Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board 10 Point Crampons for May 30 Main Trail

Hi Everyone,

I'm going to be trying the main trail at Whitney on May 30. I took a one day class recently up at Shasta on self-arrest etc. In that class, as well as a follow-up snowcamping trip to Horse Camp and a hike up to Helen Lake, we wore very heavy plastic mountaineering boots and 12 point crampons (rentals). Even for Shasta under the warm Spring conditions we ran into, I thought that might be overkill, though of course, things change very fast up there, and better to be safe than sorry.

I'm wondering if my lighter (but not so light, and pretty rigid) Kayland Contact 1000 boots in conjunction with let's say, BD Contact Strap 10 point crampons would be sufficient for what I might run into on May 30, particularly around the switchbacks. I've never been on the mountain before, and I'm looking for some feedback from people experienced with the main trail.

I also have a permit for the mountaineers trail on June 20. I signed up for that when some friends told me it was "just"
a class III climb. Now that I've read about it, I'm not sure I'm ready for that route, particularly by myself.

fine

pack an ax just to be safe

Thanks,

I have a BD Raven ice axe, and am going to get the BD Contact Strap crampons which I'm pretty sure are steel.

Yeah, why do I remember that trip...

Maybe because it was an epic climb (whatever we decided was the definition of epic ).

coming home alive with a memory of a lifetime

I have a couple of set ups, on includes Kayland Contact 1000s and Grivel G10s...similar to BD Contacts and I just purchased a BD Raven axe. They should be just fine. In my old age, I've added a helmet my set up.

I wouldn't trudge up this trail with plastic mountaineering boots at the end of May...that is for sure.