Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Snow conditions from New Army to Kearsarge Pass?

We're going from Cottonwood Lakes to Onion Valley starting this Friday. I know there is still snow from looking at the recent reports.

My question: Are the major passes passable without ice ax and crampons at this point? I'm concerned about New Army Pass, Forester Pass, Kearsarge Pass, and the back side of Whitney.

The only knowledge we have of ice axes and crampons is that we shouldn't use them if we don't know how.

Thanks for your response and all the other valuable info provided by the board!

I just went over kearsarge, forester, and out shepherd over the weekend. Kearsarge is snow free. Forester has a snow field traverse on the north side that I crossed wearing approach shoes and using trekking poles, no problem. The snow was soft and I could just stomp my way through it without slowing down. If there's an unusually cold day, maybe a storm or something, it could get icy. A stumble or slip might result in a long slide into unpleasantness. That being said, it didn't seem bad at all to me and I did observe several other backpackers successfully crossing the snow in running shoes with no special gear. There's a little snow on the south side, but much less, maybe none by this weekend.

Photos of Forester Pass start here:
http://brentcoe.smugmug.com/Hiking-Climb...934744535_FcxkC

Those were incredibly difficult to look at. Painful even.

Thanks for the torture...

Thanks for the info! Looks like both of you had exciting trips.

I'll call the rangers for info on New Army Pass if nobody else has been there recently.