Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Winter mountaineering on the upper mountain

Whitney is one of the most popular mountains to hike, and thousands do it every year. However, in the fall and spring, the mountain abruptly changes into a technical challenge, and that change can happen in a day. The problem is that it may not be obvious to the person not familiar with the mountain.

There is a terrain trap, which seems to ensnare people every year. Last year, it killed one fellow, and nearly caught some others.

Here is the situation: Above Trail Camp, are the "97 switchbacks", which start to fill with snow with the first snowfall. During the day, this snow melts a bit (the slope, although facing north, does get some sun in the morning). It re-freezes into ice, as it moves into shade in the afternoon. As the trail fills with snow, which turn into ice, the slope becomes sheer. Often, as this progresses, people move off the trail, to the snowy slope just to the west of the section with the switchbacks...it seems safer. (this is what the fatality did)

HOWEVER, the sun goes off this slope around 1pm, such that the snow that was slushy, freezes into what we call "boilerplate" ice.

The trap is that the snow seems nice to ascend in the morning. Some work, but do-able. The problem is that when this snow freezes, it is virtually impossible to descend without crampons and an ice axe. (As many highly experienced people have posted, you NEVER use crampons without an axe!).

If you fall, you will probably die, as the slope leads down a thousand or so feet into rocks.

You cannot assess the situation from the Portal. You cannot even assess this at Trail Camp. The conditions one day may not tell you what is up there the next, so trip reports are not totally reliable.

So.......once this transition occurs, it is now a full-on winter technical climb, requiring the technical gear and experience of how to use it.

If you go up there in these conditions, you REQUIRE crampons/axe.

If you don't know how to use these proficiently, you don't have the experience to make the serious judgements that will have to be made.

Take a class, hire a guide for the Mountaineer's Route, change your plans, climb something else.

If you do go up, you REALLY need to be off the "97 switchbacks" slope by 2pm. You need to realize that you will be moving considerably slower than you would on the snow-free trail.

It takes much longer to climb in snow, almost always. It also usually takes longer to descend. Figure out when you have to be where, to make it.

IT IS CRITICAL THAT YOU HAVE A "TURN-AROUND TIME", AND STICK TO IT.

Figure it out BEFORE you have oxygen depletion of the brain, which many people get at altitude, and contributes to poor decision making on the trip!

THIS FROZEN SLOPE IS THE LIMITING FACTOR, *NOT* DARKNESS.

You might get away with it, but you are now climbing with no margin for error, if you are not properly equipped, and if you get caught in this trap, you are screwed.

Few go above Trail Camp equipped to camp out overnite. If you get above the slope and it is frozen, you have two choices: descend or camp. Both become high-fatality options, and it is *unlikely* that anyone phoned will be able to get up to rescue you before the next day.

Your mileage may vary, but think about what you are doing, it is sad to read the epics.

If you think I'm kidding about these conditions, here is repeated, Bengator1's excellent report of Oct 2, before the current storm, perfectly describing the trap forming:

"I went up on Monday and was fine when there was about 8 to 12 inches of drifted snow on the Muir trail and 4 to 6 inches on the switchbacks but nervous in a few spots, particularly descending the switchbacks and descending from trail crest. The melted snow on the switchbacks was refreezing which made it a nervous descent."

The second part of this death trap is the glissading option.

Beware: As you descend from the Trail Crest point, the snow-covered slope below looks inviting for a nice glissade (sit-and-slide) down almost to Trail Camp. Glissading could save you an hour descending via the switchbacks. The snow is soft at the top, since it receives the warm sunlight last.

However, <font color=red>the Whitney shadow MOVES UP THIS SLOPE! So the farther downslope you slide, the icier it gets!!!</font>

Earlier in the day, people may successfully glissade this slope. But after it ices up, it is a death trap. This is how the hiker died last October.

Ken,

Thank you for posting this. You may have saved my life or a lot of misery.

I missed a long anticipated trip on Sept. 29th because I tore my hamstring a day before departing for Lone Pine. I was crushed and felt robbed. I had trained diligently for 9 months, and lost 90 pounds. I am in incredible shape, and I have made a remarkably fast recovery from the injury.

I had decided yesterday I would attempt Whitney, solo this Sunday or Monday. After reading your post this morning, and Bengator1's post, I have decided that I will either wait until next year, or I will first learn the necessary mountaineering skills, and go up with someone who has experience with winter hiking Whitney.

It is looking like next year. I don't really have anything to prove. Of all the things that can happen to you, a torn hamstring and missing the trip of a lifetime is a lot better than falling down a mountain.

Ken -- Excellent post!!

My opinion, for what it is worth, has and remains that if you have to ask if you should bring an axe and crampons to a climb this time of year you do not have the experience to be on the mountain.

It is not a question of carrying extra weight. It is about knowing the climate and general seasonal weather of the area, things that should be researched before scheduling a climbing date.

Here are a couple of rules to live be for Whitney/winter conditions newbies...

Don't ascend higher than you can descend safely...I saw a guy on all four making his way down Ice House Canyon a couple of years ago because he went just a bit too far.

Do not glissade down what you haven't climbed up...I know this isn't fun but it is safe.

Last, November there were signs on the mountain...PEOPLE DIE HERE, I wish they were still in place.

Ken...thanks for the necessary posting.

Yeah...ultimately best to wait if in doubt. Mountain will still be there next year

Thanks for the reminder Ken. Last fall Kurt Wedberg wrote an excellent post about conditions and suggestions for the fall conditions on the trail. Should we perhaps bump that one back up or ask Kurt to repost it? It looks like it is that time of year again. He's doing Africa slide shows right now (an excellent show by the way) so I know he's around.

