Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board JMT - June/July

2 of us are doing Onion Valley to Whitney, 25th June to 1st July.
I am trying to decide if crampons will be needed or if we can get away with Micro spikes. There still seems to be a lot of snow about!

Anyone been to Forrester Pass recently or hiked this route at this time of year?

Thanks.

Nick.

Hi Nick,
My hiking partner and I did Forrester Pass in the first week of July last year. The majority of the snow started about 12500 feet. There was definitely a good amount of snow, but not quite enough to need crampons. This year is different, however; the Sierras have much more snow this season than last. Sequoia is listing their snow line at 7000 feet right now, and although it's melting pretty quickly, there will be a good amount left at the end of this month.
I would probably recommend crampons over the microspikes, unless you are planning on hiking Forrester very early in the morning before it has a chance to soften up. Parts of Forrester are fairly steep, depending where the boot pack trail is located. Oh, and watch out for the mosquitos in Vidette Meadows!
Have an awesome trip and hike safe!
Katie

Thanks for the reply.

If I take my crampons (step-in) I have to take my leather winter boots = heavy!
Maybe I will check out some flexible strap-on crampons.

I will keep an eye out for any trip reports.

I hate mosquitoes!! I'm trying not to think about them! Hate them.....

Nick.

tons of snow, and still cold for the season with more cold in the extended forecast for June. Looks like a storm is happening up there right now.

You'll most likely be better off with crampons on Forester, especially on the south side where you may have to cross a pretty sketchy snow field with no room for error. There's nothing wrong with real boots - enjoy the safety they provide and ignore the ounce-counters.

You may want to consider crossing over Junction Pass and Shepherd instead, as they don't look as gnarly even when snow is on the ground, but I never did that myself early in the season, so I don't really know if that would be any safer. Not many people there, so that would be a disadvantage if something does go wrong.

Better yet, get a light aluminum axe (some of them are just 6 oz!) and chop steps should you need to instead of taking crampons. You will with 90% certainty not need to do that, since you will arrive at the pass when the sun has warmed the snow to kickable consistency.