Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board 03-01-2009 Mountaineer's Route

Just a quick trip report at the request of some fellow climbers we saw heading down on the way in.

Approach / De-proach:
Was pretty straightforward on the way in, could stay in the gully and off the ledges. On the way out a lot of stuff had really softened and there was significant postholing to be had.

Route:
Perfect styrofoam snow to kick steps in up the main couloir, snowpack was wind-scoured, but seemed very stable. a few rocks in the top of the couloir, but nothing serious at all.

Above the notch the second couloir involved some easy mixed climbing, which was exciting but straightforward (we did not rope up). On the way down we took the traverse alternate which had great snow and much easier than the upper couloir.

All-in-all a great trip, spectacular conditions, and what scenery!

AlpinWeiss

thanks for taking the time to post useful information. it is appreciated.

Great news. Did you use skis or snowshoes up there at all. How long/many days did you take.

cheers

had a leisurely start saturday morning around 9am, camped at iceberg lake by 3pm. began ascent sunday morning 4:30am, summitted by 8:30.

snowshoes going up on saturday the final third to and from iceberg; before that early morn sat they weren't needed, sunday coming down they weren't helping much. obviously, time your ascent & descent carefully to take advantage of the snow conditions throughout the day

cheers!

How would you describe the snow coverage in the North Chute (above the notch)?

Is it skiable this year?

Congrats AlpinWeiss and sharperblue! Any pix posted?