Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Just returned (10/7). Our lessons learned.

Our party of five just returned from 5 days in the Mt Whitney area. Our entry permit was 10/4. We hiked to Trail Camp that day against infrequent & cool wind gusts into which we bowed for stability. We firmly anchored and guyed our 3 tents at the base of the switchbacks. That evening the winds roared. I slept with ear plugs that helped to slightly dampen the flapping of the straining tents. Temperatures were very cold but "tolerable". LESSON: Bring a GOOD 4 season tent. Tie everything down and over anchor with rocks. Bring nothing less than a 15 degree bag with zero degrees recommended. Sleep in layers and plan on ice rime in your tents.
FRIDAY (10/5) we awoke to a lightly falling corn snow which persisted throughout the entire day with infrequent wind gusts. The "pond" at trail camp had frozen over Thursday night with 1/2 inch of ice which was readily dispatched with a boulder. We were using sweetwater ceramic filter water purifiers. I really struggled with this and learned every possible thing that could go wrong with these units in sub freezing weather. After pumping for a while with no result and having checked and rechecked the lines for clogs, I determined the residual water in the ceramic filter had frozen. I returned to the tent to defrost it over a camp star-stove. This was a brand new filter that I had screed and tested a week earlier at our home in Las Vegas so I was surprised that it had enought water in it to freeze. Heading out again, the pump now working, I stopped for no more than a minute to fiddle with the bottles and lids but when I resumed the pump was again "clogged". This time the lines, now filled with water had immediately frozen into ice clogs. I cleared them by dragging the tubes through my teeth, essentially chewing out the ice plugs clogging the lines, but by the time I finished this the filter had again frozen. I returned again to the tent to rethaw everything and headed out again and now wiser in the process filled 6 liters of water. Our bottles of water froze at night so we heated the small amount unfrozen and repoured it into our bottles to thaw the mass. LESSON: Keep your ceramic filters warm and once you begin pumping NEVER STOP until you are finished. This is best accomplished with two people.
Our plan was to summit on Saturday when we knew the winds and snow would have abated. We headed up the "infamous" switchbacks on Friday just to check out the conditions and see what the cables were all about. In my opinion the switchbacks were not that difficult of a hike. But we were not carrying our 40# packs which was a major release from gravity. There had been very few people going up the hill Friday and by the time we went up to scout things out (@ 4pm) it was pretty much untracked from the continuing snow. I did not have crampons but did have some yak-trax which I donned just below the cables. The wind chill from the intermittent gusts was fierce and my bacalava helped somewhat. I was surprised by the exposure above the end of the cables on the next two traverses. I carefully kick stepped my way through that stretch. The snow was good and the travel careful but sure footed using 3-points consistently. Above the cables I did not continue on for more than 6 or 7 more switchbacks. The weather was closing and I had seen what I needed to see. I ran into two mountaineers coming down and they relayed that there were several areas above similarly exposed which only had ice surfaces. (I did not see this myself). I headed back down to Trail Camp in a light snow. I noticed the old trail slightly to the north and winding up through the fall line of the talus and wondered why this was no longer used. LESSON: Do not go up the switchbacks without traction devices. I had yak-trax and those are good for people with experience on snow and exposed areas. Cramp-ons are highly recommended. Boots only is for the dangerous minded or naively inexperienced day-tripper. Trekking poles will serve you better than an ice axe. There is little need to chop steps and the slide clearances and rock will not allow for safe self arrest.
Friday evening the weather cleared and the temperatures plummeted to near zero. The winds settled down. The inside of our tents sparkled with ice rime.
As everyone knows the weather can change markedly so be prepared for the worst. We tracked our weather for a week prior on the NOAA Whitney Summit/Portals forecast (see Weather Links in left-nav on this page) and as such had no surprises other than the starkness of reality versus the detached objectivity of the internet forecasts.
On Saturday there was a literal parade of people headed up the hill which no-doubt beat the snow into a friendlier track.
There are no bears, nor would I be surprised that there has ever been a non-USFS verified visual sighting of a bear at Trail Camp. The marmots, ravens and chipmunks will eat your unchowed food. We counterbalanced effectively.
One happy surprise was our groups running across "Ana" and her group near Trailside Meadows on our way out on Saturday. We had a friendly visit and hope they had a safe and fun trip.

