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

When are you going up? I may be able to help you

Climbing (East buttress/descending) on Monday, Sep 18th ... wind/weather pending:)

I'm curious about current conditions as well... We will be ascending the MR on Sunday 9/17 and descending the main trail.

Just climbed the MR yesterday. Crampons were still needed. The temperature dropped a significant amount and made the snow firm and slick. There is also ice and fresh snow on the final 400. A few pix are below. The entire photo gallery is here.

Awesome pics Kurt... was wondering if you have any thoughts/recommendations for boot selection this time of year. I am going up the MR next week. I have a pair of full shank boots and a pair of 3/4 shank boots and also hiking boots however my hiking boots won't take crampons. Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks for the update, Kurt. I have a day-hike permit for September 26 (three people). Two of us have a lot of experience with ice axe and crampons, but one of my friends doesn’t. So I guess we will ask her if she would rather do the MR or the Main Trail. I will bring along some extra gear and a short rope, just in case.

Any of those boots you mention should do the trick. The section that requires crampons is relatively short so even if you had to use them on a boot that's not crampon compatible you should be fine as long as your crampons are a full strap-on model and not a clip-on design.

Also, it's starting to ice up on the Final 400. The sections are short but depending on how conditions continue to evolve you may or may not need crampons. You should have footwear that can handle icy terrain though.

We summited via mountaineer's route on Sunday (9/17) and didn't use crampons or ice axes. We stayed all the way left on the chute and avoided most of the snow. The patches of snow that we did have to climb had decent foot holds already. The final 400 was almost completely covered in ice/snow so we stayed all the way left again up the class 4 route to avoid it. It was almost completely ice free except a few spots.

I was on the Mountaineer's Route on Tuesday. I was guiding and used crampons and an ice axe. If you are very sure-footed and an experienced climber,you may be able to do it without these things by staying on the far left of the chute, however, the ice was VERY hard at 8 AM, and I imagine after today's storm, there is probably more snow to encounter.

Be safe and take the tools then you can make the decision whether you need to use them or not. And, make sure you know how to use them properly...

I went up Friday the 22nd. Overnight temps at base camp were around 12 degrees at 11700ft. We went up the mountaineers route with no axes and hill sound trail camp spikes. The little half inch ones with no front points that are barely better than chains. There was a few inches of fresh powder and hard ice in the lower chute. We skirted it high and to the left but as the chute narrowed we had to go through two 30ft sections of ice where our barely spikes worked by kicking steps.

The upper chute was full of hard ice on the right so we went the 4th class route to the left. Even then there was some ice to avoid. We decided we would not be able to descend safely so took the main trail out. Then headed back up the following day to retrieve our gear.

With that said, I'd recommend boots and proper crampons with an axe if you're going up soon. But temps are warming back up this week so things should soften up a bit.

Conditions as of 11/24/17:

The main gully has a wind slab 4-16 in thick laying on top of a heavy-ish sugar snow. No shooting cracks or whomphing but I opted to climb the rock to the right (more sugar snow on top of rounded boulders) until reaching the notch. A large section of snow in the middle had been torn out suggestive of rockfall that did not trigger a larger slab avalanche.

After the notch, similar conditions exist in the gully leading to summit while the rock to the left is nice and dry albeit steeper.

Expect lots of post holing on the approach to iceberg lake, especially in wind-loaded areas after the snow expected today.

Thanks for the update. How were things prior to Iceberg? Pon's necessary?

Anyone been up recently and know how conditions are after the storm that passed earlier?

Planning a trip sometime around New Years and I'm wondering if we'll even be able to use snowshoes with how dry the season has been. I was hoping that we'd get enough snow to avoid using the ledges but I'm not sure enough has fallen yet.

I'd like to now this too. Anyone been up in the New Year yet?

I was out yesterday looking for conditions after this last little system moved in/out very little new snow say none .I took some pictures of the Mountaineer's route, the top of the chute rocks are showing and rock band in the middle of the chute also looking from the portal to above upper Boyscout Lake is patches of snow . The last 400 ' I would expect staying on rock left/right side would work but might be 4/5 class so solo may be an issue without protection,The ice band in the middle of the last 400' stays most all winter.
Check the web cam and try to zoom to the north fork area and you will get a clear idea of the snow coverage. Thanks

I’m planning to get there 1/12. And I’m coming from a ways away, trying to gather as much info on conditions as I can. So far is seems that the Whitney Portal road is completely open? And the route is fairly snow covered? We’re planning to skin in and ski what we can. It also seems that the top might be a bit icy?
If anyone has any more input I’d love to hear what you know about current conditions. It also looks like the forecast for the weekend isn’t so bad, and that currently avalanche risk is low. We’ll have to see what happens after the forecasted snow!

Thanks again for any info!

Forget the skis...
CA is back in the drought...

If you want to ski the MR, think April... (maybe)

That bad? I’m less concerned about a ski decent and more wanting to make the approach easier by skinning (not snow shoeing) is there not even snow for that? Snow to melt for water? I was hoping the North fork would be snow covered....no? Also, not positive what I’m suppose to see with the links.

What is this web cam? I’m wondering about conditions at the start of the route.

Winter Storm Warning
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
National Weather Service Reno NV
201 PM PST Sun Jan 7 2018

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM MONDAY TO 7 PM PST
TUESDAY ABOVE 7000 FEET...

* WHAT...Heavy snow and low visibilities expected Monday into
Tuesday with the highest confidence above 8000 feet. Plan on
difficult travel conditions and chain controls in the eastern
Sierra over passes Monday, becoming more widespread Tuesday.
Some damage to trees and powerlines is possible due to heavy wet
snow accumulation.

* WHERE...Mono County.

* WHEN...From 4 AM Monday to 7 PM PST Tuesday.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Total snow accumulations of 1-2 feet above
7500 feet, are expected, with localized amounts up of 3+ feet
along the Sierra crest. 4-12 inches are possible between
7000-7500 feet with up to 2 inches down to 6500 feet.
Precipitation type at and below 8000 feet will start as mainly
rain Monday then changeover to all snow Monday night into
Tuesday.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Avoid travel if possible, you could be stuck in your vehicle for
many hours. If you must travel, prepare for long delays and carry
an emergency kit with extra food, water and clothing. If you stay
home, have a backup plan in case of power outages. The latest
road conditions can be obtained by calling 5 1 1.