Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Four out of Five

A young couple came into the store and ask how the trail was I said some snow and weather unstable, they ask about crampons and ice ax , I walked them down to the parking lot to find someone that had come down I said I would ask the questions and act like a construction worker , first group said will go in the AM tennis shoes jeans and no crampons/ax leaving at 4 AM this made the young lady very happy I ask about the stories of falls and snow responce was that was something others should think about not them, Second group had just got down from trailcamp say it was not safe to go any higher even with all the gear as did group 3,and 4 and single hiker #5 said he had got to trailcamp and talked with someone returning from the cable area and gave up He said it didn't make sense to go any higher just to return.


The young couple will try to get to trailcamp and see the condition, why would you think all the people turned around were giving false information and base the trip on the one guy that had not been on the trail with no gear and limited knowledge of the mountain?

Later in the evening a group came into the store and would leave at 12 AM to reach the summit as a day hike. We had talked with two people that had past trailcrest and turned back, no tracks so they don't think anyone on the main trail reached the summit on Saturday, snow 1'-2' deep switchback covered and they left the cable area and went over to the chute, new snow had covered the rocks and they took this up to trailcrest and returned down the chute another member of the group went on but turned back near the summit, this group had gear and sounded like skill to make good choices other than leaving the cable area and going to the snow chute at the steepest part of the trail .

Three months ago snow covered very cold and deep snow people were able to go up the mountain . Main trail/ mountaineers route, East Face, Buttress , Do loop trips , the difference is when the area is snow covered it is not hiking it is mountaineering and a very skilled group can summit but not without the training and years of pratice .


THE TRAIL WILL CLEAR AFTER THIS STORM SYSTEM MOVES OUT AND WE RETURN TO DAYS OF WARMER WEATHER.Until then very unlikely to get much past trailcamp without full winter mountaineering skills.


I ask the young couple if they knew why we didn't sell/rent crampons or ice axes ? Thanks Doug

What about reaching the summit from the backside via Guitar Lake? Your points are right on target and the last thing our group wants to do is be a part of the Whitney Follies....I am guessing that the JMT up to the Main Trail is in much better shape than the 97 Switchbacks area but I dont want to be making a guess! Any thoughts from the board?

Thanks for the undercover investigation on current conditions.

I'd be willing to bet big bucks that the vast majority of people who venture up the main trail unprepared do not know this website exists and have made little or no effort to check out current trail conditions. They just know that the mountain is there and they want to get to the top. That's the unfortunate downside of free access to the wilderness: people are free to go get themselves in trouble through ignorance...

MTAN: You still have to come down the switchers (area) even if you ascend to Whitney from the west. Or is your plan to return to Guitar Lake and back around through Horseshoe? I am anxious to hear about the traverse to the summit and how much snow is there. When we last did it after a major dump, the traverses in the gulleys were dicey.

-L

Moose Tracks

You hit the nail on the head about why we were asking...the summit (safely) is the goal but I was starting to think it would be much safer to go in and return to Horseshoe Meadows....one way or the other we are going in HSM Tuesday morning and coming out (hopefully with the summit but without it if that is the safer option) Saturday somewhere!

SCJ.. this hits it on the head. Last fall I was up there with my kids enjoying some visit time with the Portal Crew at about dinner time (18:30 or so.. maybe 1900) when this family with two young kids wandered in and asked how far it was to Lone Pine Lake. They were given the distance and requested information and turned to leave. I asked them if they had flashlights or headlamps or anything and they replied that they did not. I asked them if they realized that they would be hiking in the dark before they even got to LPL... they gave me a look like "Huh?????"

They knew where the trail was... they knew it was an "easy" walk... they knew just enough to get themselves and their children into trouble if they followed through with their plans.

Thankfully they didn't...

Hi Reply to mytoes, good question the hostel has been collecting PCT hikers every day ,it started a week ago as they exited the trail at Cottonwood, one lady checked in that some have heard about the lady that hit the Spot button, Several of the PCT hikers left yesterday for Northern California (hitchhiking) three left this AM for Horseshoe area and ONE went up to the Portal and is going over trailcrest two of theses hikers have finished the PCT TWICE AND ONE HAS DONE THE SIERRA SECTION THREE TIMES!!! now to your question no the back side is not clear, we get 3 inches of rain a year the west side gets 29 so just by the holding of the clouds on the west side means they tend to have more cover after storms .


We talked with the group of four that left at midnight, two made it to the summit and were the first to stay on the switchbacks. One of the group thinks the young group with no gear got close to the summit but could not find it as they found tracks going in circles and no tracks to the summit before they got there. Report is about 12 people made it to the summit today most still stopping at the cables or trailcamp. Thanks Doug

I attempted Whitney Thursday with my dad. We sure aren't experienced hikers and were weary about the conditions. So our plan was to go as far as we could. We talked to about 3 groups coming down, none of them made it however one group claimed they were within 300 ft of the summit and were forced to retreat as the storm hit. As for conditions we encountered snow around 4 inches deep at outpost camp and it only increased with elevation. We were able to make it to Trail Camp were we met the one group that came within 300 ft, they were on there way down after trying again but didn't think they could safely make it up the switchbacks. As inexperienced as we were we didn't feel we should even try the switchbacks, so we ate and headed down. Like Doug said there was 1-2 ft of snow above trail camp though.