Best of times to all and consideration for all things safety in your adventures. In the spirit of this years Lone Pine Film Festival theme of "The Singing Cowboys"........Happy trails!

Thanks for the report. I assume that you did not head back up the switchbacks on Saturday.

You are correct, we did not head back up on Saturday. Based on our Friday observations, there were several individuals in our group who were not comfortable with the conditions. Frankly, it was not the trip we had initially planned to take and were not provisioned (cramp-on-less) to take. We broke our Trail Camp mid day Saturday and headed down the hill.

Interesting, especially about the water filter problems because I'm in the market to buy one. I've read about a new MSR filter coming out in January, but apparently it gets damaged with frozen. Yours seemed to work just fine after being frozen, although it did sound like quite a task to use it before it re-froze. Can you tell me what brand and model it is or can someone else recommend a good water filter that wont' get damaged if left in freezing temps?

Also, do you find that the YakTrak work very well on snow and ice? I bought some "Ice Creepers", but they are heavy and bulky and was considering trying to get something lighter, but still just about as safe.

Thanks for sharing your experiences...interesting and informative..

Any water filter will have trouble when the temperature is cold enough to freeze water. Ice will develop in the filter and prevent water from going through it. It will act the same as if it was clogged with lots of dirt. The difference is it should work again if you can thaw it out.

I've been very happy with my Steri Pen. You can search through this board for some older threads about it with people voicing their various opinions. I have used it in Africa (on Kilimanjaro), in the Sierra, and I just returned from Tibet where I had great success with it.

There are IMO a couple reasons to treat water (if it is treated at all).

1. Safety - removing harmful materials. Assuming the material to be removed is live (protozoa, bacteria), any of the usual methods will work - filter, chemical, UV, boiling, etc.

2. Look and smell - swampy water with lots of floaties. These are only removed by filtering. Thankfully, these aren't typical in winter conditions, being more common in late season and at lower elevations.

Of course, there's also the "I don't treat my water" philosophy. I use this sometimes. YMMV.

I use a combination of methods depending on need and location. For the Sierra, it's usually just Aqua Mira, with an in-line filter for my hoser system. For more fringe areas, a pump filter lets me clean up the muck from swamps etc.

The other issue is that hose systems freeze quickly in winter. Camelback and others make systems that can be worn under the jacket, with insulated hoses, but even these can freeze if it gets cold enough. Then it's time to switch to the old-fashioned bottles.

While trekking poles certainly make for easier walking than using an axe as a cane, that does not make them a substitute on terrain where a fall would be dangerous.

Yes, self-arresting once you're sliding downhill can be of limited effectiveness, but one of the most useful aspects of an axe is that it allows one to self-belay: that is, arrest a fall before or immediately after it begins. Poles are useless in this regard.

Given the wide availability of modern, ultralight axes, I see little reason not to pack one once there's any chance of snow in the hills.

Yes, I'm mainly concerned with not getting one that doesn't work after you thaw it out...one that would get damaged by freezing. I read that about the new MSR filter coming out in January, which is what got me thinking about it.

Just some comments...

Good call on not going forward. Only climb as high as you can descend safely.

Once you have freezing temperatures water filters are useless. The residual water will freeze inside the filter causing it to fail. I would use a Steripen, chemicals or boil in these conditions. If you boil it is best to have a liquid fuel stove.

Again, in freezing conditions you have to drain your hydration system at night or you will have an icy nightmare in the morning. Also, if you are going to use these systems you must blow tube water back into the bladder after every sip until the temperature get above 32* F. I will usually go to Nalgenes with an insulator sleeve in these conditions.

A 4 season tent is not necessary in these conditions. However, I would not like a tent that loaded with mesh. I would use my BD Lighthouse in these conditions. Once guyed out this single wall 3 season tent is pretty quiet in high winds.

Not mentioned but as soon as you get your campsite set up and the physical exertion is done for the day, get into dry clothes, have a warm beverage and something to eat.

My filter is about 10 years old. It is a standard Sweetwater (brand) hand pump system with screw on/off ceramic filter. I use it a lot and highly recommend it. It did (does) continue to work after having been frozen as I noted in my earlier account. In fact, you store the ceramic filter in your home freezer when not in use to inhibit germ/bacteria growth. That is normal storage procedure.