They are capable of printing full quads on "plastic" paper or customizing a map.

You will need Mt. Langley and Mt. Whitney 7'5' USGS quads.

Seems like you will find this a straightforward and simple climb. A zero-degree bag should work fine, you can probably get away with a three-season tent, if you are not heading up into a storm. (your experience makes this possible)

Avalanches do occur, and you should do a search on this site for info on that, they tend to occur in predictable places, which is well documented. It is definitely axe and crampon, I've not seem many use ropes on the main trail, but under some conditons, I could see the need.

Depending upon snow consolidation, you may need snowshoes/skis.

I agree with Doug that most experienced mountaineers would prefer the Mountaineer's Route.

Best to monitor this board for trip reports leading up to your trip, to get an idea of snow conditions. It may be crisp styrofoam, or it may be chest-deep powder. You certainly CANNOT tell by conditions at the base.

Feb is a tough time, as the conditions can vary so much.

Also, you can usually only get as far as several miles away from the trailhead, due to road closures from snow, so it is up to 5 miles longer (each way).

Where do you now live? Perhaps there are some locals that can give you some info.

Hi From the road closed sign to the trailhead takes about an hour ,watch the temps. and recent storms, snow shoes/ skis only slow you down, best to wait until snow crust and do the alpine start, not sure why you need to camp on the mountain.Doug

Thanks to all for the info - that's a great tip about maps. I lived in Seattle near the REI there so never looked into online map solutions - that will be a big help! Also thanks for the counsel about the mountaineer's route - I'll look into it. One of my friends coming in is from Australia, so I guess I was thinking of doing a 2 day trip on the main trail in case he was a little jet-lagged, and also to add a freezing night of hot brews and tall stories! But perhaps you're right we could do the mountaineer's and not camp. Appreciate the help!

And as to "locals giving me advice" - unfortunately I moved from Seattle to...HOLLYWOOD!

Well, you are local to me, N. Hollywood.

You should make a point of dropping by the A16 in WLA, and hear Kurt's talk on Whitney, friday.

If you are still looking for GPS tracks, try this site:
http://www.travelbygps.com/premium/whitney/whitney.php