Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mountaineer's Route Conditions

Bob,

Thank You

The Silent Hiker

Kurt,
Thank You for the advise.

Richard,
Did you really eat the whole bag of Cheetos, I bet you never felt the cold because your body was numb from eating those little orange things. I hear eating Cheetos causes your brain to shrink and that prevents altitude sickness.

The Silent Hiker

Conditions on the MR remain great. Below LBSL it's melted out on the south facing side of the canyon. The north facing side still has some snow but its patchy. The slabs below UBSL are icy. Crampons are recommended. The Mountaineers Chute still has a good amount of snow in it. It's starting to melt out near the top. The Final 400 is mostly rock on the first third and good snow on the last 2/3.

Here are a couple pictures. The rest are here.

Sunrise from about 13000' in the Mountaineers Chute.


High in the Chute


The Final 400 from the Notch


The Final 400 from the summit plateau


Summit photo

Just got down from mountaineer's route on tuesday. Summited monday, overall great conditions. Never got above freezing at upper boyscout and higher, lots of wind in the evening and night.

It was snowing when my buddy and I came down yesterday. Drove over to mammoth and soaked in a hotspring in a blizzard. Quite an experience.

Sidenote - I left a bag of stuff in a bearbox, it has my stove and cooking pot in it (we took my partner's cooking gear up the mountain). If someone could return it to me somehow, that would be amazing. I can pay for shipping through paypal or carrier pigeon of whatever works best.

Looking at heading up there either this weekend (4/18) or the weekend after. Sounds like this weekend will definitely be Spring/Winter conditions and possibly some snow - think there will be much change to the weekend after? Anyone go up over the last couple days or planning to in the next couple weeks?

Hi Martin,

I am currently out on the East Coast (and , unfortunately, could not make it to the Hero's Hike on Baldy yesterday.) I return to California April 21 and hope to hike the Mountain during the last week of April when I have some free time.

Unless the Portal Road and the Portal are covered by new snow (which can happen), I plan to hang out at the Family Campground a few days and get some altitude exposure. While doing this I will contact those coming down the trail or at the store for firsthand reports/advice. Hopefully, there will also be some more TRs posted on this Board.

If the conditions are not great, I will not venture far up the Mountain. I find just staying a few days at the Portal to unwind and train rewarding and refreshing in itself.

So we will just have to study the conditions and see how things play out.

Have a good season.

Jim

Looks like I'm going up this weekend; hiking in Saturday, summit sunday and out - say 'hey' if anyone else plans to be on the route

Martin or Anyone...do you know the current conditions of MR and Muir? I'm planning on going (solo unless interested parties hit me) this Saturday early a.m.

Cheers

Hi Systems moving in and out the last few days fresh snow last night at Iceberg /whiteout conditions and cleared, fresh snow on Lone Pine Peak not much but would be on windblown crust.

So as I told someone on the phone check for coverage on Thor and the face in the Morning and watch during the day to see if we get coverage , about 2 PM today a large cell was just north of us and stalled several hours. Be ready for high wind as these fronts move in and out.

Solo lady climber did fine yesterday She lives back east and had 19,000'climbing experience so she was aware of the cold and ice/snow conditions.

Have a trip planned for next week to head up MR. Anyone know if snowshoes are needed?

I don't think snowshoes will be needed unless we get a whole lot of new snow this week. We have storms in the forecast but not sure how much will accumulate. Be prepared to travel over rocky terrain that is covered by a few inches of snow. It can make for slower travel.

Thanks Kurt. Will keep an eye on the forcast.

Does anyone have current conditions of the mountaineers route? I will be doing it on Monday June 22nd. Do you have any reports on the snow conditions of the chute and the final 400? Is a ice ax and crampons needed or will micro spikes be sufficient?

BWalker,

From the top, I looked down the Final 400 today (Wed June 17). It was mostly filled with snow. The rock band on the right (as you ascend) was mostly dry.

Jim

I just summited the MR on 6/22. Conditions on the chute were good. You can take a path up with no snow if wanted; the snow on the north facing side going all the way up is very slushy. Once you get to the notch you can walk right on to it -- plenty of snow. 

The whole center of the final 400 is iced over and about half the way up to the top is snow. We only used micro spikes for about the first 20ft. Once we made it 1/3 of the way, we crossed over into the second gully from the notch there was no snow or ice along the left side. We took that till 3/4 of the way, then crossed back over to he first gully and took that the rest of the way to the summit. With the warm conditions we had, I would expect the Final 400 to be pretty clear in a week or two.

Also I gave Doug at the Portal Store a pretty detailed route description that we took and a condition report.

I went up the MR today July 6 and can give a two week conditions update to BWalker's June 22 observation on the final 400 (first chute past the notch). At 0830 this morning it still had a generous amount of ice and snow.

I met a couple on the MR today who did not like the conditions of the final 400 (first chute), so they ascended the second chute and found it to be a pleasant ascent.

Jim

I went up the MR yesterday Monday August 10. The weather was perfect. More than a dozen people were encountered above UBSL. From the Notch I took the first chute to the left (the Final 400). In this chute some ice and a bit of snow were easily avoided. The Final 400 was quite cold in the morning shade, so plan accordingly.

Jim

I went up the MR yesterday (Fri 9/18) under perfect Fall weather. There was substantial evidence of the recent snowfall. Above the Notch, the first chute to the left had scattered patches of snow for nearly its entire length. The Death Traverse was also fairly densely populated with patches of snow.

Jim

Been a long time follower of the Portal Store message board and finally decided to join the fun! Thanks to everyone for keeping the public informed about conditions up on Whitney. That being said, does anyone have recent updates on the conditions of the MR route? Attempted it back in December but got blown off in a storm and wanted to get back up there once this recent snow fall packs down a little more. Any info is welcomed!

Coming from New England to climb Whitney. Also looking for some current conditions.

I'd like to keep my baggage on the plane as light as possible. Are snow shoes needed on the Mountaineers Route at this time?

Thanks

Woody