Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum current conditions on Whitney trail?

Hi,

A few friends and I are planning to summit via the whitney trail in two weeks, and are curious the trail conditions and if snowshows are needed.

Thanks,
Rusty

I'm heading up this weekend. I'll let you know once I get back.

Some folks just skied down part of the mountaineer's route and have some great photos

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156626

Thanks for the link. Here's a great picture from their set:

I was up there this past weekend (4/5/09) and used the mountaineers route. The snow started at the first creek crossing below the E-Ledges. I went up the dry E-ledges while others followed the snowy creek up to Lower Boy Scout(LBS). Leaving LBS I used crampons and had them on the remainder of the trip up. I had snow shoes but left them under a rock at LBS to lighten my load. They were not necessary. The snow was hard pack and others had broken the trail.
I don't know about the Main Trail but there the snow started at the North Fork trail/river crossing.
The conditions could realy change in the next two weeks. Snow was melting fast. This current storm could lay down a soft snow layer making snowshoes a good option.

great, thanks!

thanks Ping... I will look forward to your report... have a safe and fun trip!

wow, that skiing looks great too!

thanks to everyone for their replies.

A few of us are heading up the Whitney Trail this weekend (4-18). Sounds like it's going to be both snowshoes and crampons to me. Has anyone else seen the trail this week?

Tmas

If you don't mind would you post what you find after your trip this weekend? I heading up Wed of next week and would love to know if I need to lug the snowshoes along. Thanks!

Just returned from a trip up the mountaineers route. Moderate postholing around Lower Boy Scout Lake. After that, it was pretty well frozen over.
In short, snowshoes are probably not worth the extra weight, on that route anyway. The Main Trail does get a bit more daylight, so it may be a different story there.
Enjoy!!

we'll be up there too... we're taking off tonight and will be at whitney portal in the AM tomorrow... I think we are going to go the whitney trail since one of my buddies couldn't find his mountaineering boots, and hence no crampons for him other than the ones on his snowshoes...
I wil ltry to post a report and pictures before wednesday next week.

--Rusty

Looking forward to the post. Will you also check out how much snow is at Outpost Camp on your way up? We are going in 2 weeks and will be hiking to outpost camp Friday night before the summit hike on sat. Thanks

Didn't end up taking the main trail per recommendations from the town locals. Took the Mountaineers route and didn't need snowshoes. Still some postholing on the ascent below Lower Boy Scout in the afternoon hours.

Why were the locals recommending to not take the main trail?

does anyone have a suggestion for the best chance to summit with the "storm" this coming weekend. My climbing partner does not have the stiffest boots, so with the cold weather I was hopeing to take the main trail and avoid the dangerous slush past trail crest. (he only gets sore ankes on steep ice. if there is snow, he has no problem.) does anyone know if it will still be snow after this warm weather? any advice would be great, also in reguards to the cloud cover, I figure being stuck at camp is better than stuck at home?

I guess I should have clarified that... They said unless you know the main trail very well(which we didn't), we shouldn't attempt it since after last Wednesday's storm, the trail was covered and no one had gone up since. He said even if we made it to Trail Camp it'll be a long hard trek (with the soft snow) and we'd most likely get off track. Also, that if we did decide on the main trail, to skip the cables and head up the boulders to the right since the cables wouldn't be accessible. They added that the best chance would be on the Mountaineers Route since groups of ~40 went up on Friday and Saturday of last week and the path would have been well established. All that said... we ran into a Ranger at the creek where Mountaineers splits off from the Main Trail and he said he hadn't heard that the Main Trail wouldn't be accessible at the higher elevations. He said it shouldn't be a problem... at any rate... good luck now that you're really scratching your head.

Ha..well now thats got me thinking...hmmm...anyone planning on going up there on the main trail in the next week? As much as I don't mind blazing a trail it would be nice to follow someones tracks for the first trip up.