Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Spring 2010 Conditions on the Main Whitney Trail

Astroclmiber,

My group also has a permit for our first attempt at the mountain this coming weekend. (permit is for Mon and Tuesday)

We're a group of avid hikers who have recently hiked Mt. Gorgonio in winter conditions using crampons. I'm curious at how experienced you guys are and what your thoughts are about attempting this hike. I ask because we are re-assessing our decision to attempt given the poor weather that has been reported as recently as yesterday.

If anyone else has advice positive negative or neutral I'd love to hear it. thanks. niko.

Like Astroclimber, I'm new to the board and will be climbing Whitney for the first time this weekend. I've been ingesting the words of wisdom from the long-timers on this board for the last several weeks now, and my suspicion is that Mother Nature may be dealing us a good hand for Sunday and Monday climbs. Right now the forecast calls for a chance of light snow throughout the week, with clearing and mostly sunny skies for the entire weekend. The temperatures along the crest aren't supposed to head north of freezing until Saturday afternoon, which means that the snow should remain just that ... snow. By Sunday and Monday afternoons we might be seeing some thawing and refreezing, but it seems that, for this amount of snow & ice on the ground, conditions for climbing could be about as good as we could hope for this weekend. (But it might be that I'm just too optimistic.)

All that said, I sure would love to hear what the more experienced posters think.

I like what Richard P posted elsewhere:

It does indeed look now like the weather should be pretty stable for the weekend. Our permit doesn't let us in until Sunday. My biggest worry is route-finding if the trail isn't obvious. I'm the only one in the group with previous mountaineering experience (Shasta and some volcanoes in Chile at much higher altitude). The plan for now is to hike as long as we all feel comfortable. At some point we plan to do some self-arrest/self-belay practice so that the rest of the group gains comfort with the gear. I've made it pretty clear to the group that there is a chance we won't summit and that if any of us feels unsafe we'll turn around. Our tentative plan has us entering Sunday morning and camping somewhere between trail and outpost camp with an alpine start Monday morning for the summit. I actually find it easier to travel on the more frozen snow before the post-holing business starts. Alas, that makes glissading down more unlikely.

From the more experienced folks, any suggestions on where to practice self-arrest along the way? Somewhere steep enough to actually slide but that shallows out afterward.

My group's permit is for Monday and Tuesday. We've totally managed our summit fever in favor of safety. Like others we are also turning around as soon as someone feels uncomfortable. We discussed it and feel the experience under these conditions will be very valuable.

We're camping at Whitney Portal on Sunday night and heading up to trail camp very early on Monday morning. Astro perhaps we'll run into you guys coming down while we're heading up!

Best of luck to all this weekend. Be safe everyone. See you on the mountain!

Good luck to all of you going up this weekend. If you would post a summit or maybe just a trip-report when you get back. Pictures are always nice. I am headed up in 2 weeks and would love to hear about your trip. Be safe and good luck.
Nick

Is it feasible to summit and return to Whitney Portal on the main trail in one day? Is anyone doing this? If so, how many hours is it taking?

A group of 4 of us plan to do so on Sunday 5/30/2010. Please advise.

Zoltron - don't know but go for it anyway.
If the sun comes out this weekend it may be like hiking in
deep mash potato's. Pray hard for freezing cold.

Yep, we have all those items checked off. More concerned with ability to complete round trip in less than 16 hours. Anyone else have experience in current conditions on the main trail?

What time are you setting out, Zoltron? My son and I are planning to hit the trail at 3:00 am on Sunday. Our primary goal (apart from getting back down safely, of course) is to hit Trail Crest before 11:00 so we can take an honest look at each other and ask whether we have it in us to carry on. I figure if we hit that point any later than that, Mother Nature makes the decision for us.

JDinSD, Not sure. As early as we need to to summit and return same day. 3am most likely.

hey all,

I will be tackling mt whitney in about ten days, and setting aside three days to get it done. I am the only experienced mountaineer in my group, the others are semi-experienced hikers with very little snow/ice experience. With conditions as they are, would it be possible to summit whitney with little more than microspikes and hiking poles? I figured we would at least make it to trail camp, possible trail crest and make the call then.

That Pic is awesome,
I'm heading up to Mt Whitney from Ontario Canada this June 6th. The boys think that we can make a straight shot for the summit. Does this seem a bit ambitious??

Also we are looking at bringing only 3 season gear, would heavier gear be advised given current weather conditions??

J.

3-season tent is perfectly fine for this time, as long as you can stake it/secure it well from wind.

This is a pic off of summitpost that shows the current conditions for much of the Whitney area high country. To the left side you can see trail crest with great views of conditions on Mount Russell approach as well as the upper end of the N Fork Lone Pine Creek towards the centre. If you click on the photo a few times you can zoom in pretty good.


http://www.summitpost.org/view_object.php?object_id=625214

Awesome pic. I'm getting excited for Saturday.

I just returned from the summit on Monday 5/31/2010. Unless you're acclimated and experienced on the main trail, it's pretty much impossible to summit and return to base in one day, safely. My buddies and I realized this first-hand on our trip a couple days ago. We are thankful we prepared to overnight at Trail Camp just in case and it was well worth it. Crampons we're pretty much required, especially from Trail Crest to the summit where it's much more icy due to shade. Ice axes, very helpful from a safety standpoint and can be rented from the Lone Pine Sporting goods for $13 each.

Pictures of the recent trip here: http://picasaweb.google.com/zephanf/MtWhitney02?authkey=Gv1sRgCJzV7MPf86jTXw&feat=directlink

Picture

Thanks for the update. We are heading up this Tuesday (6/7) and are planning on camping at Trail Camp. We have one guy with us who plans on only going as far as Trail Camp (no interest in summit). Do you think he would need to rent crampons for the hike from Whitney Portal to Trail Camp? The rest of us are well equipped, it is just the one guy we are concerned about.

Thanks.

Sacklunch: Here is a reply I just posted to a similar question on a thread about my climb last weekend.

Thanks for the report. Looking forward to our trip!