Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board bishop pass, Thunderbolt Peck, Palisade basin

Does anyone know what the snow is like on Bishop pass? I hope to be there climbing from July 21-26. in the Palisade basin area. Starlight peak,Polemonium peak,North Palisade.

I'm heading out that way for the 4th. I'll post some pictures when I get back. I don't know yet whether we will try for North Palisade or Sill, Polemonium, Peak 13,962. As out of shape as this group is going to be, we may be lucky just making the Palisade Basin.

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we have a group heading out today (2) and about 8 of us tomorrow.

Recording on the ranger station says clear to Long Lake @10,700 snow up above after that throughout the basin.

As of last weekend I heard it was pretty snowy above timberline tarns @11,1000

We will be dropping all our gear at lake ruwau for the weekend and maybe attempting a summit of agasiz or goode.

see you out there.

Mike

The ranger report is correct. We made it to Long
Lake on 6-26-05 without any snow gear, but there
were still some large drifts across the trail.
Above Long Lake to the pass the snow is pretty
heavy.

I just got back from Dusy Basin today and there is consistent snow above Long Lake. My goal was to try Mt. Sill but snow conditions in Dusy Basin and Palisades Basin made progress very slow. It took 5 hours from camp in upper dusy basin to Potluck pass via Thunderbolt Pass. Since it was already 11:00, I decided not to go any further figuring it would take another 1.5 hours to reach the base of the climb and 3 or 4 hours to do the climb itself. It took 7 hours to return to camp via knapsack pass. The snow is solid in the early morning but large suncups make travel very slow going with lots of postholing near rocks as the tempature rose. I had ice axe and crampons and was glad I did.

To add to the other posts... Noticed that most lakes (Ruwau) over 11,100 are still pretty iced over.

Snow is melting fast but afternoon suncups make it very slow and soft.

<a href="http://www.mt-whitney.info/viewtopic.php?p=2915#2915"Bishop Pass Trip Report</a>

There isn't complete snow coverage until you get to the pass. What snow you go thru is suncupped and going is slow. However, it is melting fast.