My personal rule is: If you are have your crampons on, you should have your helmet on. And yes, every order of crampons has a mandatory ice axe on the side (well in the hand actually).

Summer is over on Mt. Whitney - that's for sure. Badhamstring, don't let the end of summer on Mt. Whitney keep you from going to the mountains this weekend. Maybe backpack or day hike in the lower elevations of Kings Canyon NP or surrounding areas instead.

Hey Ken:

First, thanks for your post - all of us starry-eyed hikers need a good reality check!

Question: Is your assessment of the switchbacks (becoming a sheer icy slope) based on the current conditions (the snow that fell earlier this week) or are you describing what will happen from here on out with continued snow fall?

In other words, do you think it's ALREADY a dangerous wall of ice on the switchbacks, or that it is in the PROCESS of becoming like that with continued snowfall? Sorry if I sound vague...

THANKS

Luciano136 is "dead on", pun intended. I fell several hundred feet down a slope in the San Gabriels in 2003. One minute I'm hiking and the next I'm sliding and catapulting down an icy ridge. It happens much more quickly than you can imagine and without crampons, an axe and self arrest training, your destiny is literally out of your control in micro seconds. I am still in shock at how quickly the speed of my slide excelerated on that ice and I have a deep appreciation for how lucky I was that day to still be around.

If you have any questions at all regarding the safety of a spot and your ability to traverse it, just turn around. It's a risk that you should not be exposing yourself to.

One of the lucky - RV

Someone else posted pics from 3 days ago that made it look as though the switchbacks around 47 or so were snowed under. Having been there, they are some of the steeper switchbacks and there's no way I woudl attempt them without crampons (since i dont own them, then its a no brainer that I wait till next year)

Eyedoc77, I think the situation has already occurred.

I am basing this on the excellent pictures that bengator posted, especially pictures #11 and 12.

http://bengator.smugmug.com/gallery/1966737/1

If you realize that the slope above the switchbacks has the most snow (being the highest), and has the most exposure to sunlight during the day, that will tend to melt in the warmer daytime weather. And that water will flow down, until......it hits the trail. It will then tend to run along the trail, until it hits shade, where it will freeze. The inside part of the trail tends to be shaded because of the cut above. So, we will see a steady accumulation of ice on the entire switchback portion of the trail. Those portions of the trail in the daytime sun will melt out, but will re-freeze at nite. Those in the shade will gradually build up ice, which will be there until next summer. In the late afternoon, that entire section of trail will become an inclined ice sheet, scary to think about walking upon.

That is the situation found by the fellow last year, who chose to glissade without an ice axe....he believed that it was safer than walking on the iced-over trail. And he may well have been right, but got caught in two bad situations to choose from.

As we watch peoples' pictures who go up in the next several weeks, I think we'll see the cable section do what it does each fall season....fill up with ice, until it is an actual ice bulge. And that is if the weather is GOOD. One good storm, and you'll have to walk OUTSIDE the cables to get past.

Eyedoc,

I know we've chatted on another thread, but I wanted to reiterate what I saw when I was there on Monday, and that was that in the afternoon, it was slick going as the snow had been tramped down and was starting to refreeze, and this was BEFORE 2 PM (about 1:20). It was particularly bad on the descent from trail crest to the Muir trail and descending the switchbacks. While it wasn't impassable or anything like that, I only believe it will get worse every day as more stuff melts and refreezes. If I were going back up this weekend, I wouldn't do it without crampons and ice axe (and since I have no experience with these, I wouldn't do it at all), because I think chances are high that they will be needed. But I would defer to the other posters on the board who have a lot more experience than I in all things winter.

Thanks Ken + Bengator,

Thanks Ken for clarifying the process. Makes sense.

I was really hoping to do the main trail this Monday - but it seems like I'd do well to heed your wisdom (even though it's sad not getting to go...).

Hopefully I'll run into you guys sometime NEXT summer/fall. Given my lack of ice experience, it's definitely wiser to tackly MW then.

Thanks again for everything.

I can verify all of the above assessments first hand. Last May I encountered the most dangerous moment of my life when descending the slope in question.

Here is link to the post on regarding that experience.

http://www.whitneyportalstore.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004326

What's being described here definitely isn't what I experienced on Langley on Tuesday. There was a small accumulation of patchy snow, with drifts up to about one foot deep. Easy enough to step around.

Lone Pine Peak had almost no snow left on it. Being the scree slog that it is, I would have preferred snow.

So there are plenty of alternatives if the conditions on the Main Trail are considered dangerous.

Here are some photos I took of the new snow in the Whitney area:

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/gallery/1972549

Richard is right. If you don't have the experience to be on the snow, look for an alternative. Langly, Lone Pine Peak, White Mountain and many others are all good options.

Keep in mind that as soon as the sun ducks down behind the mountains, temperatures change very drastically and very quickly. The slush can set up as ice in a matter of just a few minutes.

A perspective from a (non-climbing) hiker... In June 2005 I hiked up the Whitney trail for the first time, not knowing what to expect, and found the upper half of the switchbacks covered with snow. Climbers were going up the steep chute to the north. One look up that thing sent a shiver down my spine, and I turned around.

I was back two weeks ago and made the summit with no problem on a beautiful day. My point is... if you feel doubtful, turn around and come back another time. I don't think Whitney is going anywhere and it's a beautiful hike even if you don't make the summit.