First and foremost, thanks to everyone who makes valuable contributions to this board. Having moved to CA in the last year, this forum served as a valuable resource before and during my trip.
Coming directly from sea level in LA, I chose to spend the first night acclimating at the Portal campground. What a nice little spot, great for an easy get away with the family. On day two I rose and powered by a WPS Pancake (has anyone ever finished one?) I set out for Trail Camp a bit after 9AM. At this point the trail is very clear of snow until above Mirror Lake, only a couple shady areas still holding small patches.
Above Mirror Lake I could begin to see the route that many (Richard P, the best) had described as a "straight line" from Lone Pine Lake to Trail Camp. With all the melting that has occured, the route really isn't viable much below the Mirror Lake area anymore, but it was very interesting to see. Before Trailside Meadows, I crossed over to the track that ascended through the Consultation Lake drainage, I had heard that this took as much as a mile off the route and I would have to agree...nice easy climb into Trail Camp and you can avoid the one snowy traverse on the main trail. Consultation Lake remains very much frozen, however there is water everywhere at Trail Camp and the area is nearly snow free.
After a leisurely climb, taking lots of pictures I arrived at Trail Camp at 2PM. It was a nice warm day (it wouldn't last) so I set up shop in the sun and watched climbers one after another descend the chute. Suprisingly no one chose to glissade although conditions seemed ripe for it. Everyone was plunge-stepping their way down and met with waist deep postholing near the flats. Nearly everyone I spoke with said they wished they had started earlier.
The forecast called for a windy night so I wasted no time in getting camp secured. As expected, the winds didn't dissapoint and offered a steady dose of 40-50 mph gusts consistently through the night. Although nice and warm with my gear, the winds made for a relatively sleepless night. I found myself wondering wide awake at 3AM how I would fare on less than 2 hours sleep. I had met two other Gentlemen (the only others at TC that night it seemed) going solo and we agreed to get up and be on the chute to 6AM to take advantage of the conditions.
The winds, combined with temps dipping into the 20's made for a very solid and easier than expected ascent of the chute. Against my advice one of the other Gentlemen ascended with an ice axe and no crampons, to each his own I suppose but crampons and an axe are still very much required in my book. At Trail Crest we were greeted with stronger winds still and of course breathtaking views of SNP, much of which is still under winters grip. As many others have said, the trail on the backside is nearly clear at this point. Although there are some very sinister ice patches here and there so remain alert. Once we made the final snowy traverse to the summit block the winds really started howling, reports that my wife sent had gusts from 70-80 mph, not sure what the actual data was.
The summit was of course breathtaking and we were thankful for the windbreak provided by the shelter. Although I was disappointed to find the Starbucks does not in fact exist
We met a handful of PCT thru-hikers who took the day to come up from the westside, otherwise it was a relatively quiet scene up top. I left the summit at 11:30 and made a windy return to Trail Crest. By this time the sun had softened the chute considerably and allowed us to glissade its entire length. The cold night had hardened the flats just enough so that we avoided postholing entirely and were back into Trail Camp shortly after 1PM. We all agreed that we had made a good decision on our timing and it had paid off.
The other Gentlemen hadn't come up through the Consultation Lake drainage so I led them back this way. Definitely a nice route this time of year, I'm looking forward to coming back earlier next year and taking it from LPL. Some caution should be used particularly near the rocks however I only postholed once or twice on the descent. We picked up the Main Trial above Mirror Lake and all too soon were back at the Portal enjoying Doug's cooking.
Funny story, the scariest part of the trip for me was running into mama Grouse and her lone chick above Carillon Creek. I defintely looked close to make sure it wasn't PSYCHO GROUSE before proceeding!
Thanks again for everyone's terrific insight. Looking forward to getting back and seeing you all out there. Pics below.
Mt. Whitney - June 16th, 2010 
