Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Winter Access Forum Jan 2025 climb advices

Hi,

Friend and myself are planning to intent the climh of Whitney in January 2025. We are not professional climbers but we have experience. He tried it last March and we have done Denali together (guided). I have ton of high altitude experience (> 15k summits).

We have started the preparation phase some time ago. On the fitness side and HAS we should be fine. What I'm struggling to find is good weather and snow reports. The webcams here help me to take notes of daily falls, but what the "quality" of the snow, the thickness, etc. Is there any avalanche forecast available anywhere ?

So far I am relaying on weather summit, but I'm wondering if there is anything more local and more precise.

We will definitely report back here after our tentative but, to make things short i'm looking for:
- Other people who will climn it this winter to share observations
- Resources to keep an eye on snow coverage and avalanche forecast

Thanks

Jean-Marc

Assuming you're heading up the North Fork to climb the Mountaineer's Route...

There are no sensors on Whitney...
The closest are Horseshoe Meadows and Crabtree Meadows...it will give you an idea of snow depths...
In my opinion, there are 3 areas of concern as far as avalanche danger on that side of the mountain...
-The lower canyon will defintely "slough off" after any decent accumulation of snow (and this includes some of the chutes down towards The Portal...there was a Major Avi a couple of winters ago...)
-The Secret Route "bowl" on Thor Peak (S of LBSL)...
-The slopes above the gully that lead up to Iceberg Lake...
Most of what I've seen usually happens as temps rise (think Spring sloughs)...

You might try Summitpost...but I think in this day-and-age most people are into Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc...

I snowshoe quite a bit in winter, but unless there's been enough snow to fill in the lower canyon, I stick to the Main Trail side of the mountain...meaning I don't report on the N. Side...there's plenty of posts about how difficult/"dangerous" (in quotes on purpose) the lower MR is during low-snow years...

Hi Richard,

Thanks a lot for shaing your knowledge and opinion here.


Correct. Important missing detail here. We are planning to take the Mountaineer's route along Upper Boyscout and Iceberg Lake then summit from the north face.

Ha! Good to know, thanks. I now have access to up to date information.

Ok. The lower canyon was definitely on our radar. We have not yet 100% decided of the route there. Will depend on the snow coverage. There have not been any recent significant fall.
Regarding Thor Peak, is it a risk for that route? I was hoping for that gully to be far enough to not be a risk

RE: the N Face...check out Rick Kent's report/photo albums...they were on the N Face while a big group of us were doing the standard MR...I recall them running into some really sketchy terrain (Alpine Ice)...

If you don't head high early (above LBSL) you should be clear of any avi path from Thor...unless there's some historic slide...I mention that slope as it's really popular with BC Skiers...some of the best Figures 8's I 've seen in the Sierra a few years back...and Ice Climbers heading for the Blue Ice (fall below Girl Scout Lake)...

The problem with low snow years is that you get a "decepitive" covering of the Willows...and falling thru could end up with a really bad result...

You also might want to take a look at Sakai Col (above UBSL) as it "can be" a faster path to the Arctic and the North Face of Whitney...

Do you have a link to that? I have not been able to find it :-/



Got it! Thanks for mentioning it! I will still keep that in mind when we are there. But I think we should be far enough.

I see. Ok. I read that in some reports too. For now seems that there is about 23" of snow. I hop it will be enough.

Ha! We were looking at other options there! Where is the Sakai Col? Is that the one just "below" Mt Russell?
So something along the blue route?

We were wondering how walk-able the ridge will be there. Do you think it might be a doable alternative?

https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=15.6/-118.2824/36.5836

That's a link that will show you Whitney/Russell and Sakai Cols...

If I can find a link to RK's stuff I'll post it...

Ha! Excellent! Thanks for sharing all of this! Ok perfect. I see where is the col. Adding some waypoints in case we want to head that way. I will report here after the 20th when we will be back...

A word of caution...
The SAR Mission on Whitney, recently, seems to have been in the vacinity of Sakai Col...sad...

Oh!

I didn't see that....

https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/missing-hiker-found-dead-on-mount-whitney/

I'm flying to LAX today, shopping white gas and extra food tomorrow then heading there. We will adjust the summit day to weather to seems that it will be Tuesday.

We will definitely play safe!

Thanks again for the advices. I will report here when we return.

Looking forward to hearing about your journey.