Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum 2019 Mt. Whitney Winter Conditions

Following up on Doug's post, as we roll into March, even with the above normal snow dump further north, the coverage and pattern south is very similar to 2017. Obviously, there's still a decent amount of weather in the future, but the jetstream hasn't dropped down much further than Birch Mountain just north of Split.

If you're making plans for 2019, it would serve you well to check out the trip reports from 2017 here...

Jeff, thanks for reworking the Message Board and starting this thread. The 2017 Trip Reports helped refresh the memory.

In a few hours, some of us with summer plans to summit Mt Whitney starting from trailheads in SEKI will be submitting 2019 SEKI Wilderness Permit applications. The current snowpack merits attention. Not knowing how the next couple of months will play out, I decided to push back my starting dates some, so as to hopefully avoid any epic creek crossings on the West Side.

I hope the PCT hikers this year have better luck than they did in 2017.

Look forward to the 2019 Season.

Jim

Hi Jim,
You're welcome. (I'm just glad Earlene told Tom to tell Doug to let me help...)

Did you look at the Upper Tyndall link on the right? It's got a live snow depth sensor. You can also access historical data here. So, depending on other trips you've had back there, you can pull up those dates and compare with how the depth is. That should give you a good idea of the status and how it's trending so it's not as much of a guess. (I also just added Charlotte Lake, even though some of the data is currently suspect, the temps & snow depth look right.)

Good luck with your permits and hope to see you on the mountain again sooner than later.

Jeff

Jeff, thanks again. I see that for today (Feb 28, 2019) the Upper Tyndall Creek snow sensor reads 96 inches. It was 26 inches on Feb 28, 2018 and 152 inches on Feb 28, 2017.

The two additional data points add valuable perspective to today's reading. I now think I will submit for my mid July permit as I originally planned, which by the way has me (coming from the Upper Kern Basin) crossing Tyndall Creek about July 18. On July 12, 2011 (after a heavy snow winter) I walked a mile and a half upstream from the JMT before finding safe passage across Tyndall Creek.

Take care.

Jim

Well, as of 3/10/19, there's a good amount of snow on the mountain. It's starting to consolidate, but mostly there are those early, deep and soft drifts that even snowshoes aren't helping much with. A few people made it to Mirror Lake, but it was too much effort to push further. Some skin tracks up the North Fork, but word is that no one's been past LBSL since the last group of storms, and then there was some more dusting in the afternoon, and likely several inches higher up. 2-3' of snow on the road at the gate. Freeze-thaw is going to make things dicey, which is why there's a ROAD CLOSED sign down below. (We even know a guy who's pretty experienced on the mountain and he got stuck for two hours and had to dig to get out---after getting to within a pancake spatula's distance from a 300' drop while the tires are spinning and the truck is going sideways. But hey, I'm sure you've done crazier things in your Prius, right?)

An update from John Dittli, CA State Snow Surveyor:

"With all the media hype about the huge winter let’s put it into perspective. Many of the High Sierra March 1 snow surveys from 2017 were the largest ever measured on the date. The 2019 measurements have averaged just about 60% of those measured in 2017. In 2017 March snowfall was lackluster so peak snowpack April 1 was less then the record years of ‘69 and ‘83. What happens this month will be decisive as to how the snow year actually ends up but as of now the High Sierra is a bit over half of what it was in 2017."

When I lived in Mammoth in '83, I don't remember much hype, just having to shovel a lot more snow than '82 or '84. Does it matter much if you're tromping on top of 4' or 30'? Just take your avi cannon with you, is all...

Speaking of which, looks like a good week of starting the consolidation up high, so things are going to get dicey if next week's storm puts a thick layer on top. (I'm preaching to the choir, I know.)

You can keep tabs on snow depth at the Upper Tyndall and the Crabtree Meadows sensors. These give you an idea of the jetstream split, with the Tyndall snowpack almost double that of Crabtree.

John Dittli certainly has had a fascinating and lengthy career in the Sierras. His photographic essay (with Mark Schlenz) "Walk the Sky: Following the John Muir Trail" is superb. John personally inscribed a copy for my daughter when she completed the JMT in 2009. It is now part of the family treasure.

Jim