Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board MR Trail Conditions???

Did anyone hike the MR this past weekend? My friends I plan on hiking it next weekend and have a few questions. Are the ledges open or can you still go up the gully? Do I need snowshoes or crampons? What is the condition of the final chute? How low is the snow level? Average temp during the day?
Thanks,
DustysDawg

I just got back last night. Awesome hike. We camped at the parking lot campground Friday night then hiked to Iceberg on Saturday. No need for snoeshoes at all. It was cold at Iceberg that night but beautiful. Sunday morning we got a late start (0800) but were on the summit by 1000. Summit conditions were the best I've seen. Very warm and no wind at all. The route up was perfect. Ass kickin steep though! About 400' from the top you have 2 options. You can go left across a traverse which is very easy and safe or go right up the "staircase". We went right and it is very steep and icey. 60-70 degree slopes and very exposed. Still it was awesome and the best part of the trip. The decent allowed some awesome glisading. By the time we left the summit (1100) the snow had softened a great deal. The decent was easy all the way to LBSL then just very steep and hard on the knees!! Start early when the snow is hard for the summit push. If you day hike it then the snow will be very soft by the time you get to the final portion of the route...

I screwed up....400' feet from the top you go right for the easy traverse or left up the staircase..by the way we came down via the traverse as the staircase was too steep for me for a decent..have fun..

Just a note for the casual reader: the route described as the "easy" traverse, is.....depending upon conditions. Timing is critical. This area ices up, and at that time is VERY dangerous. The problem is, that you are traversing on a steep slope on a route filled in with ice, and a 2,000 or so foot runout. So if you fall in ice conditions, you will have great difficulty stopping with an ice-axe self arrest. I've had proficient friends go this section under these conditions, and it scared the heck out of them. I believe there have been fatal accidents here.

I would think early in the morning, or late in the afternoon, would generally be the worst times.

Kelleyts: What time did you start from the Portal and what time did the snow start to soften up? It seems like it would be getting soft around 10:00 am down around LBSL & UBSL if it was soft up higher around 11:00 the day you summited.

We will be going up the MR this next weekend. Was there much snow below LBSL?

Ken is right even our esteemed Bob R reiterates this point about the route above the notch from a previous post. I'm assuming traversing to the right (past the field of view in this photo) is the route you are refering to. I hope he won't mind me posting it again as is is a great photo!

Bob R said "Finishes I've done above the Notch: Usually, the far left one in the first chute, followed by the exit to the right at the top, is best.

The chutes get progressively easier as you go west. However, the traverse can be dangerous under some conditions: There have been a number of fatal falls from it."

Here is the photo he has posted on his clubphoto page.

<A href="http://members12.clubphoto.com/_cgi-bin/getImage.pl?imgID=13368497-f0af&trans="> Routes above the notch </A>

Actually the traverse route most people refer too continues left past this picture until you come to the platau and then hike up the platau to the summit. The following picture dipicts the route.

<img src=http://a0.cpimg.com/image/DA/A3/32844250-baa5-02000180-.jpg>

Spinefxr, Great north face picture! Did you take that from Russell?
-Rick

Rick

Yes, that was taken from Russell last June. If your interested here are more pictures from that trip.

http://members17.clubphoto.com/richard724261/1393179-Peb07/owner-9fd5.phtml