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

Not to kill the vibe, but this is "Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum" time now, where the mountain especially enjoys the lines:

Be he alive, or be he dead
I'll grind his bones to make my bread.

There's no base, so this will be the first 1-4' of fresh, unconsolidated snow on top of the ice patches and bare rock. The only way you'll have any fun is if you have titanium femurs, tibias, and fibulas (and just leave your ankles in the car). It looks like the temps are going to be too low for any freeze/thaw consolidation, but then again, the wind might blow everything off the mountain and you'll be good to go...

Hey Thanks for joining first we have had light systems this season so no base for the fresh snow we may get this week and won't have time to stiffen up so you can travel on top of the pack.

We did an early trip one year like this 3 of us , got to about 11,000' and ran into a group of 4 training for something that would require snow / ice travel . We said if we team up and rotate leads we should make the summit, snow was knee to waist and very soft at about 13,000' they had enough .
As I have talked about the boulder fields near Lower Boyscout Lake and above Upper to Iceberg Lake with fresh snow and not firmed up these areas are ankle busters.Later in the season often a guide track will be in and packed so easy to travel .

I always talk about the webcam for snow coverage, in the middle of the image you will see most of the mountaineer route on the east facing area , from just above the portal to the notch at 14,000.
The image updates every 30 seconds so check back often as the system moves in and out . The weather forecast are very good for temps and wind but worthless for snow or moisture , we have no radar coverage and depending on which valley the systems move in from , the east side may have limited moisture , high winds are very common over the ridge during systems.

The road up to the Portal may close if we get much snow, the road isn't plowed and can be very icy with the first few storms as they start with rain and freeze over night.

March or April tend to be the months that work best , late April can have late season storms or snow bridges melting out .

In the worst conditions I would say allow 3 days to summit and down on a good day this is a easy 1 day trip with your experience.

Thanks Jeff. Much appreciate the insight. I will talk to the guys and see what they think. Doesn't sound like much fun to try this week.

Thanks Doug. Appreciate the advice. I was hoping that you would chime in. If we were to come down this would be a second attempt for one of the guys. He tried a couple of years back and had the same issue. They got up to 13k and were in waist deep snow and turned around. So we may just cancel and wait.

Was on the route this past weekend. Conditions will probably change with the upcoming storm. Turned back at the chute.

Light cover of snow (an inch at the trailhead) going to heavier (about a foot at iceberg lake).

E ledges were completely snow and ice free.

Chute has snow going up it, talked to someone else who said it was suitable for ascending with crampons. It looks like you could also choose to scramble up the rocks as well.

Thanks for the beta

I'd second Doug's comment about April...especially if there has been a good amount of snow over the winter...

Days are getting longer...
Usually a really good boot track all the way to the summit...
(Just my opinion, but "winter" ascents of the MR are much more fun...)
(If you're in decent shape and acclimatized, the MR, on good snow, is doable as a Day Climb...)

One drawback is that it usually gets crowded as lots of people want to beat the Quota Period...

We did get some snow so next few days we need sun and cold nights to set up the surface.

Any been on Mountaineer's Route recently? How are the conditions? Especially on the E Ledges.

Just got back. Successfully summited. E ledges were clear of snow, ice. Reasonably consolidated snow until iceberg lake. knee - waist deep powder postholing from iceberg to halfway up the chute. Chute was chossy, only a small section was a fun snowwalk with crampons. Final 400 was snow and ice free.

Has anybody dared to ascend the MR recently? Just curious to hear what the conditions are!

Bueller?

Hi Guide groups going up some making it others turning around. Another stron system went through last night and I noticed the rock that was showing near the top of the chute/notch area is covered today. Also the mountain is gone again at 5 PM . At least one more system this week then calm but another about 10 days out.

From the old days we had a pattern of spring/ fall systems about every 7-10 days , some very light just wind others dumps of feet of snow I recall one in may where it took a guide trip 2 days to come down from upper Boyscout Lake area. waist to chest deep heavy wet snow.
Guide group going up Thursday, they will be lucky to get near the lower gate we could only get to Hogback and turned around. Whiteout conditions tracks(FJ) we made going up were gone as we came down .

Thanks for the info, Doug!

Can anybody approximate the current snow depth near Iceberg Lake? I hear there's 50ft or so of snow up near the peaks? (Trying to approximate snow melt by June!)

All the best,

ComradeBear

Upper Tyndall Creek at 800' lower than Iceberg has 175" right now. Probably another foot or two coming tomorrow night through Thursday. I'll be surprised if anyone needs to set foot on the E. Ledges before the end of June. Take an auger if you want water at Iceberg before mid-July, though.

Thanks Jeff! Appreciate the info

Anyone have any recommendations on augurs?

The Roman Empire used augurs and look how little good it did them.

Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops sell hand ice augers. (no power tools in the wilderness). Please post pictures if that's how you go.

You might want to look for meltwater streams while the sun is out or melt snow yourself.

Dale B. Dalrymple

My buddy and I are skiing the mountaineers route in a few weeks. Has anyone done the route recently, and can give some info on the snow coverage in the gully?

Good coverage now ... two week a wild card I would worry about the first canyon snow bridges and above bouder fields rockwells. Some one posted a trip report on the main trail over the weekend and I watched a youtube of tge North Fork from tghe last few days But again two weeks out don't put much faoth in the same conditions , We are starting the melt now.