Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board July trip

Hey everyone-- I'm new here.

I've been trying to hike Mount Whitney for two years. Last year I got my date (early July) and had to cancel at the last minute.

This year, I have once again entered the lottery. I'm shooting for a day hike on either July 9th or 10th. What do you think my chances are of getting my day again? (It's mid-week, my group's small, and I'm looking for a day hike). And what do you think the weather conditions will be... especially north of Trail Camp?

Any info / opinions would be appreciated.

Your odds of getting a day hike permit in the lottery are good. Nonetheless, this is an above average snow winter so far, so you may see some ice in the cables area during that time period. Watch the trip reports on this board in June to get a better idea of how fast the snow is melting.

I'd agree with VF. I would say your chance getting your permit are in the 95 to 99% range...depending on how you wrote your application.

The weather will be what the weather is in the Sierra during monsoon season, predictably unpredictable.

Trail conditions at this point in time are also unpredictable. Much depends of future snow and the spring melt. The area of concern is the area around the cables. If the trail is blocked here you will have two choices, return to Whitney Portal or climb down from the cables to enter the chute area...no minor feat, and then proceed to Trail Crest. The west side will most likely have intermittent snow and ice all the way to the summit.

Conditions questions are best asked a week or so before your trip. Ask them here you will get a more accurate response than you will from the Inyo National Forest.

7 years ago we had even more snow, i simply rented a ice ax and crampons in bishop and held roped into the cables with a simple prussek and walked in my boots and crampons on the outside of the cables. It was totally safe and quite enjoyable

I admit I feel a little ignorant. I have bought a book on Whitney and have done Internet research on the mountain off and on for the past two years, but I've never heard of the chute. Can someone explain this?

Note: You may read chute in two different contexts on this message board (one being on the North Fork/MR). In the context of the main trail, the chute is the slope to the "right" of the switchbacks (when viewed from Trail Camp), directly under Trail Crest. If the 97 switchbacks are snowed in, people will often traverse across the base of the switchbacks and hike directly up the slope to Trail Crest in the snow field. See the post Ice and Snow for more information on the hazards of this route.

It is the route to the Trail Crest when the 97 Switchbacks are blocked with snow, usually at the cables.

The chute is a direct route to Trail Crest, which requires the climber to have an ice axe, crampons and basic snow skills. Then there is the e-ticket 1,000' glissade during the descent.

dis agree you can simply walk down in the afternoon

A misadventure glissading down the chute:

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=216724

Here is the WPS post referenced in your post: 2003 Fatality. Several related links are in the Ice and Snow post that I referenced earlier (From the What can go wrong on Whitney feature topic). You also can go to Bob R's glissade videos post.

I agree you can walk down. The problem is it is there and too many do not have enough sense to walk down.

The last two deaths here were people using a trekking pole rather than an ice axe to slow their descent. Both were unable to self arrest when they got out of control.